Valencia vs Barcelona prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2024-08-16 19:30.
[p]From starting the season with low expectations to being an outside bet for a top-seven finish and eventually finishing ninth, Valencia’s 2023/24 La Liga campaign was a bit of a roller-coaster ride. Club legend and current manager Rubén Baraja deserves credit for recording a third ninth-place finish across the last five seasons, which could have been higher if not for a winless seven-game streak (D2, L5) to end their campaign with a whimper.[/p]
[p]Whilst Baraja looks to improve that form on the field to kick off this new campaign, the off-field anger at the ownership of Peter Lim continues to rumble on at the Mestalla. With the hosts starting each of their last four top-flight campaigns with a win, confidence could be found from that form but extending that will have to come against a Barcelona side that they’ve defeated in just one of the last 17 league H2Hs at their famous stadium (D8, L8).[/p]
[p]If Valencia’s season was a roller-coaster, Barcelona’s campaign was farcical. A trophyless campaign included finishing second in the league ten points behind arch rivals Real Madrid, whilst the constant see-sawing over Xavi Hernández’s future that finally ended with the fan favourite leaving the club at the end of the season wasn’t what any Catalan fan would have been hoping for.[/p]
[p]The club’s 125th season starts with German manager Hansi Flick in the dug-out, while they hope to return to the renovated Camp Nou by the end of 2024, if not by their anniversary date in November. Familiar financial woes continue to hamper Barça, who haven’t been able to register new signing Dani Olmo along with four others so far, and while that could change by Friday, Flick will have to find a way for Barça to end a run of two consecutive goalless draws in their league openers with whatever team he’s given – no team in history has ever opened three successive La Liga campaigns with a goalless draw.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Hugo Duro scored in Valencia’s last friendly match and also scored their opener when these sides last met. The thunder on that day was stolen by Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski who scored a second-half hat-trick to help his team come from behind to win, with his last two goals coming beyond the 80th minute.[/p]
[p]Hot stat: Six of the last eight league H2Hs have witnessed both teams score.[/p]
[p][i]Written by Sridhar Bhamidi[/i][/p]