Overview
Valencia is having a disappointing start in La Liga this season when they only got 1 point after 3 rounds. Los Che drew Celta Vigo 0-0 in the opening match, before suffering defeats against Real Betis and Deportivo La Coruna respectively. This result puts Valencia at 17th place in the standings.
After finishing in the bottom group of La Liga last season, Valencia is expected to improve their performance in the 2026-2027 season. However, what Carlos Corberan's team has shown so far has not met expectations.
Valencia has added 7 new players in the summer transfer window, including Arnau Martinez and Ryunosuke Sato. However, the new squad has not yet helped Los Che create the necessary stability.
One point of support for Valencia to hope for against Barcelona is a 3-1 victory in their most recent La Liga encounter last season. That was also the first time Valencia defeated the Catalan team since January 2020.
However, head-to-head history still leans towards Barcelona. The two teams have met 232 times in all competitions, of which Barcelona won 115, Valencia won 60 matches and 57 encounters ended in a draw.
If Valencia is struggling in the bottom group, Barcelona has a perfect start again. The reigning La Liga champions successively defeated Elche 5-0, Athletic Bilbao 2-0 and Rayo Vallecano 5-2 to win all 9 points after 3 rounds.
Impressive form helps Barcelona top the league table and aim for their fourth consecutive victory in La Liga. After the away match against Valencia, Hansi Flick's team will begin their Champions League journey with a confrontation with Feyenoord.
Barcelona also had a busy summer in the transfer market when they brought in 8 new recruits, including Anthony Gordon, Rodri, Karim Adeyemi, Gabriel Jesus, Jesse Bisiwu, Dominik Livakovic, Hamza Abdelkarim and Joao Cancelo.
With the opposite start of the two teams, Barcelona is rated higher before the away match at Mestalla. The Catalan team is also having an advantage in the La Liga championship race, as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid both lost points.
Personnel situation
Valencia will be without the services of Justin de Haas, Sergi Canos, Jose Copete, Diego Lopez, Guido Rodriguez and Umar Sadiq due to injury. Among these, Sadiq is the only player to have scored for Los Che since the beginning of the season.
Dimitri Foulquier and Luis Rioja are also uncertain to be able to participate as both are having muscle problems.
Barcelona also suffered losses in force when Frenkie de Jong, Rooney Bardghji and Jesse Bisiwu could not play. Gavi has not reached his best physical condition and still needs to be further assessed before Hansi Flick makes a decision.
Rodri is likely to continue to start the match from the bench, while Marc Bernal and Pedri hold positions in midfield.
In attack, Raphinha is in high form with 5 goals and 1 assist after 3 appearances in La Liga this season. He will continue to be present in the attacking trio.
Expected lineup:
Dimitrievski, Diakhaby, Tarrega, Martinez, Maffeo, Guerra, Ugrinic, Pepelu, Gaya, Sato, Danjuma.
J. Garcia, E. Garcia, Cubarsi, Martin, Espart, Pedri, Bernal, Yamal, Fermin, Gordon, Raphinha.
The match between Valencia and Barcelona takes place at 9:15 PM on September 6th (Vietnam time).
