Valencia vs Barcelona predictions and match preview for Saturday’s LaLiga fixture. Read on for analysis, team news and predicted lineups as two big clubs meet at Mestalla.
| Date | Saturday 29th October 2022 |
| Kick-Off | 21:00 (local time) |
| Stadium | Mestalla |
| Competition | LaLiga |
Valencia vs Barcelona Preview
This has the potential to be a cracking game to finish Saturday’s action in LaLiga. Valencia are playing positive and often exciting football under Gennaro Gattuso and they’ll have a big Mestalla crowd behind them as they aim to add to Xavi’s problems at Barcelona.
Valencia’s performances this season have been excellent and they could probably have collected more points than they have. However there is still the sense of this being a new team that is in transition to some extent and they don’t always kill games off even when they are the better side.
They come into this game following their worst result of the campaign, a 2-1 home defeat against Mallorca. They were unbeaten in 4 prior to that and Gattuso will be hoping for an immediate response here. This is the first of three tricky games they have prior to the World Cup break with Real Sociedad and Betis up next and we should learn plenty about the level of this team and whether they can sustain their bright start and really push for Europe this season.
As for Barcelona, it has been a strange few weeks. Their last two league games have produced dominant wins over relatively strong sides with Villarreal and Athletic Club brushed aside at Camp Nou by an aggregate score of 7-0. Yet either side of those fixtures, they lost the Clasico 3-1 in Madrid before a 3-0 home defeat against Bayern Munich as they once again dropped out of the Champions League and into the Europa League.
That alone makes the first chunk of this season a failure you’d have to say for the Catalans but they really need to target maximum points from these next three league games to ensure they are at worst three points shy of Real Madrid heading into the World Cup. This is the toughest of those fixtures and it’ll be a test of the character of this Barcelona squad as much as anything at a noisy Mestalla, and that is something that has been questioned both this season and in recent years.
Team News & Possible Lineups
Valencia
| INJURED | Domenech, Ilaix, Diakhaby |
| DOUBTFUL | Comert |
| BANNED | Musah |
Possible XI: Mamardashvili – Gaya, Comert, Paulista, Correia – Foulquier, Guillamon, Almeida – Lino, Cavani, Kluivert (4-3-3)
Coach: Gennaro Gattuso
Barcelona
| INJURED | Araujo, Christensen, Depay, Sergi Roberto |
| DOUBTFUL | |
| BANNED |
Possible XI: Ter Stegen – Balde, Garcia, Kounde, Bellerin – Pedri, Busquets, Gavi – Raphinha, Lewandowski, Dembele (4-3-3)
Coach: Xavi
Score Prediction: Valencia 2-2 Barcelona
Valencia will be really motivated for this game and they are operating on the kind of level that suggests they can be competitive. They are one of the few teams that should compete with Barcelona in the possession stakes and they could cause problems for a visiting defence that still looks shaky when it is really put under pressure, despite their excellent overall defensive record this term. A good game and perhaps a score draw could be the outcome if Barcelona aren’t at their best.
PLEASE NOTE – Our LaLiga predictions are not betting tips! No profits are guaranteed if you’re using them to bet on Spanish football. If you are gambling, do so responsibly and never stake more than you can afford to lose. BeGambleAware.
