Valencia CF vs FC Barcelona - Match Preview (vcf - fcb)

La liga matchday 26, Valencia CF vs FC Barcelona

Valencia CF biggest match in the Spanish league is almost here. Valencia CF has not won the Spanish league since the season 2003-04, while FC Barcelona has been dominating domestically and internationally the past few seasons with huge achievements such as winning  6 trophies in one season and braking all records in all competitions.

Valencia CF gets 40 million TV rights money, Barcelona gets 140 million TV rights money. Valencia champions league qualification is considered a success, while for Barca winning only La Liga is somewhat of a dissapointment.
The contrast between these two clubs is huge, especially in recent years, but when these two sides meet on the grass what matters is only the performance on the pitch and nothing else.

Valencia CF is currently on an unbeaten streak from December 5th and last time it lost was against R. Madrid in the Spanish League. Clearly there is bonus motivation in this match in order to keep that unbeaten streak and at least get a draw, but why not even surprise us all and beat Barcelona.

The first match between these two teams played at the Camp Nou ended in a narrow 2-1 victory for Barcelona. You can check the match report for that game here.

POS		TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		GD	Pts
1		Barcelona	25	22	2	1	76	13		11	1	1	36	8		11	1	0	40	5		63	68
2		Real Madrid	25	19	4	2	55	19		12	0	0	37	6		7	4	2	18	13		36	61
3		Valencia	25	15	6	4	40	26		8	4	1	23	13		7	2	3	17	13		14	51

Head to Head

Date	Home		Away	Competition
Oct 16, 2010	FC Barcelona	2 : 1	Valencia CF	Primera Division
Mar 14, 2010	FC Barcelona	3 : 0	Valencia CF	Primera Division
Oct 17, 2009	Valencia CF	0 : 0	FC Barcelona	Primera Division
Apr 25, 2009	Valencia CF	2 : 2	FC Barcelona	Primera Division
Dec 06, 2008	FC Barcelona	4 : 0	Valencia CF	Primera Division
May 04, 2008	FC Barcelona	6 : 0	Valencia CF	Primera Division
Mar 20, 2008	Valencia CF	3 : 2	FC Barcelona	Copa del Rey
Feb 27, 2008	FC Barcelona	1 : 1	Valencia CF	Copa del Rey

Valencia CF is going into this match with the intention of continuing its unbeaten run and apart from a loss it will be good enough to get even a draw and not to mention a surprise win, that would be huge.

Chori and Miguel are still suspended by the coach and its doubtful if they will get called to the squad, Bruno and Topal will miss the match due to 5 yellow cards each and David Albelda is still injured.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: César, Guaita.
Defense: Navarro, Delabert, Ricardo Costa, Stankevicius, Jordi Alba, Mathieu, Maduro, Montoro.
Midfield: Tino Costa, Ever, Joaquín, Pablo, Vicente, Mata.
Attack: Isco, Jonas, Soldado.
*Maduro was injured during the last training before the match and Montoro took his place.

FC Barcelona on the other hand are coming in this match as the hot favorites to win and get the three points, but the Mestalla has been a tough venue for them in recent years, Barcelona are in a bit of match fatigue right now as several of their players have played for over 90% of the matches for the team, players such as Iniesta, Messi, Busquets and Villa.

David Villa may miss the match as he has some personal business to attend to, Victor Valdez is also missing and Pinto will once again be on the goal, Xavi has been training and regaining fitness, so he may be fit to play after all even though he was injured and thought to be missing for 2 weeks.

FC Barcelona squad:
Goalkeepers: Pinto, Miño
Defense: Dani Alves, Piqué, Gabi Milito, Maxwell, Adriano, Abida.
Midfield: Xavi, Iniesta, Mascherano,  Keita, Busquets, Afella.
Attack: David Villa, Bojan, Messi, Pedro.

Interviews and conferences:

Valencia CF player, Joaquin Sanchez

• Valencia winger Joaquin has suggested that his side cannot afford to lose to Barcelona when they host the Spanish champions at the Mestalla in a Spanish Primera Division encounter on Wednesday.
• It is three points we can't afford to let slip from our grasp," said the 29-year-old, according to AFP.
• "We will suffer a lot because they are a great team but we are going to try to impose our style of football.
• "If we can make them feel uncomfortable we have a great chance of winning."

Valencia CF coach, Unai Emery

• "If Barcelona keep possesion as usual, then we are cannon fodder," Emery said ahead of tomorrow's battle at the Mestalla.
• "It will be important to see our personality and the state of the pitch. We know Barcelona will create chances, but we have to avoid goals.
• "We must also try to get close to their goal. We have to maintain the ball and we know we can do this.
• "They are the best team in the world with the best players in the world and have one of the best coaches in the world."

Barcelona player, David Villa

• "I don’t want to leave a bad taste in people’s mouths, so I won’t celebrate if I do score a goal."
• "It will be a weird sensation, for example, going to the dressing rooms”and having to go to the visitors and not the home one."

Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 5-2-3
Line up: Guaita; ?, Navarro, R. Costa, Dealbert, Mathieu; Maduro, Banega; Joaquin, Soldado, Pablo.
Tactics: High attacking frequency by the full backs, low defensive line and own half opposing team pressure, deep zone defensive midfielders, wing attacks, mixed passing with mixed crossing.
In order to win or even draw against Barcelona, Valencia must beat them at their own game. This means Valencia can't sit back and defend and with VCF defenders conceding a goal is certain, so Valencia must have big possession and pressure Barcelona constantly when they have the ball.

Result prediction:
Valencia CF 1-1 FC Barcelona

Atletico Bilbao 1-2 Valencia CF - Match Report

First of all my prediction of 1-2 was right on the money. Every one that listened to my prediction is going to count his money tomorrow and be double happy as Valencia CF won and he got some money.

Anyways Valencia CF did not start the match too convincingly, in fact Bilbao had most of the possesion, but also an early chance in the 3rd minute when an attack from the right side started after Bruno shifted position when a pass was sent towards him.

Bilbao kept pressing and had another chance in the 7th minute, but Valencia CF goalkeeper Vicente Guaita made a wonderful save to keep Valencia in the match.

Valencia's defense was shaky to say the least and in the 13th minute after a mistake by Stankevicious and then Navarro, Llorente managed to score for Atletico Bilbao.

Valencia CF tried to reply and had the first real chance in the 20th minute when Pablo released Joaquin alone in front of Bilbao's goal, but he somehow managed to dribble himself and screw the chance.

Bilbao had few more attacks and one chance in the 35th minute, but nothing serious and then only a minute after in a rare Valencia CF attack Pablo had a shot towards Bilbao's goal.

Then in the 42 minute Atletico Bilbao had a wonderful chance in which Lopez released a shot, but Guaita was in place to save. A minute previously Valencia CF had a penalty claim that the referee ignored.

Pablo was really active in this first half and all of the chances came through him and he also had the final shot for Valencia in the 44th minute, but couldn't really do damage.

Just before the end Guaita made a bad pass, Muniain got the ball, then passes to Llorente, but he was blocked by Stankevicious in what was probably the only good defensive move in the first half.

Second half started much like the first, though Bilbao was visibly more relaxed and content with their result, which will ultimately prove costly for them.

Bilbao had few chances in the first 15 minuted, a header, a shot towards Guaita, but nothing too serious.
Toquero had a dangerous dribbling in the 62th minute and managed a shot, but only to Guaita, who was once again alert and caught the ball.

Mata had a dangerous shot 1 minute after and then the substitutions started with Jonas coming in for Pablo. In the same minute Llorente had a dangerous shot in which Guaita was beaten, but the ball hit the woodwork.

And then in the first real chance for Valencia in the 70th minute, Soldado made a nice back pass to Joaquin who finally made a decent cross which found Mata, this oe shot and scored. It was Atletico Bilbao 1, valencia CF 1. Valencia CF managed to draw and everyone in the Valencia CF camp could breathe easier.

Ever Banega went out for Tino Costa and the match changed for the better for Valencia CF.
First Joaquin combined well with Tino who shot towards Bilbao goal, but just couldn't penetrate the goal, but in the second try in the 80th minute Tino released a powerful shot which Iraizos could only reflect to the oncoming Jonas who easily slotted the ball in the net, it was 2-1 for Valencia.

The final 10+5 minutes were mostly Bilbao attacks but Valencia CF managed to last and ultimately win.


Technical details:
Athletic Club (1): Iraizoz; De Marcos, San José, Ekiza, Koikili; David López (Susaeta, min.72), Gurpegui, Javi Martínez, Muniain (Díaz de Cerio, min.83); Toquero (Gabilondo, min.75) y Llorente.

Valencia CF (2): Guaita; Bruno, Stankevicius, David Navarro, Mathieu (Jordi Alba, min.73); Topal, Banega (Tino Costa, min.77); Joaquín, Mata, Pablo Hernández (Jonas, min.63); y Soldado.

Goals: 14th min. Llorente 1-1; 71th min, Mata 1-1; 81st min, Jonas 1-2.
 
Player ratings:
Guaita 8 - Made 2 wonderful saves, plus a few more less wonderful, but equally important saves.
Bruno 5 - Had trouble keeping Muniain in check and more often than not was beaten.
Navarro 4.5 - Not an assuring performance from the captain. He and Stankevicious made a mess of Llorente's goal.
Stankevicious 4 - Bad in defense, but was also let down by Mathieu who should have been more back, since he wasn't really doing anything in attack, except standing around.
Mathieu 4 - Probably the weak link in defense tonight, Stankevicious had to cover each and every time for him and didn't really offer much in attack either.
Topal 6 - Somewhat efficient in his defensive duties, marked Llorente on set piece balls, but did a poor job at it. Had very little understanding with Banega, but generally useful.
Banega 4 - Nothing positive tonight. He could not control the proceedings, lost quite a bit of balls and rarely linked up the midfield and attack.
Joaquin 6.5 - First half performance was poor, but improved immensely in the second and his direct running caused Bilbao defense a lot of problems, made the assist for the first goal.
Mata 6 - Barely visible in the first half, improved a little in the second half, but other than the goal wasn't very influential.
Pablo 6 - Was the best player in the first half for Valencia, mysteriously substituted in the second half.
Soldado 4 - Frustrated from the 1st minute to the last. Made one great move though that kick-started the whole action that led to Mata's goal.
Subs:
Jonas 6.5 - Made the difference between a draw and a win. At the right place and the right time to score after Iraizoz reflected a powerful Tino Costa shot.
Alba 5 - Better than Mathieu, though had one lapse when everyone went forward to create a offside trap, but Jordi went backwards, lucky that Valencia did not concede a goal at that moment or his career could have been over.
Tino Costa 7 - Really spiced up Valencia's play, made two trademark shots, one of which Iraizoz could not manage to catch and the reflection ended up to Jonas who score the winning goal.

Atletico vs Valencia CF live chat

Well I'm going to try and set up a live chat for all the matches Valencia CF plays from now on...

Depending on the interest or lack thereof is going to decide the future of this live chat, but hopefully it gains momentum and everyone can also broadcast the match, so maybe I'll even start broadcasting in high definition to gather some interest, or maybe someone else will do it.

Atletico Bilbao vs Valencia CF - Match Preview

Atletico Bilbao will host Valencia CF tomorrow night at San Mames stadium in what Fernando Llorente describes as a "huge match". Llorente is hoping that Bilbao will return to their unbeatable home form they are known for and win against Valencia CF.

Atletico Bilbao are currently 5th at the table with 38 points, 10 less than Valencia CF and a win for both sides would be huge. For Bilbao it would mean they will theoretically escape Espanyol, given they loose of course and come closer to the 3rd and 4th spot teams and fight for position that leads in the champions league.

Atletico Bilbao is very strong up front with 38 goals scored, same as Valencia CF, but they are somewhat worse in defense with 34 goals conceded.

Their most dangerous player and their top scorer all in one is Fernando Llorente who Atletico Bilbao relies upon heavily to score goals. If he is neutralized Valencia will have a much easier time and a win will be very likely.

Another dangerous player is Andoni Iraola who has 6 assists so far, has scored 3 goals and is one of the staples for Atletico Bilbao having started in all 24 matches this season. He is actually a defender but with his stats he should be carefully covered.

Bilbao are currently on a 2 match loosing streak, having lost to Mallorca and Barcelona away, but those were close matches in which Atletico Bilbao had chances to win.


Atletico Bilbao squad:
Goalkeepers: Iraizoz, Raúl
Defense: Koikili, Amorebieta, San José, Balenziaga, Ekiza
Midfield: David López, De Marcos, Gabilondo, Susaeta, Orbaiz, Gurpegi, Javi Martínez, Muniain 
Attack: Toquero, Llorente, Díaz de Cerio

Valencia CF on the other hand are still in 3rd position after Villarreal also slipped up last week and failed to converge on Valencia's draw. Valencia is only 2 points above Villarreal and the fight for third spot seems like it will be a long one.

Getting a positive result against Atletico Bilbao is crucial as Valencia CF has some very tough matches after that with the likes of Barcelona, R. Madrid, Sevilla and Villarreal. Having a points cushion to fall back to in case Valencia CF looses points against Barcelona and R. Madrid is the plan and of course Valencia CF also needs to bounce back after last week's draw against Gijon.

Aduriz got injured last match and he is out of the squad for at least 10 more days, even though he has made faster progress than thought. David Albelda is training steadily alone with a physiotherapist, but still has 2 weeks or more for full recovery.
Mehmet Topal was a scare after a small injury, but he is now training normally with the rest of the squad and is probably going to be available for selection.
Miguel Brito is the dark spot this week as he has been suspended indefenaetly after coming to training 80 minutes later. He is going to miss the match against Bilbao due to his suspension and is going to train alone from now on until the suspension if lifted. This bad news comes as Valencia CF is playing some crucial matches these next few weeks.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: César, Guaita.
Defense: Bruno, Dealbert, David Navarro, Stankevicius, Ricardo Costa, Mathieu, Jordi Alba.
Midfield: Maduro, Topal, Tino Costa, Éver, Joaquín, Pablo, Mata, Vicente.
Attack: Isco, Jonas, Soldado.

Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line up: Guaita; Bruno, Stanke, R. Costa, Mathieu; Banega, Topal, Mata, Tino; Pablo, Soldado
Tactics: Medium attacking frequency from the wings, Medium defensive line and opposing field pressure, deep zone defensive midfielder, man marking on Fernando Llorente.
This formation seems the most logical to me now that Mata is back and is a bit more secure than the 4-4-2 as we have 2 defensive midfielders to cover in defense.

Result prediction:
Atletico Bilbao 1-2 Valencia CF
I'm not going to make the same mistake again predicting big wins for Valencia CF as the result always comes back to haunt me with draws or losses. This time I predict a much tighter match and since Bilbao play at home they are bound to score, but I think Valencia have enough skill to score twice and win the match.

Stankevicious future to be resolved in the next few weeks.

Well Sampdoria now seem to want Stankevicious back to their squad and have made their stance public, saying they want to extend his contract and hoping that Valencia won't exercise the option to purchase the Lithuanian for 1.5 million euros.

Stankevicious seems to have become the standard player alongside Ricardo Costa in defense for the past few weeks and is playing reasonably well. I have him rated at 5.5 so far in the season, although there are 2 marks seriously lowering his rank, which he got after making huge mistakes in 2 matches obviously. Otherwise he has been stable enough.

Since Sampdoria want Stankevicious back his agent will come to Valencia in a few weeks to ask about Valencia's intentions with the players and if they are going to purchase him or not.

Valencia currently has Navarro, R. Costa, Dealbert and Stankevicious as center backs, but here is also Maduro who can also play at that position and in the summer Adil Rami is going to transfer to Valencia.

The question now is you keep Stankevicious and if yes that means at least one central defender must leave, in which case the likeliest would be Dealbert.

The Valencia staff certainly has some tough decisions to make and I can only hope Llorente makes the best decision for the club as he has been doing so far.

Valencia CF 0-0 Sporting Gijon - Match Report

Valencia CF match against Sporting ended in a draw, but it was a tough and competitive match where no matter that Valencia CF had a ton of possession it couldn't really do much in front of Sporting goal.
This leaves Valencia CF at 3 points ahead of Villarreal and basically every VCF fan will be hoping they loose, so Valencia CF can stay 3 points clear of them.

Edit: Well I don't know where to start, I guess at the beginning makes sense but its like having no point to start. Anyways lets just say that Valencia had all the possession they wanted from the start, as Gijon were more than happy to just sit back and defend.

Sporting Gijon formation was essentially this: 5-3-1-1, with the most forward player still playing deep in his own half, in other words its as defensive as it gets, 10 players behind the goal, etc... This was of course expected and Valencia CF should have countered it.

Now this draw in essense is not that bad, since Barcelona also failed to beat Sporting Gijon at home and in fact they actually chased a draw from 80 minutes, so lets not take away from Gijon great play, and lets not make Valencia players look like the worst players on the planet.

Yes there were individual mistakes, missed passes and crosses, bad judgements, but Sporting played really well in defense and against these kind of teams that put 10 men behind the goal its always going to be tough.

What I didn't like about this match was that Emery used the same players that played just 4 days ago in a tough champions league match against Schalke 04 and there was another formation used.

So Emery played the fatigued players, plus in  a different formation. It was obvious Valencia was going to struggle to win, but I was hoping Sporting slip up, some individual genius goal happens or stuff like that. but it wasn't to be.

If I was the coach this is the formation and line-up I would have played:
4-4-2: Guaita; Bruno, Stankevicous, R.Costa, Mathieu; Pablo, Maduro, Banega, Vicente; Jonas, Soldado.
First I would replace as much of the players that played against Schalke, this means I would have rested Miguel, Navarro, Joaquin, Topal, Tino, Chori and Aduriz. You can make a case about resting Mathieu also, but he did not play the match before the champions league, so I expect him to be fitter.

The other thing is that I would fall back to our familiar 4-4-2 formation, this allows the players to play comfortably as they are used to it and we also have 2 strikers up front, which means we have better penetration in the Sporting penalty area.

That is about how I would play, but lets return to the match and wrap this up. In essense Valencia CF had 70% possession, but can only manage several shots off target and only 2 shots on target in the whole match.
There were also 4-5 chances, that weren't even very dangerous, but we'll still cont them.

Sporting Gijon defense did great, Valencia players did somewhat poorly and you have the final result of 0-0.

Technical Details:
Valencia CF (0): Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicius, R. Costa, Mathieu; Topal, T. Costa; Joaquín, Domínguez (Soldado, min. 54), Mata (Pablo Hernández, min. 70); Aduriz (Jonás, min. 77).

Sporting Gijón (0): Cuéllar; Lora, Botía, Iván Hernández, Canella; Eguren; De las cuevas (Novo, min. 82), Cases, André Castro, Diego Castro (José Ángel, min. 89); Sangoy (Bilic, min. 61).

Player Ratings:
Guaita 6 - Did not have much to do, apart from few crosses here and there it was an easy match for Guaita.
Miguel 6.5 - Went forward the whole time, linked up well with Topal and anyone in the midfield and had 3 interventions to deny Sporting any opportunity.
Stankevicious 6 - Was not really tested, made few tackles though. His crossing was way off in this match.
R. Costa 6 - Same as Stankevicous.
Mathieu 6 - Worked hard in offense, disposed any threat on his side, no matter how rare that was.
Joaquin 5.5 - Failed to provide even one decent cross or one accurate pass, from start his passing and crossing were off and did not improve through the whole match. Had two good runs, but again no final ball.
Topal 7 - Best player on the field, served as deep laying midfielder, playmaker, hard man and busy man as he was responsible for covering for the defense, attacking, spreading the ball, linking up play, etc...
Tino 5.5 - Hard working and full of energy as always but absolutely failed to contribute anything.
Mata 5.5 - The most creative player on the field, though spend more time in the middle than on the left wing and reduced Valencia's field of play as Mathieu couldn't attack on his own on the left.
Chori 5 - Similar to Mata and Joaquin in that he missed all his crosses, got to bad positions at the bad times and could not assert his influence on the proceedings.
Aduriz 3 - This is Aduriz second match he has performed so poorly, either he is fatigued or is totally out of form.
Subs:
Soldado 6 - Added some urgency to the attack and brought much needed pace into attack, but ultimatelly failed to score a goal.
Pablo 6 - A little bit better than Mata or Joaquin, but as the English commentator said, he was way too predictable with his moves.
Jonas 6 - Probably not enough time, but he did have a good shot at goal after dribbling past two Sporting defenders. Also its his first play for Valencia so lets hope he keeps getting better and hopefully scoring many goals for Valencia.

Valencia CF vs Sporting Gijon - Match Preview

Its time for Valencia CF to focus once again on the Spanish championship after the Champions League first leg matches finished. It wasn't the best result for Valencia CF, but it wasn't the worst either and scoring just one goal on the return leg will reset the tie and from there on its anybody's game. But first Valencia CF host Sporting Gijon at the Mestalla and will look to extend their lead over Villarreal with a win on Saturday and sweet 3 points.

Valencia CF as you all know is 3rd in the standings with 47 points, 2 points more than 4th placed Villarreal. Rival teams and the ones that usually fight with Valencia over champions league spots like Sevilla and Atletico Madrid are right now pretty far off and their troubles don't seem like they are about to stop, so Valencia is as safe as it gets from that regard. A bit of problem can potentially cause the surge that Bilbao has, though they lost their last match so its possible they are going to slump and Espanyol has also lost some ground in recent weeks so should Valencia CF win tomorrow its going to be in a great position.

Cezar Sanchez Valencia CF goalkeeper has recovered one week ago and even featured as a substitute in the champions league match against Schalke 04.
Moya though is still injured, although he is also close to recovering, Albelda is still injured, while Mata has been fit for some time now and he is also likely to feature in the first team against Sporting Gijon.

Valencia CF shouldn't take Sporting lightly as they are coming from a draw against Barcelona a feat little teams can achieve. In fact Sporting had the lead over Barcelona for 80 minutes of the match, until Villa saved them with a wonderful lob over the goalkeeper and into the net.

Valencia CF official squad:
Goalkeepers: Guaita y César.
Defense: Miguel, Bruno, Ricardo Costa, Stankevicius, David Navarro y Mathieu.
Midfield: Topal, Tino Costa, Éver, Joaquín, Pablo y Mata.
Attack: Jonas, Aduriz, Domínguez y Soldado.

Sporting Gijon is sitting at 16th place on the table with only 23 points, just 1 point more above the relegation zone and this means they will be fighting till the end of the season to stay in Primera Division.
Sporting Gijon is a good team though and a very solid one when motivated as seen in their last match where they almost beat Barcelona, but in the end only managed a draw, which is also a feat of itself as barely any team can get a positive result against Barcelona.

Sporting top goalscorer is Diego Castro Gimenez with 8 goals scored and he is also their best player with his 8 goals, 2 assists and the one most useful in midfield, so Valencia CF will need to focus on this guy if they are to win the midfield battle and also stop Sporting Gijon mounting serious attacks towards Guaita's goal.

Sporting Gijon official squad: to be announced...


Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-4-2
Line up: Guaita; Miguel, Stanke, R. Costa, Mathieu; Pablo, Topal, Tino, Mata; Soldado, Aduriz
Tactics: High attacking frequency from the wings, high defensive line and opposing field pressure, deep zone defensive midfielder, mostly high crosses, man marking on Diego Castro.

With the players Emery has chosen to feature in this match its likely that the team will start with the 4-4-2 formation. The tactics will be the familiar ones for 4-4-2 with the added bonus of Diego Castro probably being man marked. The three things Emery must decide is whether to start Banega or Tino with midfield alongside Topal, whether to start Mata or Pablo on the left and whether to include Jonas as starter or not.

Result prediction:
Valencia CF 3-1 Sporting Gijon
Usually when I predict Valencia to win with more than 2 goals all hell breaks loose and Valencia end up loosing. Hopefully though this is not the case tomorrow or else I'll just predict Valencia loosing every match and in reality that would mean win in every match.
But seriously though I think its time for Valencia to shine and score more than 2 goals. Yes Sporting is a tough opponent, but who isn't? This is the time for Valencia to win with a lot of goals scored and the players have the ability to do so, but the question is do they have the belief?

Valencia signs new sponsorship with Joma

Radio Nou from Valencia just released the information that Valencia has signed new sponsorship deal with Joma and that the current Kappa deal will be stopped at the end of this season.

Its believed that Joma offered the biggest amount of money and beat the giants Adidas as well as few other companies.

Still this is just a speculation and until president Llorente confirms it officially I would take this with a grain of salt, although Joma is probably the closest to reaching a sponsorship deal with Valencia and its almost done that Kappa will leave at the end of this season.

Champions League: Valencia CF 1-1 Schalke 04 - Match Report

The first leg of the champions league match between Valencia CF and Schalke 04 is over and Valencia is left bitter and surely bemoaning the missed chances and opportunities it had.

Unai Emery decided to play with the 4-1-2-1-2 formation which some may know it as 4-3-3, but its essentially different than standard 4-3-3. Anyways the standard line-up for this formation was selected with Topal as the defensive midfielder to cover at the back and get the balls from the back to the midfield and then Banega and Tino costa, with Banega playing as a playmaker and Tino Costa in a more attacking fashion.
Chori Dominguez is a bit forward, just behind the channels and his role is to basically run channels and create an extra men, so that our two strikers can abuse that space and score goals.

The match started with Valencia in possession, the ball circled in the midfield and then usually passed on the left side where Mathieu would act as a winger.
After 17 minuted this play proved very good and beneficial, as Valencia scored a goal after that play. Aritz Aduriz passed the ball to the oncoming Mathieu who ran past the Schalke right back and crossed the ball towards Soldado who managed to score from a pretty difficult position and Valencia was in the lead as early as the 17th minute.


From there on it was basically all Valencia with continuous attacks towards the Schalke goal and there were several good opportunities missed out. Topal and Tino tried long range shots but one was above the goal and the other headed straight into Neuer's hands. Mathieu was playing very good on the left side as a winger and was constantly making crosses in the penalty area and linking up well with Tino Costa as well.

Aduriz had a wonderful chance to make it 2-0 after being released by a smart and precise Tino Costa pass, but Aduriz somehow managed to ruin this chance and seriously I think that you need to try really hard to miss that kind of chance and even then I don't think its possible, but Aduriz did it and failed to put Valencia up by two goals.

Schalke on the other hand had few chances of their own as well, which looked rather dangerous due to Valencia's defense being so shaky. There were two real chances for Schalke early in the match where Guaita was forced to save and one actually went close to going in after Miguel was outjumped and the ball headed towards the far left post in a lob like fashion, but Guaita just barely managed to somehow get to the ball and force it over the bar, save the goal and keep Valencia in the lead.

The first half ended with Valencia leading 1-0 and the play was good with quite a few chances, firm control on the field, fast paced attacks. Valencia was the better team and from what anyone can tell it was headed towards a comfortable victory.


The second half started much in the same fashion as the first with Valencia with firm control over the game and attacking most of the time.

At the beginning there were few scrambles in the Schalke penalty area, Soldado and Aduriz were trying to make something out of some loose crosses, but the danger was always cleared by Schalke defenders.

Then Aduriz had 3 chances in a row to put Valencia 3-4 goals ahead and close the match, but he ended up ruining all of his chances. The first one he shot instead of passing, but the shot was not accurate and flew over the goal, on the second try he touched the ball weird and it was neither a shot, nor a pass and the ball ended wide of the goal once more. He had a decent chance later in the match where he missed a timing window in which he slid to redirect the ball towards goal after a cross from the left side.

In the 64th minute Schalke started a counter attack, Jurado was moving the pass forward with Topal covering him, but managed to get the pass towards Raul and after Navarro failed to get the ball off of Raul in what should have been an easy thing, Raul released a low curved shot and went past Guaita and in the net, Schalke managed to equalize.

Emery did a double change with Joaquin and Vicente for Banega and Chori, but it was pretty clear that reverting to a 4-4-2 formation won't help and we weren't really needing wingers, but rather another striker to take Aduriz place.


If I was on Unai Emery's place I would have introduced Pablo for Aduriz, move Chori as an attacker and Pablo in the attacking midfield position because he can actually play well there and is good at finding out players with some dangerous passes. Then after some time see how things go and then remove Banega and put Joaquin. Joaquin would go to the right wing and the formation would essentially become 4-2-2-2 with Tino and Topal furthest back in the middle, then Joaquin and Pablo a bit forward with Pablo in a free role as an attacking midfielder and Joaquin on the right side as his usual position of a winger and then the two strikers.
I really think this would have worked better instead of falling on the 4-4-2 formation and hope it works, which we saw it didn't.

Anyways after Schalke equalizer Valencia went forward even more, the two substitutions brought freshness on the wings but you can see the other players were beginning to slow down, Tino Costa was making bad passes, even worse crosses and losing the ball as soon as a Schalke player came close to him.

Joaquin had few dribbles on the right but he would end up dribbling 3 defenders and loose the ball, and on the other side on the left wing Vicente wasn't any more useful as he was loosing the ball often as well.

There was a decent chance after a low cross went from the left wing but Soldado and Aduriz missed the ball each by only milliseconds.

Just before the end Schmitz was shown a second yellow and automatic red card. What was the reason I have no clue as the linesman came towards the main referee said few things and the red card then came.

Ultimately the match ended 1-1 and it is disappointing for the Valencia fans and I'm sure the players, but not all its lost. The players played really good, had really fast pace and the attacks were quite fluid and dangerous, the only problem was in the conversion of these chance. If Valencia managed to convert only 30% of its chance it could have been 3-0 right now and not a measly 1-1 draw.

Its not a great result, but its not terrible either and Valencia still has a good chance to beat Schalke and continue in the tournament. All Valencia need to do in the second leg is score a goal and things will get back level again and from there on its anybody's game.

Technical Details:
Valencia CF (1): Guaita; Miguel, Ricardo Costa, David Navarro, Mathieu (min. 77, Jordi Alba); Éver (min. 67, Vicente), Tino Costa, Topal, Domínguez (min. 67, Joaquín); Soldado y Aduriz.

Schalke 04 (1): Neuer; Uchida, Howedes, Metzelder, Schmitz; Farfán, Kluge, Matip, Jurado (min. 81, Edu); Raúl y Huntelaar (min. 88, Hao).

Goals: 16th min. 1-0, Soldado; 64th min 1-1, Raúl.

Valencia CF -Schalke 04

Goals scored	1		1
Attempts on target	7		6
Attempts off target	9		3
Fouls committed	9		21

Player Ratings:
Guaita 8 - Made 3 brilliant saves, had a really difficult save to make after a headed lob towards him and then in the second half another dangerous shot that was fired towards him in the final stages of the match.
Miguel 6 - Good defensively, out jumped only once and provided a good support in the middle as he was receiving and passing the ball.
Navarro 3 - Not a confident performance, he was beaten few times and had to use nasty fouls to stop the opposition though went unpunished. At fault for Schalke's equalizer and along with Ricardo Costa were probably the weakest link in the team.
R. Costa 4 - Little better than Navarro, but beaten few times as well, made a mistake when passed the ball towards Guaita, but the ball went close to a Schalke attacker and Guaita was forced to slide out of the penalty area and kick the ball out.
Mathieu 7.5 - Played as a winger all match long, but still managed to return back in time and defend. Won all of his duels with Farfan and easily disposed of any danger from the left and assisted for the goal.
Topal 6 - Partially at fault for Schalke equalizer and he wasn't really committed to stopping the pass towards Raul, he could have denied any chance had he committed more and just put a foot forward, otherwise had a decent match.
Banega 6 - Good in the first half, passed the ball with good fluency and kept possession. Barely visible in the second half. Made several bad passes, lost the ball few times and was obviously substituted.
Tino 7 - Very active in attack, provided several great passes than mainly Aduriz couldn't capitalize on, came back fast and defended with urgency. Got tired later in the second half and his play became sloppy.
Chori 5.5 - Had few decent runs but mainly on the wings, several passes and few nice touches but that was about it.
Aduriz 1 - Worst match in Valencia shirt. He had 3 amazing chances to score, but ruined all and on top of that had few other decent opportunities, but failed to make anything out of them.
Soldado 6 - Hard working and enthusiastic, scored a beautiful goal and the ball seemed to fly to him in the first half. Somewhat less visible in the second half, lost quite a bit of duels in the penalty area and failed to race to the ball after a good cross in the later stages of the match.
Subs:
Joaquin 5 - Obviously motivated and willing to do something, but ended up dribbling himself on the wing and lost the ball every time. Needs to dribble once and then quickly pass or cross, right now he dribbles, dribbles, dribbles and looses the ball.
Vicente 4.5 - Lacks match form and it was all too obvious in his time on the pitch. Had few bad touches, missed passes and a lack of understanding with Mathieu and then Alba on the wing.
Alba N/A - Not enough time, though did have one good cross.

Valencia CF vs Schalke 04 Match Preview, Champions League

Uefa Champions League, round of 16. Valencia CF vs Schalke 04

Valencia's biggest match in few seasons is almost here. Valencia CF has been out of the Champion League competition for quite a while and last time it was in the competition it went out miserably.
Valencia has had few tests this season to find out if they can compete with the big teams in the biggest competition of the world and the results have been good, which means Valencia has what it takes to compete.

But now its different, its real, its here and its played over 2 rounds. Will the Valencia camp get intimidated, anxious, nervous, its the first time after so long that the team is this far in the Champions League and with a real chance of doing well. Will this pressure make or brake Valencia?

One thing is certain though, if Valencia are to beat Schalke 04 then they need a victory in the first match, which is of course player at the Mestalla. Achieving a good result at home is crucial to having a chance to beat Schalke 04. A good game will be if Valencia wins 2-0, or even 1-0, without conceding goals.

The sides' two previous competitive matches at Mestalla both ended in draws. It finished 0-0 in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage and 1-1 ten years previously in a UEFA Cup quarter-final second leg. On that occasion Schalke's 2-0 home win sent them through, while the 2007 Gelsenkirchen contest ended in a 1-0 victory for Valencia.

Team	G	GA	YC	RC	AT	AW	OF	CO	FC	Poss.(t)	Poss.(%)
FC Schalke 04	10	3	11	1	32	28	12	32	89	164	43%
Valencia CF	15	4	8	0	45	39	7	45	82	167	46%

Valencia CF play their biggest match in the entire season on Tuesday at the Mestalla stadium and only a win can set the path to beat Schalke 04, as you already all know German teams are very strong at home and with the support of their fans and enthusiasm may create problems for Valencia on the return leg.
This is why its very important Valencia to win the first match as comfortable as it can, preferably by not conceding a goal. Best result would be something like 2-0 or of course anything above like 3-0, etc...
But no doubt that a result of 2-0 will be great and will put Valencia in a comfortable position for the second leg of the match.

Valencia are on a good row of 7 wins in 9 matches in the Spanish league and they would hope to carry their good form over to the Champions League match.
Valencia now occupy 3rd place on the table, benefiting from Villarreal's slip-up against Deportivo this week and is on 47 points from 23 games.
Valencia also has a solid record in the Champions League with 15 goals scored and only 4 goals conceded. This makes a difference of 11, which is the second best difference along with Barcelona and Arsenal, with only Real Madrid having a better difference of 13.

Valencia's last six home games against German visitors have produced five draws and a defeat. Their most recent victory came in October 1996 with a 3-0 success against FC Bayern München in a UEFA Cup first round tie. They have won just three of their ten home matches against German sides; their overall record is W4 D9 L8.

Schalke 04 on the other hand are currently sitting in 10th position in the German bundesliga and have generally been struggling this season, even though they boost some great talent in their ranks like Klass-Jan Huntelar, Raul and their international goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
However the situation with Schalke 04 in the bundesliga they are still a dangerous team and even managed to play a draw with current bundelsiga leaders Dortmund just two weeks ago and won their last match against Freiburg. They are also very strong in the Champions League so far and have one of the best defensive records with Real Madrid and Manchester United the only clubs with better defensive records.


Schalke's record in eight competitive games away to other Spanish opponents includes two wins and a draw. In a total of 19 games their record is W6 D5 L8.

Interviews and conferences: 

Raúl González, Schalke 04 player
Valencia is a team Raúl knows all too well, having scored 12 goals (five at Mestalla) in 24 Liga games against them, plus one in Madrid's 3-0 UEFA Champions League final victory in May 2000. "It certainly won't be easy but, personally, I've got good memories from playing there," he said, sentiments no doubt shared by Spanish club-mates Sergio Escudero and José Manuel Jurado. "I played many games there at club level and with the national team.Valencia are a great team but this is going to be a very even tie. It's always a pleasure returning to Spain. It's a really great incentive for me especially playing against such a strong rival and in a stadium that generates a great atmosphere; it's an extraordinary setting to play a Champions League game

Christoph Metzelder, Schalke 04 player
Valencia and Schalke are a bit similar. We have had big changes as well. Valencia lost their key players in the summer.
I think both teams are saying: It will be hard, but it's feasible. Maybe it's a small advantage for us that the return leg will be here in Gelsenkirchen. I was involved in some great games at Valencia. There were always passionate matches when they played Madrid.

Unai Emery, Valencia CF coach
It's such a beautiful, attractive and exciting game to play in that we are not thinking about a result right now. The favourites for the Champions League are Real Madrid and Barcelona – after that there isn't much difference and Schalke 04 and Valencia are dead level. We believe in our qualities but respect our opponents' too – Schalke are very competitive.
There are several ex-Madrid players at Schalke and it shows you their quality; those players make the difference. This should be something that motivates us. The key point of this round is intelligence over 180 minutes, and being able to overcome individual and collective problems. It is a very important game. I came to this club to take them to where they want to be and there is a great opportunity for growth.

Felix Magath, Schalke coach
We're facing a very strong team who are third in the Spanish league and have done a great job in the Champions League, scoring a lot of goals. Valencia as a team are similar to Lyon but stronger in attack. We are hoping to get a goal to give ourselves a better chance in the second leg. The team are improving because they're getting to know each other and the way we work. In the Champions League we've been doing better because we've had many new, experienced players who needed time to get used to the Bundesliga.

I was expecting a reception like this because of the sense of expectation Raúl brings. Now I just hope he can score tomorrow. Raúl is a great player in football terms and in human terms is an example to follow both on and off the field.

Valencia CF official squad:  
Goalkeepers: Cézar, Guaita.
Defense: Bruno, Miguel, R. Costa, Dealbert, Navarro, Mathieu, Jordi Alba.
Midfield: Maduro, Topal, Ever, Tino Costa, Joaquín, Pablo, Mata, VIcente, Domínguez.
Attack: Jonas, Aduriz, Soldado.
David Albelda and Moya are still recovering from their long term injuries. Mata has been injured for 2 weeks, but its possible to be ready for this match. Jeremy Mathieu was having sickness on Saturday and has been rested and should be available for this match.
Stankevicious is out since he can't play for Valencia CF in the Champions League, but Valencia can select new signing Jonas and has all other defenders fit and ready.

Schalke 04 official squad:
Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer, Mathias Schober
Defense: Benedikt Höwedes, Christoph Metzelder, Lukas Schmitz, Atsuto Uchida, Sergio Escudero, Hans Sarpei
Midfield: Peer Kluge, Jefferson Farfan, Jurado, Julian Draxler, Hao Junmin, Joel Matip, Ali Karimi
Attack: Raul, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Mario Gavranovic, Edu


Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-1-2-1-2
Line up: Guaita; Miguel, Navarro, R. Costa, Mathieu; Topal, Banega, Tino, Chori; Soldado, Aduriz
Tactics: High attacking frequency by the full backs, medium defensive line and opposing field pressure, deep zone defensive midfielder, middle field attacks, mostly short passing with mixed crossing.
With Mata a doubt for this match and Banega and Chori rested, I can't see any other formation that Emery is going to play. Maybe a 4-4-2 would make sense, but that would make our defense vulnerable and with these defensive players we just can't take many risks.
The best answer for attack and defense is to have high ball possession and this is the formation and players that can do that.

Result prediction:
Valencia CF 2-1 Schalke 04
I know Emery is one of those safe tacticians and would be instructing the players to be careful and playing slow and I know that Schalke is going to be defending for most of the match and will be hoping for a draw, but there should be goals. I can see Valencia scoring two goals against Schalke, but I'm not too confident in our defense so I'm guessing we are going to concede a goal too.

Atletico Madrid 1-2 Valencia CF - Match Report

Atletico Madrid failed to halt their run of successive defeats at the Vicente Calderon and were left to rue a Diego Forlan missed penalty. Los Che scrapped hard for the 1-2 victory which moved the visitors into third in La Liga. The loss all but shatters Atleti's hope of reaching fourth place for another season.

Valencia battled hard without the likes of Juan Mata, injured, and Ever Banega out suspended and gradually grew in the game without ever really testing David De Gea in Atleti's goal but they made the most of the few chances they had.

Los Colchoneros took an early lead through a persistent and clinical Jose Antonio Reyes but despite dominanting the first-half for long periods found themselves going into the break on level terms, as Joaquin made the most of defensive lapses. Late in the second-half the Valencia captain ruined another evening this year for Atletico by placing a low shot beyond De Gea for the three points. Madrid finished the night with ten men, as Diego Godin was shown a straight red card for a high elbow.

A scrappy start by both clubs in the Spanish capital was quickly put to rest by the home side, Diego Forlan collected the ball wide on the left for Atletico Madrid and squared a nice ball into Jose Antonio Reyes; with only a few minutes on the clock the winger danced through two casual tackles and buried his shot into the far corner.


Quique Sanchez Flores' men settled down nicely after scoring and controlled the game in terms of territory but passing from both was sloppy. Valencia continued to lack shape despite some nice work from Roberto Soldado on the right wing, but the striker watched his dangerous cross just cleared out.


Clear cut chances were failing to materialise for a dominant Rojiblancos, captain Antonio Lopez twice in the thick of things. The left-back first claimed for a penalty as he poked the ball round Joaquin but there was neither contact on the ball or the player. Lopez then watched his rather tame free-kick deflect off the wall and fortunately for Valencia the ball went behind for a corner.

Valencia thought they had finally cut open Atleti five minutes before the break when a wonderful pass from Tino Costa split full-back and centre-back but Jordi Alba had just strayed offside. Los Che only had to wait a matter of seconds beofre they were infact level. Pablo Hernandez picked out Alba in space on the left and his low cross was missed by everyone near post, allowing Joaquin to tuck home his third of the season.

Atletico had more to worry about going into half-time with an injury to goalscorer Reyes. The winger was clipped by Hedwiges Maduro and tried to spin out the tackle, but landed awkwardly on his back.
The hosts made a bright start but couldn't force the early goal in the second period like they had done in the first, Tiago's drive finding a wall of orange shirts to deny the Portuguese midfielder.

Los Che were just getting themselves back in the game when Maduro brought down Reyes with a crunching tackle in the box to concede a penalty. However, the visitors had luck on their side as Diego Forlan could only drive his spot-kick back off the post.

Aguero looked like he was going to break his 2011 duck with a turn of speed Valencia couldn't keep tabs with but the Argentine's shot was smothered by Vicente Guaita.

The game was becoming end to end as both sides went for the kill. Pablo Hernandez fed Jordi Alba on the overlap but the wing-back could only hit the side netting with his shot. It was the same result at the other end when a poor clearance dropped kindly for Reyes, but his volley was palmed round the post.

Frustrations could be heard all round the ground from the home fans making their voices heard with every missed opportunity and Atletico were made to pay late on. Mehmet Topal's burst down the left caught the hosts out at the back, and his pull-back was perfectly placed into the corner by Joaquin for his second of the night.

It went from bad to worse for the red and whites, Diego Godin being harshly sent-off leading with an elbow on Joaquin. The defender kept his eyes on the flight of the ball going up for the header but the referee saw intent in the challenge and Sanchez Flores looked a disturbed man in the dugout.
The loss keeps Atletico in 8th place in the table, while Valencia leapfrog Villarreal into third temporarily.

Source: Goal.com

Technical details:
Atlético (1): De Gea, Valera, Antonio López, Tiago, Forlán, Raúl García (Mario Suarez, min. 82), Agüero, Fran Mérida (Juanfran, min. 61), Godín, Reyes y Perea.

Valencia CF (2): Guaita, Bruno (Miguel, min. 74), Maduro (Navarro, min. 78), Topal, Joaquín, Soldado (Aduriz, min. 63), Stankevicius, Pablo H., Ricardo Costa, Tino Costa y Jordi Alba.

Goals: 2nd min. 1-0  Reyes; 40th min. 1-1 Joaquín; 85th min 1-2 Joaquín.

Player Ratings:
Guaita 7 - Several good saves, looked confident through the match. 
Bruno 5.5 - Good defensively, did not go forward and was more comfortable sitting in defense.
Stankevicious 6 - Decent showing, did not make any bad mistakes and was largely good in defense.
Maduro 5 - Probably the worst player on the pitch. Almost gifted Atletico a second goal with his penalty give away.
R. Costa 5 - Beaten once, but it counted. Other than that it was a decent match.
Alba 6 - Went forward a lot more than Bruno, has few shots on goal and one good cross that found Joaqin. Was in the middle of the mess for the first goal and that counts as negative.
Joaquin 8 - Scored the two goals and certainly best player, along with Pablo. Some ruined dribbles, but provided when important.
Topal 6 - Not too influential with so many defenders and didn't link-up good with Tino Costa. He several interceptions, but nothing stand out.
Tino Costa 6.5 - Bonus point for running without stopping and having that killer pass. Not very influential in the midfield and of course could not manage possession.
Pablo 7.5 - The most creative player in the field, provided 1 assist and created the chance that lead to the first goal.
Soldado 6 - Good when going on the wing, but unlucky that he was the striker, the one that should be in the penalty area and had no one to play with.
Subs:
Aduriz 5.5 - Probably did not have enough time, but did nothing more than what Soldado already did.
Miguel N/A - He had 2 sloppy passes, but not enough time overall to judge him.
Navarro N/A - Made one crucial interception, but again not enough time to form a mark.
NOTE: Did a small score update, increased alba's score by 0.5 and reduced soldado score by 0.5, this is after seeing the match again.

Atletico Madrid vs Valencia CF - Match Preview

One of the biggest rivalry Valencia CF has is with Atletico Madrid. While teams like Hercules and Levante are the historical rivals, they have barely played against Valencia and realistically the rivalry stands as one of a more historical value than it really is.
The rivalry with Atletico Madrid is real though, since these are two teams that have been almost equally successful through the history of the Spanish league and have always exchanged punches. Valencia is the one with a slight advantage in success, but Atletico is always trying to overcome Valencia.

These two teams have played 141 matches against each others and both clubs have 52 wins each. In fact in recent times these two have been so equal that last season, as well as this one all matches, but one have ended in a draw. Yes, the only reason Atletico Madrid advanced in the Uefa Cup, now the Europa cup is because of the away goal rule.

This season Valencia has a chance to revenge last seasons Uefa cup dismissal from Atletico Madrid by beating them on their home ground in front of their own fans. Valencia has so far had a quite well season, while Atletico Madrid has been struggling a bit and are under pressure to perform and bring in good results.

Atletico Madrid currently sit at 8th position on the table with 30 points, 14 less than Valencia CF who sit at 4th spot, only 1 point behind Villarreal.
Atletico Madrid has scored 31 goals and conceded 29 goals, which is a pretty good result statistically speaking, the problem is that they have conceded goals when drawing and thus resulting in a loss and no points.

Atletico Madrid squad: to be announced...


Valencia CF on the other hand are one point behind 3rd placed Villarreal and are on a unbeaten run of 8 matches. Everyone will want to continue this streak and with the way Atletico Madrid have been playing, a win is also not that far off.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Guaita, Saúl.
Defense: Miguel , Bruno, David Navarro, Stankevicius, Ricardo Costa, Dealbert, Jordi Alba.
Midfield: Maduro, Topal, Tino Costa, Pablo, Joaquín, Vicente.
Attack: Jonas, Domínguez, Aduriz, Soldado.

Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line up: Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicious, R. Costa, Alba; Topal, Tino Costa, Joaquin, Vicente, Chori, Soldado.
Tactics: N/A
To tell you the truth, I have no idea what formation Emery is going to use or the tactics for probably the only second time in the season.
Valencia is playing away and from one side Emery could go the safe route and establish a 4-2-3-1 formation, or he could really open up and set up the 4-4-2 formation, as we now have the players. We have 4 attackers and we can not fear one not playing well or getting injured, since we have it covered.

Result prediction:
Atletico Madrid 1-2 Valencia CF
These teams have more draws in recent times than Barcelona has wins. Depending on how we open up this match I expect either a draw or a victory. Historically I would call this a draw, especially since Valencia play away from home, but Atletico Madrid have been playing really poorly and I hope Valencia can take advantage of it and win.

Valencia CF earns 1/4th of Barcelona and Real Madrd

Deloitte’s annual report on European football revenues has been released, and it reveals that once again Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona top the game’s money league.

I think you guessed who the top two would be, its not that hard to guess considering all stuff.

1st. Real Madrid; Revenue: €438.6m. Last year €401.4m
2nd Barcelona; Revenue: €398.1m. Last year €365.9m
3rd Manchester United: Revenue €349.8m. (€327m) 

As you can see the biggest money clubs are Barcelona and Real Madrid and incase someone was wondering why and how Spanish league was a 2 horse race, here is your answer - money. Only Real M. and Barca can purchase the best world players and it doesn't matter if they are 100 million euros or 40 million euros, they can do it. In fact Sandro Rosell(barca president) said he was planning a 60 million euros offer for Cesc Fabregas in the upcoming summer.


Valencia on the other hand gets about 40 million euros for TV rights, it gets about 40 million from ticket sales, it gets around 5 million for accessories and an additional 5-10 millions from sponsorship deals.


So all accounted for Valencia earns around 90-100 million euros per season, of course much depending on the success of the season.


I think its safe to say that Spanish league wont be competitive for at least another few years.

Valencia CF players called on international duty

Few Valencia CF players have been called for international duty for their respective countries.

First up is Ever Banega who has been called for the Argentina national team and seems likely that he is going to start for Argentina in the friendly against Portugal. He and Mascherano have formed a good partnership in the middle for Argentina.

Ricardo Costa also got into Portugal's squad, after Real Madrid's Ricardo Carvlaho sustained an injury. Ricardo gave an interview just several days earlier, saying how he would like to be called up for Portugal national squad and he got his chance.

Maduro is also called up for the Holland national squad and he seems to be becoming a regular player for Holland. Maduro created the chance and provided the assist that led to the only goal in Holland's last match, in which they won 1-0.

Jeremy Mathieu once again was not called for French national squad, Manuel Fernandes lost his place in the Portugal national squad after the change of coaches there, Topal was also overlooked by Guus Hiddink for Turkey national squad and Del Bosque did not call up Pablo, Soldado or Aduriz for Spain, even though his squad has been reduced to 20 man from injuries. Mata is injured and he also won't make the Spanish team, although this may be a good thing, since Valencia play in the Champions League very soon against Schalke 04 and will need all players rested, fit and injuries-free.

Valencia CF 2-0 Hercules CF - Match Report

Valencia CF had a great weekend, after every possible result going its way, from Villarreal loosing, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla and Espanyol all loosing and allowing Valencia CF with 3 points to catch up to Villarreal, as well as get away from the closest club behind it, Espanyol.

It was all down to Valencia CF to get the 3 points and climb to only 1 point behind Villarreal and escape Espanyol and right now Atletico Bilbao, who after their win are one point ahead of Espanyol.


Unai Emery decided to go with the formation that he used in the second half in the last match with few minor changes to the line-up. For example Topal took Maduro's place as a defensive midfielder and Bruno took Miguel's place, since Miguel has been hit with big personal problems and is facing 5 years in jail.


The match started with low tempo, though as early as the 4th minute Tino Costa had a shot on goal, but the ball went wide.

Valencia CF was having most of the possession and was slowly pushing towards Hercules goal. In the 12th minute Ever Banega also tried his luck with a long range effort, but his shot went wide also.

Hercules managed a rare counter attack in the 18th minute and tried to threaten Valencia's goal, but couldn't really make anything out of it.

Valencia was having control of the ball, but the chances weren't easy to come by. Banega tried a long pass to Bruno in a dangerous area to Hercules, but Bruno failed to control the ball and it went into goal kick.
Hercules countered and after a good link-up Abel send a powerful shot towards Valencia's goal, but it went over the crossbar.

Valencia had another good chance to score a goal in the 38th minute after a corner by Tino found Topal, but his shot only managed to hit the bar even though he shot from just few meters away from goal.

The match seemed destined to finish 0-0 at half time, but then Navarro send a pass to Soldado who made a superb pass through a Hercules defender legs and found Aduriz and this one somehow luckily scored a goal in the 42th minute. In fact I'm not even sure if Aduriz touched the ball, though it somehow went into the net. Magic maybe?


The second half started with Valencia again in control of the ball and once again this will pay off, as Tino Costa managed to score a goal in the 53rd minute of the match from a well taken free kick.

After the second goal Valencia seemed to go down in lower gear and the play eased up a  bit with neither side really pushing towards goal and a good 15 minuted were played solely in the middle of the field. A rare chance came towards Soldado who headed the ball towards goal, but it didn't went in.


Aduriz had a claim for a penalty in the 75th minute after he fell down in the penalty area, but realistically he failed to make the most of a great pass to him and should have scored a goal then.

Hercules mounted a good attack in the closing stages of the match after a Stankevicious mess. As it turns out Stankevicious decided to dribble against a Hercules player with the goal totally exposed and lost the ball. After a rebound from Topal the ball came to one of Hercules attackers, but Guaita made a terrific save to deny Hercules a goal.

Valencia had 2 more chances to increase the score after Soldado managed to steal a ball from a Hercules defender, managed to get the ball flying in the air and as the ball was coming down he and substitute Joaquin mixed up, made a mess and even though Soldado managed to shoot at Hercules goal the same player who lost the ball managed to save his goal. Alba then made a good pass to Soldado, but Soldado only managed to shoot straight in the goalkeeper.

Ultimatelly the match ended in a 2-0 victory for Valencia, a victory that puts it into a good position with just 1 less point than Villarreal.

Technical Details:
Valencia CF (2): Guaita; Bruno, Stankevicius, Navarro, Mathieu; Éver (Joaquín, min. 85), Tino Costa, Topal, Domínguez (Isco, min 75); Soldado y Aduriz (Jordi Alba, min. 84).

Hércules CF (0): Calatayud; Cortés, Juanra, Rodríguez, Peña (Gomes, min. 39); Fritzler, Abel Aguilar (Drenthe, min. 62); Tote, Thomert (Rufete, min. 73), K. Femenía; Valdez.

Goals: 43min. 1-0 Aduriz; 52min. 2-0 Tino Costa.

Player Ratings:
Guaita 7 - Great save in the 81st minute to deny Hercules a goal. Had few more good saves.
Bruno 6.5 - Unspectacular but effective in the back, reasonably good going forward.
Navarro 6 - Did not have too much to do, but nothing really messy and did a good job.
Stankevicious 5.5 - Had a great match and then decided to dribble and gave Hercules the ball and a huge chance to score. Other than this huge mistake he had a great match overall.
Mathieu 7 - Solid defensively and offered good support going forward as well, had a bit more trouble later on when Drenthe came in for Hercules, but still won most of the duels.
Topal 6 - Very good positioning, kept things simple with short safe passes and helped out in defense when needed.
Banega 7 - The driving force in the midfield, spread the ball well and had great one-two passes with Tino. Had few shots, but most importantly kept possession for Valencia.
Tino 7.5 - Scored a superb goal as usual, very active all over the field, fought for every ball and came back sprinting to help in defense every time.
Chori 6 - Good showing, although not very influential. He had two great through passes that found their target, but regrettably the players would not use them.
Soldado 7 - Once again a great performance from Soldado. Unlucky not to get on the score board himself, but set up Aduriz goal with a superb pass and played really well, especially linking-up with Aduriz.
Aduriz 6 - Scored a goal, but failed to convert many opportunities. Found good positions, but as I've said he failed to convert many opportunities he had.
Subs:
Isco 5 - Had few touches with the ball, but you can see that he was very anxious and made several mistakes. He needs more confidence and more playing time in the first team obviously to iron out the mistakes and be more calm and confident.
Alba N/A - Not enough time
Joaquin N/A - Not enough time