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

Valencia CF vs Hercules CF - Match Preview

On February the 6th Valencia CF will welcome Hercules CF on the Mestalla in what would be yet another important match and pursuit for 3 points.

Valencia CF currently sits at 4th spot on the table with 41 points and will be looking to add 3 more points in this next match against Hercules and hopefully come closer to Villarreal, yet at the same time adding more points between Espanyol.

It is going to be hard to catch Villarreal even if Valencia CF wins, as Villarreal will have to loose points, but they play at home as well and are most likely to win. Valencia CF has some comfort because they are going to play against Villarreal, Barcelona, Sevilla and R. Madrid at home.

Valencia has had some good and some bad news this past week. Bad news is that Miguel is in a lot of trouble after its peen publicized that he faces 5 years in jail and then he showed his middle finger to reporters just 2 days ago, Mathieu has been offered take it or leave it contract extension, R. Costa got a red card in the last match and is not available for selection, and the likes of Cezar, Moya, Albelda and Mata are still recovering from their injuries.

Good news is that Navarro's red card was erased by the referee committee and will be available for selection, new arrival Jonas has been incorporated in the squad and is practicing with the rest of the team, Banega has been playing well and Chori has expressed motivation to keep on working in order to help the team.

Valencia is currently on a row of 7 unbeaten matches in La Liga and last time they've lost was against Real Madrid on December 5th in 2010. Valencia also just failed to make it to 6 straight wins after it only managed a draw against Racing.

Valencia CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Guaita, Saul.
Defense: Bruno, David Navarro, Dealbert, Stankevicius, Miguel, Mathieu, Jordi Alba.
Midfield: Topal, Banega, Maduro, Tino Costa, Isco, Pablo, Joaquin.
Attack: Dominguez, Soldado, Aduriz, Jonas.

Hercules CF on the other hand are currently sitting in 13th place on the table with 22 points and are struggling at the moment. In fact they've lost their last 3 matches and have lost quite a bit of ground in the mid table fight.

Hercules have conceded 34 goals and they have one of the worst defenses in the Spanish League, only better to Sevilla, Almeria and Malaga. They boost quite an attacking threat in the form of David Trezeguet and Nelson Valdez and between them they have scored 16 goals. Even though their two forwards are quite dangerous and have scored 16 goals between them, they are still overall at the middle of the pack in terms of goals scored.

Hercules main goal against Valencia will be to get a draw and stop their recent string of losses and with that get back on track for a mid table finish.

Hercules biggest problem right now and one that could endanger their plans for a draw is injuries to three of their central defenders Pamarot Noah, Abraham Paz and Momo Sarr. Hercules only have one central defender, Sergio Rodríguez, to face Valencia and their coach Esteban Vigo will have to find a way to overcome this problem.

Hercules CF squad:
Goalkeepers: Juan Calatayud, Piet Velthuizen, Unai Alba
Defense: Paco Peña, Juanra Cabrero, David Cortés, Sergio 'Rodri' Rodríguez
Midfield: Abel Aguilar, Cristian Hidalgo, Francisco Rufete, Matías Fritzler, Tiago Gomes, Rosyston Drenthe, Kiko Femenía, Olivier Thomert
Attack: David Trezeguet, Nelson Valdez, Javier Portillo, Tote López


Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-1-2-1-2
Line up: Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicious, Navarro, Alba; Maduro, Tino, Banega, Chori, Soldado, Aduriz.
Tactics: Center field attacks, medium defensive line, hugh opposing team pressure, CF player in free role, position swaps between the midfield players.
I think its the most reasonable formation in order to keep possession and be threatening. We've seen that formations with one striker don't work and unless VCF plays 4-4-2 formation the wing players just don't seem to know how to play and this is why I think this is going to be the formation and player of choice for Unai Emery.

Result prediction:
Valencia CF 3-1 Hercules CF
Hercules have enough firepower upfront to hurt our defense knowing they have the experienced and reliable Trezeguet and the talented Valdez with his pace and trickery.
Even though I think our defense is going to concede a goal, Valencia CF should also have enough firepower upfront to score 3 goals and enough talent in the midfield to control the game.

Valencia's Miguel Brito never learns

Unai Emery stopping a fight

Few days ago a report emerged from a news paper about Valencia's right back Miguel Brito, the report claimed it had internal knowledge about a situation 2 years ago in which Miguel Brito shot with a gun towards a night club, after not being allowed to enter.
The report claims Miguel faces possible 5 years in jail and you would think Miguel would learn something from that, but no just 2 days after the report was published he was seen showing his middle finger towards media reporters.



He later claimed that he was not showing the middle fingers at the reporters, but at one specific man who supposedly "disrespected" him.
I think its too little, too late to try to defend itself and he should learn from his mistakes and not repeat them.

This is not Miguel's second time he has been in trouble, he has constantly been involved in assaults, accidents and other unlawful behavior.

Would the law finally catch up to Miguel? We'll need to wait and see.

I'm going to brake your neck! -Miguel Brito his usual self.

Chori Dominguez and Tino Costa interviews

Choriz Dominguez yesterday played against Racing after being left out of the squad for quite some time and he helped Valencia CF get a point. Chori was also in a situation about possibly moving to Juventus on loan.

He had this to say after the match "I was anxious all day as I was waiting for news about the possible loan move and knew that I would be removed from the squad if the deal was agreed upon. As soon as the coach told me that he counted on me, I knew I was staying in Valencia and my thoughts were on getting a positive result in the match."

He also think Valencia played better in the second half and may have even gotten a win: "We played well in the second half and we had chances to win the match, but unfortunately we only managed to get a point".

Chori also had good welcoming words for new Valencia arrival Jonas and said how this player can help Valencia.

Alberto Tino Costa also had some comments after the match and spoke of himself: "I'm pleased with my personal progress, but as a team we are not putting the best performance".
"We knew that if we score an early goal, we would have a chance to win, but we just couldn't do it and next week at the Mestalla we can't loose any points.

He also spoke of his fellow Argentinian Chori Dominguez:"Chori was very good tonight and with his arrival our play became much better and more fluent. I think there is place for him in the team yet".

Racing Santander 1-1 Valencia CF - Match Report

Another match, another thriller and another exciting match. While we lost 2 points at least the match was fun to watch and on the positive side we increased our lead over Espanyol.

The first half was not the best, Valencia had possession, but could not convert it into chances, not to mention goals. In fact Racing was quite more dangerous on the counter attack and R. Costa was caught twice out of position. Statistically looking Valencia had only one shot towards Racing goal, while they had 4 shots towards Valencia goal, one of which went in.

The goal for Racing was the luckiest thing I've seen this season, after a corner was cleared the ball was crossed back into Valencia penalty area only for Tino Costa to misjudge his jump and assist Ariel to score a goal in the 32nd minute. Guaita probably should have done a bit better, but its hard to judge since he was alone with 3 opposing players.

The first half was nearing and Valencia wasn't taking advantage of all the possession it had. Tino Costa was making bad pass, after bad pass, Joaquin dribbling too much and loosing the ball too often and Pablo ineffective over the left wing and was making too many inaccurate through passes.

Second half started with two substitutions as Chori Dominguez went in after a long pause from competitive game for Pablo and Soldado went in for Joaquin.

The formation now transformed to 4-3-1-2 with Chori playing just behind the strikers. This seemed to work and instantly you can see improvement in Valencia's play. In fact the reason why Valencia didn't win is probably because Mathieu and Aduriz failed to convert few good passes/crosses.

The trio of Banega, Tino and Chori was functioning well and Tino was playing significantly better in the second half. He actually scored the only goal for Valencia in the 77th minute after a corner with a superb shot. He also made 2 good passes to Mathieu and Aduriz who failed to use the passes to good effect.

Valencia was pressing all the way to the end, but just couldn't find the winning goal. In the meantime R. Costa got a second yellow and automatically a red card, undeserved one actually and then in stoppage time Mehdi from Racing got a second yellow card and automatic red too.

Valencia and its fans are left wishing for the 3 points and if Valencia played 90 minutes like it did in the second half a victory would have been more probable. But anyways we must now look forward towards our next match and hope we win then.

Technical details:
Valencia CF (1): Guaita, Bruno (Miguel, min. 71), R. Costa, Stankevicius, Mathieu, Maduro, Ever, Tino Costa, Joaquín (Soldado, min. 45), Pablo (Chori, min 45) y Aduriz.

Rácing Santander (1): Toño, Francis, Torrejón, Henrique, Christian (Cisma, min. 65), Lacen, Colsa, Adrián, Kennedy, Ariel y Rosenberg (Arana, min. 65).

Goals: 32min 1-0 Ariel; 77min 1-1 Tino Costa;

Player Ratings:

Guaita 6 - Maybe he could have done better for the goal, but its hard to say really. Didn't have much work otherwise and apart from stopping a shot early in the first half was barely tested.

Bruno 6 - Good defensively and covered his side well, but did not offer anything in attack.

R. Costa 5 - Had two mistakes early in the match as he was beaten for the ball first time and then caught out of position. Had two good intervention as well and made some interceptions that keep his score at 5.

Stankevicious 6 - The best defender tonight as he intercepted several balls and defended really well.

Mathieu 5 - Had at least one good chance, but he failed to snatch the ball, maybe was thinking he was offside though. Anyways not the most productive going forward and too many times caught in attack and left the left defensive position vulnerable.

Maduro 5.5 - Had an early blunder as he passed the ball slowly to the goalkeeper and was almost caught by Racing attacker. Also felt down later on, lost the ball and that could have resulted in a goal. Improved in the second with the rest of the team and was more active and actually useful.

Tino Costa 5.5 - Poor first half, great second half. How to rate such performance? Made numerous inaccurate passes in the first half, lost the ball way too often and didn't prove much of anything. Second half he was like another player with a lot more accurate passing, scored the goal and made two brilliant passes. 

His assist to Ariel weighs down a lot though and if it wasn't for that mistake Valencia may have celebrated a win tonight.

Banega 7.5 - The only consistent performer in the first and second half. Was forced to come back and get the ball in the first half as he was not getting the ball from Tino or Maduro. Even better in the second as the whole team improved and was spreading the ball very well, great linkup with Tino and Chori and made several creative passes to get something going.

Pablo 5 - Really ineffective on the left wing. Made several through passes that were too obvious and inaccurate and apart from that nothing more.

Joaquin 5 - Similar performance to Pablo, but this one dribbled until he lost the ball. Not much creativity or energy.

Aduriz 5 - In offside position 3 times, failed to control the ball twice and ruined the potential chances. Improved somewhat in the second, but largely useless.

Subs:

Chori 6 - Better than Pablo and Joaquin certainly and ran well creating spots for the attacking players, had few good passes, but few bad judgements also and seems a bit rusty.

Soldado 7 - Twice in a row a match changer. Came in and instantly provided an attacking threat. Very active, seeked out good positions and provided a much needed attacking threat.

Miguel 6 - Had one good cross and one more cross that became more of a shot. He also had a real shot on goal and did quite better in attack than Bruno.

Racing Santander vs Valencia CF - Match preview

Racing Santander will host Valencia CF at El Sardinero tomorrow in what will be another crucial match for Valencia CF.

Racing Santander has two losses and one draw in the last 3 matches and is currently sitting 16th on the table with only 20 points, just 2 more above relegation zone clubs.
The main threat for Valencia CF will probably be Markus Rosenberg, Racing's top goalscorer with 5 goals.
Racing have scored a total of 15 goals in La Liga, but have received 29 goals, though they are still one of the best defensive sides in the bottom 10 clubs.

Only thing going for Racing is their good form in their home stadium where they have not been beaten since last September.

Tono had this to say when interviewed about the match against Valencia CF: “Against Valencia CF, we must keep our good results at El Sardinero stadium, where we’ve added quite a lot of points and have been scored just a few goals. That’s the way we must go on”.

Racing Santander squad: to be announced...

Valencia CF on the other hand are on a winning streak of 5 matches in a row and haven't lost in the last 6 matches in La Liga. Valencia CF managed to somehow continue its streak last weekend against Malaga with a bit of luck and refereeing decisions going in its favor, but the play wasn't really great for the Valencia CF fans, maybe for the neutral viewers, but not for anyone else.

Since the match against Malaga Valencia CF has purchased Brazilian striker Jonas from Gremio for 1.2 million euros and he should complete our attacking options, as previosly Valencia CF had only 2 natural strikers with Soldado and Aduriz. Jonas won't feature in tomorrow match as he is yet to fully complete his transfer, but should be available for selection next week.

After the big defensive mistakes suffered against Malaga, Emery has been working on tightening up the defense and practicing R. Costa and Stankevicious in a partnership and Dealbert with Navarro as the second partnership in short match practices.

The biggest problem would be who to choose for the midfield roles after last weeks obvious problems in the midfield as well. Does he start Tino Costa or Ever Banega in a more advanced midfield role and the second choice would be to either start Topal or Maduro in a defensive midfield role.

Vicente is injured for almost two weeks now and Mata was injured in training after a collision with Navarro. David Albelda, Cezar Sanchez and Moya are still injured, though the two goalkeepers are slowly recovering and I wouldn't be surprised in they are fully fit in a week or so. Dealbert has been left out of the squad after last weeks miserable game.

Anyways you can expect a tough match in which Racing is going to play mostly defensively and will try to get a draw in order to continue their good home and form and Valencia will search for a win in order to get away from either Espanyol or Villareal, as tonight these two clubs are playing each other and one is bound to loose points.

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

Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-4-2
Line up: Guaita; Miguel, Stankevicious, R. Costa, Mathieu; Joaquin, Topal, Banega, Pablo, Soldado, Aduriz.
Tactics: High frequency crosses from the right wing, low defensive line, medium opposing team pressure.
The biggest change in tactics would be the defensive line and in this match it will be set to low in order to tighten up the defense and allow the defensive midfielder to fall back faster and be able to more effectively break up opposition attacks. With Vicente and Mata injured, Pablo is probably going to play on the left wing, but he will also be free to roam the field in attack and at times even play as a creative midfielder just behind the attackers.

Result prediction:
Racing Santander 0-2 Valencia CF
I can see Valencia CF winning this match and anything less will be considered a failure, especially since Racing is fighting for survival. If Valencia is able to play good football with good ball possession and iniciative I can see Valencia winning 2-0. Its not going to be easy though as seen from the past matches  and if Racing put enough pressure we may concede a goal.
Anyways I strongly believe will see a better game from Valencia and we should be able to win.

Official: Sofiane Feghuoli joins Almeria on a loan deal

Valencia have confirmed that Sofiane Feghouli has joined fellow Spanish Primera Division club Almeria on loan for the rest of the season.

Feghouli has made just three Liga appearances and played just once each in the Copa del Rey and in the Champions League.

The loan contract doesn't have any buy-option for Almeria.
.

Brazilian striker Jonas from Gremio transfers to Valencia CF

While its still not official, the transfer can only fail if the player has failed his medical exam, so its a pretty done deal.

Brazilian striker Jonas Gonçalves Oliveira has signed for Valencia CF from Gremio for a fee of 1.2 million euros. Jonas signed a contract with Valencia that will have him stay in Valencia 4 and a half years, starting from this January. It seems that Valencia used the players low release clause of 1.2 million euros to snatch the player from Gremio and has also offered him a better salary of around 1.000.000 euros.

The player considered this his big chance and happily accepted the offer from Valencia CF.
If you ask me I'd say this is a very good deal at a bargain price for a good striker. If he settles well in Valencia and with the Spanish style of football he could become an important player for Valencia. Whatever the case at least now Valencia has 3 strikers and Valencia can play more often with the 4-4-2 formation as there would be no fears now of Aduriz or Soldado getting fatigued or injured.