Can Valencia CF challenge for La Liga title?

There is one short answer and that is no, but that would be too simple and undeserving of a post, so I'm going to go into more detail if Valencia CF can challenge for La Liga title in the next season.

First let me start with the fairly known facts why Valencia CF can't challenge for La Liga title this season and then transfer to next season.

First of all Valencia CF is technically still a mess, a mess worth of 400 million euros and even though the money from the Champions League were good and Valencia CF is profitable once again, the debt will only be reduced by 50 million euros till the end of this season and only if there are no significant transfer purchases.

The only way Valencia CF can get any value in the market and reduce the debt is by selling Mata as he is the only player right now in Valencia CF that is worth more than 20 million euros. With a bit of negotiations Valencia CF can easily sell him for 25 million euros and bring home some much needed cash.

The other thing is that Valencia CF is still in the building process, with Unai Emery the club has achieved stability and consistent results, though its understandable that the fans want to challenge La Liga and the European competitions and this is something that Emery has not able to achieve and the circumstances have certainly not allowed it.

The circumstances are clear and those are huge debt, coming off a terrible season 3 years ago under Koeman and this season the selling of Villa and Silva, but the bigger reasons why Valencia can't challenge for La Liga title are Barcelona and Real Madrid. They are just too big and too powerful, they have all the prestige in the world and all the money in the world and contrary to popular belief money does buy you success, maybe not immediately and each time, but its a big part of being successful at least in today's game of football.

The Spanish league is essentially a two horse race for now, but the fans of Valencia CF are questioning if next Valencia CF can challenge the big two next season.

There is no clear answer and it will depend on the circumstances, for example will Unai Emery stay as coach of Valencia CF, which players will be sold and purchased, how will Barcelona and Real Madrid strengthen and will the smaller clubs in Spain be more challenging or not.

I think Valencia is on a good path, on a path from which the team can only grow and improve, but this is still a dirt road, while the big two clubs are racing on an American speed circuit, the ones that Nascar race on.

The biggest thing for Valencia would be the coach, will Emery contract be extended or not and if not who is going to be the next coach for Valencia. Bring a coach that isn't ready to coach a team like Valencia and you may have a problem and its a risk, but that risk may pay off. Valencia's president Llorente may bring an experienced Spanish coach and the team may continue to be stable and with expected results, but its unlikely to achieve anything big like winning any tournament.
The other option is extend Emery's contract and hope that he has improved enough and has enough experience now to take the team to the next level.

The other important aspect are the transfers and these always have big influence on the play. The summer transfers can make or break a team and while these past 2 years Valencia CF has improved significantly in this department, there is still a risk the mistakes from the past will show their ugly head.

This season if Valencia CF finish third is going to very successful, but I think next season the team will be better and if it isn't going to challenge for the Spanish title, its going to go further in the Spanish cup and Champions league.

Valencia CF replacement coaches for Unai Emery - analysis

I'm going to do a little bit of analasys of which coaches can replace Emery, should he be let go in the summer.
The coaches that will be on the list are some fan favorites and they are thought to be able to produce better results than emery.

1. Rafael Benitez. This for some is the most logical choice as older fans will remember one of the biggest successes of Valencia Cf with him as the coach and are likely to support such a move.
Lets not forget though that while Rafa is no doubt a good coach, his most successive spell was when he was in Valencia from 2001 to 2004. He won the Champions League with Liverpool and then brought Liverpool once again in the final, but he failed to win the Premier League with Liverpool in his 6 years with them.

Most notably is the recent failure with Inter where he managed to take out Inter out of the Serie A league championship battle in less than 4 months.

Today's Rafael Benitez is a different coach than the young one he was when he came to Valencia and won trophy's and then won trophy's with Liverpool also. Valencia is a different side also and Barcelona and Real Madrid are different beasts now all together.

Chance of success: 6/10 - Its unlikely he is going to produce the results for Valencia at this time and age.

2. Michael Laudrup. People like him because he is a young and promising coach and he has had a good playing career as well, so he is a known name. While his playing career is rich and successful, his coaching career is still a question. He has been very successful with Getafe reaching the Copa Del Ray finals and loosing to Valencia CF, as well as the quarter finals of the Uefa cup and loosing to Bayern Munich.

He went to coach Spartak Moscow and was a huge fluke having made a string of bad results and was sacked within 7 months. He is now coach at Mallorca who are currently 10th at the table with no notable results.

Chance of success: 5/10 - This is too much of a risk. He had one great season with Getafe, but has also been a flop, so its a 50-50% chance of success or huge failure.

3. Mauricio Pochettino. He is currently ridding a wave of success and hype, leading a mediocre team of youths and average players fighting for European competition. His coaching career is very new and he is very inexperienced as a coach. His first season at Espanyol he brought them from relegation zone and they finished 11th and this season are fighting for a spot in the European league. He is yet to achieve something notable in his coaching career.

Chance of success: 3/10 - He is a decent coach, but not at the level required to coach Valencia CF. He is neither experienced, nor successful and is very new to the coaching scene.

4. André Villas Boas - Much like Pochettino, Andre Villas is riding a wave of success and hype. He has been for most of his career an assistant of the now infamous Jose Mourinho, so he has had the pleasure of learning from one of the best coaches in the world. He was Jose's assistant coach in Porto and later in Chelsea and Inter.

In his first season as head coach he helped guide relegation team Academica to respectable 11th place finish and Portugeese league cup semi final. This season he has been Porto head coach and has achieved great success so far, beating the record of 33 unbeaten matches previously set by Jose Mourinho.

Chance of success: 7/10 - He is very inexperienced, but has learned from the best and has achieved some success under his belt, although he should be judged at the end of the season. Its a risky endeavor if VCF sign him but it may just work. If it works its going to be very successful period for Valencia, if it doesn't it may be really bad.

5. Manuel Pelegrini. The most experienced coach from the bunch above and probably the most successful as well, with less titles won than Rafael Benitez though, but otherwise being way more successful.

He became recognized at Villarreal, although his previous tenures have proven just as successful, but it was Villarreal that put him on the map as one of the best coaches in Spain and Europe.While he hasn't won anything with Villarreal he brought the club on the map as well. Before that Villarreal was one of those less known clubs in Spain with fairly poor history.

He is currently the coach of Malaga and has a 5 year long contract, though he hasn't made much progress with Malaga and anything can happen at the end of the season if Malaga are relegated to second division.

Chance of success: 8/10 - With Pelegrini you know what you get, its going to be a steady performance with little highs or lows. While he can probably be very successful with Valencia CF in Spain, he is also a doubt if he can deliver European Success.

Real Zaragoza 4-0 Valencia CF - Match Report

Valencia CF needed to win against Zaragoza to forget the loss from Schalke 04 in the champions league, bounce up and continue its path to 3rd place in La Liga. It was going to be a hard away match that much was known, but Valencia CF needs to prove its quality over and over again and win in these kind of situations and show character.

The match started quite equally, but the first bigger chance for Zaragoza and they scored. After a free kick Uche managed to escape Bruno and then out jump Topal and head the ball past Guaita and into the net.

The match was quite uneventful and for most of the match there were some bad attacks, though Zaragoza were the more dangerous thanks to the mistakes of the Valencia CF midfield and Bruno in the defense with Zaragoza having a chance exactly similar to the one when they scored.

Valencia CF midfield was nowhere to be seen and could barely come close to Zaragoza goal, with one chance of note being a shot of Soldado that was deemed offside.

The biggest problem though was the attack being cut off from the rest of the players. Either Jonas and Soldado were playing too deep or the midfield was playing too deep and close to its own goal. I think it was a combination of both and then there was a clear lack of determination from the Valencia players, they all seemed still shaken from the loss to Schalke 04 and the abrupt stop of the champions league.

Unai Emery introduced Ever Banega for R. Costa in order to strengthen the midfield and link-up play better, but that didn't pay off either. Ever Banega first contact with the ball and he slipped giving Zaragoza a good chance to score and then just minutes later Zaragoza scored a second goal.

Valencia CF had 1 more half chance to score, but it wasn't to be. Overall the players looked tired, demoralized and undetermined and it wasn't strange that Zaragoza was leading 2-0.

Second half started a bit better for Valencia CF with more control over the ball, but once again the players could not muster up more than 2-3 passes in a row and lost the ball every time.

Zaragoza wasn't attacking or playing very good, but they were direct and effective, 4 chances and two goals in the first half and had additional 3 chances for goal in the second half. They were awarded two penalties also with Stankevicious making a soft foul, but still being awarded a penalty, he also got a second yellow and was sent off, Albelda came in to strengthen the defense, but soon after he also made a penalty and Zaragoza had no problems scoring from the two penalties.

Valencia has no chances for goal for the whole 90 minutes and apart from once chance from Soldado in the first half that was deemed offside and does not count they had to chances for goal.

Tino Costa had a measely shot on goal and pretty much nothing else, nothing seemed to work and this is the biggest defeat to Valencia this season.

Technical Details:
R. Zaragoza (4): Doblas, Diogo (Da Silva, min. 86), Paredes, Contini, Jorge López, Ander, Uche (Braulio, min. 60), Bertolo, Gabi (N'Daw, min,79), Jarosik y Ponzio.

Valencia CF (0): Guaita, Bruno, Topal, Joaquín, Soldado, Stankevicius, Jonas (Albelda, min. 67), R. Costa (Ever, min. 34), Mathieu (Mata, min. 55), T. Costa y Jordi Alba.

Goals: 1-0 Min. 4 Jarosik; 2-0 Min. 40 Ander; 3-0 Min. 65 Gabi; 4-0 Min 74 Gabi.
Player ratings:

Guaita 5 - Could not be blamed for the goals and had little to do otherwise with only one save.
Bruno 3 - Absolutely terrible performance, lost his man for the first goal, lost the duals constantly and offered absolutely nothing going forward.
Stankevicious 4 - Not a bad performance, but did make the penalty and along with the collective at fault for the second goal.
R. Costa 5 - Taken off early for Ever Banega. Did not make any mistake in his time on the pitch.
Alba 4.5 - Not particularity for blame for any of the goals and did play decently, but just like everyone else did not give 100% today.
Joaquin 4.5 - Probably the best player tonight, which is not saying much. Had few good dribbles but lacked the final pass.
Topal 4 - At fault along with Bruno for the first goal, could not bring the back forward from the back and his short direct passing was not suited for this kind of game.
Tino Costa 4 - Dreadful performance. Misplaced passes, unable to keep possession and failed to link-up play.
Mathieu 3 - Invisible for 95% of the match. Apart from 2 or 3 runs and few touches did not do anything.
Jonas 4 - Lost the ball each time he got it, did not find useful positions, but other than that he had absolutely no service.
Soldado 5 - Was active and tried to make something out of nothing, but with no service at all its hard for him or any striker for that matter to score goals.
Subs:
Banega 4.5 - Barely better than Topal and Tino. Misplaced a lot of passes and too static in his movement, much more is expected from him.
Mata 4 - More effective than Mathieu, which is not saying much. Could not influence the match one bit, although did have few good passes.
Albelda 4 - He is not a defender and is old and slow so could not blame him for conceding a penalty, but did not bring anything positive, although the match was over by the time he went in anyways.
Coach: 
Unai Emery 3 - Obviously lacks the motivational skills, started with the team that just lost to Schalke just 3 days ago and its expected to loose in such situation. Made the wrong move to bring in Banega so early with Valencia loosing just 1-0 and Banega didn't bring much to the table.

My thoughts on what line-up and formation should have been used:
Formation: 4-2-3-1
Line-up: Guaita; Bruno, Stankevicious, Dealbert, Alba; Albelda, Tino; Pablo, Isco, Vicente; Soldado.

Why this formation you ask? Well its what Emery has been using the last 2 matches and players have just settled into it, so a change is going to be negative. The players I chose are mostly fresh and have not played against Schalke 04, so in a way I'm removing the demoralized and tired ones and placing them with fresh and motivated ones.

Schalke 04 3-1 Valencia CF - Match Report

Update:
Here is the match report, its a bit different now from the other reports I've done.

So the match started as good as possible for Valencia with an early goal by R. Costa after a cross by Topal found his head. Valencia also had more possession and thus controlled the match and were actually a lot more dangerous than Schalke in their attacks.

The first goal Schalke scored was a lucky thing with the referee being way too harsh and awarding a free kick 25 meters away from goal. If you ask me I think there was no foul there, but anyways its just crystal clear that luck was not on Valencia's side. Farfan stepped to take the free kick and it was the perfect free kick, a speedy traveling ball high into the left side of the net, I don't think Guaita had any chance or most of the keepers in the world for that matter.

This goal startled Valencia as it came so unexpected, considering Schalke 04 didn't have even one chance on goal and yet they scored from a set piece and this was so demoralizing. Seeing such a weak team as Schakle 04 and playing badly score from a nonexistent free kick is hard to swallow.

The second half started and Valencia was yet again the better team with more control, initiative and will to win, but it was yet another unlucky circumstance and this time Guaita misjudged his flight and failed to punch the ball hard enough, which resulted falling in the penalty to a schanlke player, the shot was saved, but then Mario found himself in a good position and scored, but it was once again a very lucky goal as it hit the bar twice before going into the net.

We could blame Aduriz for missing a ton of chances, we can blame Guaita for making a mistake for the second goal, but the honest truth is that Schalke 04 had incredible luck, while Valencia had the opposite of luck and even a powerful Joaquin shot that was going to go towards the Schalke net was blocked by the referee, Tino Costa shot with his right foot instead of left when he got a beautiful pass from Soldado, Mathieu had a good chance that he missed, there were 2 penalty situations that the referee could have easily awarded to Valencia, but it just wasn't to be.

My final verdict is that Valencia had some very bad luck, while Schalke 04 had a lot of good luck and that is why they won. Valencia CF was better in every respect and realistically deserved to go through, but maybe it just wasn't meant to be.

Player Ratings:
Guaita 5 4 - Saved the goal several times, but at fault for the second goal as he should have punched far away from goal or stay on his line.
Bruno 5.5 - Good defensively, barely troubled but offers absolutely nothing in attack and here is why Miguel is better than him.
Navarro 6 - Good defensive display and each goal from Schalke had a huge element of luck.
R. Costa 4 - Bad performance from Costa, he scored the goal yes, but it was a lucky goal and was miserable in defense.
Mathieu 6 - Went forward as much as possible and was reasonable good in defense considering, but he had no support from Mata in the second half. Forced to be a winger way too often as Mata sucks.
Banega 6 - Spread the ball well, keeps possession for Valencia CF and once he was subbed Schalke immidiately got more possession.
Topal 6 - Good at breaking up play and his passing was simple and direct, good job for his role.
Joaquin 6.5 - Had several shots, but was not in the best positions to score. Not very effective from the wing and was forced to come often in the middle.
Mata 3 - Crap performance from our "best" player. Gave absolutely nothing, lost the ball every time he got it and never dangerous.
Pablo 6 - The most creative player on the field for Valencia, huge mistake by Emery to substitute him, instead of Mata.
Aduriz 1 - The worst match as if he hadn't had worst matches so far. Absolutely terrible, dreadful, crap, 5 years old kid would have done better than him.
Subs:
Soldado 5 - No effect what so ever. Apart from two touches with the ball, did not see him.
Tino Costa 5.5 - Had one big chance to score a goal, but instead of shooting with his left foot and scoring goal, he decided to try and shoot with his right leg and screwed the chance. Did nothing that Banega didn't do better.
Jonas N/A - Not enough time to change anything and Valencia had already given up when he arrived.
*After watching the goals again I've reduced Guaita score even though he had few good saves. Its just unacceptable to make such a mistake for the second Schalke goal.

Schalke 04 vs Valencia CF - Match Preview

Felix Magath predicted an all-action conclusion to FC Schalke 04's round of 16 tie against Valencia CF, with Unai Emery having "a clear plan" as to how to turn the tie in the visitors' favour.

Felix Magath is more than pleased with the form of his transitional FC Schalke 04 side and is adamant that they will not look to cling on for a goalless draw at home against Unai Emery's Valencia CF following a 1-1 tie in Spain in their UEFA Champions League round of 16 opener.

Felix Magath, Schalke coach
I have been brought here to start a refit of the club. We are right in the middle of this process, and I am very pleased so far. We are playing well in the Champions League, which is something I had promised, and we have reached the German Cup final, winning at [FC] Bayern [München] in the semi-finals. Considering this is a transitional year, we have achieved quite a lot.
Playing for a 0-0 draw against Valencia is too risky. Experience shows that pressure tends to mount towards the end of games like this and you never know if you will be able to cope. Any late goal could be a winner, so there is no way that we will drop deep and wait. Valencia have to score and they have their weaknesses at the back, so they will most likely play attacking football too. It will probably be a fascinating game to watch.

Unai Emery, Valencia coach
We know Schalke have a small edge on us due to their home advantage. They are not doing so well in the Bundesliga, but they are strong in the cup and the Champions League, and they will punish every mistake we make. However, I am certain that we will put in a good performance.
We can play better as a team than we did in the first leg, but the first leg is history; only this game counts now. We have formulated a clear plan and now have to put it into action. Schalke have their own style and are a great side, which they showed with the 1-1 draw in the first leg. They are a very strong side that can keep up the tempo for 90 minutes, but we know where our strengths lie.

Team news
• Schalke
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (knee) will not feature, with Magath explaining: "He is making progess, but cannot play yet." However, the coach was in no mood to reveal Schalke's attacking plans. Lukas Schmitz is serving a one-match ban while José Manuel Jurado is within a booking of a suspension.
• Valencia
David Albelda is available after serving a one-match ban in the first leg, while Aritz Aduriz is available after shaking off an ankle injury, though he will miss his side's next match if he is booked. The striker said: "We have to attack in a controlled fashion and not go mad and leave ourselves exposed to their counterattacks."

Latest results
Saturday: VfB Stuttgart 0-1 Schalke
(Kuzmanović 15pen)
Benedikt Höwedes was sent off for the handball that led to the penalty as Schalke lost to a Stuttgart side that began the day second from bottom in the Bundesliga. It was the defender's third dismissal of the season. He had never been sent off before this term.
Saturday: RCD Mallorca 1-2 Valencia
(Ramis 31pen, Pablo Hernández 33 56)
Pablo Hernández scored twice in a Liga game for the first time in his career to take his league tally to five for the season – equalling his best total, set last term. It was only Emery's team's sixth victory in their last 14 away games in all competitions although they have won their last three away fixtures.

Did you know?
The sides' two previous games in Gelsenkirchen ended in a win apiece. Valencia triumphed 1-0 in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage with a second-half David Villa goal while ten years previously, in the UEFA Cup quarter-final second leg, Schalke's 2-0 home win sent them through.

Source: Uefa.com

Schalke - Valencia

Goals scored	11		16
Attempts on target	38		52
Attempts off target	31		48
Corners	39		50
Fouls committed	110		91
Yellow cards	16		9
Red cards	2		0

Valencia Technical:
Formation: 4-4-1-1
Line-up: Guaita; Bruno, Navarro, R.Costa, Mathieu; Pablo, Topal, Ever, Mata; Tino, Soldado.
Tactics: Medium defensive line, high opposing field pressure, mixed passing, high crosses, wings positional changes.

Result prediction:
Schalke 04 1-1 Valencia CF; Extra time: 1-2
I think Valencia will come out attacking from the start in order to score an early goal, but that won't happen. It probably going to happen in the second half, but Schalke will equalize and with the same result as in the previous leg the match will go into extra time. Then in the last 2 or 3 minutes Valencia will score the winning goal.

RCD Mallorca 1-2 Valencia CF - Match Report

Just 3 days after the unlucky and controversial defeat to Barcelona, Valencia CF managed to rise to the occasion and win against a tough Mallorca side, who were up till now renowned for not loosing to Valencia in the last two years and in fact winning 3 of the 4 matches.

But before I start I must commend my self once again for predicting the correct result of Mallorca 1-2 Valencia. I seem to be getting more and more reliable in my prediction and I hope my prediction of Valencia winning against Schalke when I make the preview come true.

Anyways Valencia started the match in full control and very confident and assured, like something has changed and in reality it really has. I guess after 3 months of not loosing a match you gain that kind of confidence and spirit to fight hard and so the players were playing really well.

Mallorca has one of two chances and Valencia having few chances as well. Mata had a good try in the 22th minute and later on Jonas had a chance to open up the scoring early, but his shot went wide. Valencia were punished in the 31st minute when the referee awarded Mallorca a penalty which didn't really exist, but anyways the referee has got the final word and Ramis did took the opportunity and scored.

Just 1 or 2 minutes later Aduriz set up the ball to Pablo who's shot went straight to the net, it was 1-1 and this would prove to be the result both teams would go at half time with.

In the second half after a lot of battle in the middle of the field and few decent chances on both sides Valencia scored one more goal, once again Pablo was the scorer and Jonas made the assist.

Valencia took the lead, but soon after that Mallorca pushed forward and tried to at least get a draw and they had some dangerous shots towards Valencia's goal, though Guaita once again prove his worth and showed he is a top class goalkeeper and hopefully he stays in full form for many, many years for Valencia.

In the end it was a good match for Valencia as they leave with the 3 points and go happy and still confident to prepare for the champions league match against Schalke 04.

Technical details:
RCD Mallorca (1): Aouate; Cendros, Nunes, Ramis, Kevin; Nsue, Martí (Tejera, min 81), De Guzmán (Joao Víctor, min 85), Pereira (Aki, min 64); Castro y Webo.

Valencia CF (2): Guaita; Bruno, R. Costa, David Navarro, Jordi Alba; Topal, Ever (Albelda, min 87), Pablo, Mata (Vicente, min 80); Jonas (Joaquín, min 70) y Aduriz.

Goals: 29th min. 1-0 (p.) Ramis; 32th min. 1-1 Pablo Hernandez;. 56th min. 1-2 Pablo Hernandez.

Player Ratings:
Guaita 8 - Once again man of the match performance with some amazing reflex saves.
Bruno 6 - Reliable showing and did well in defense and helped out a little in attack as well.
Navarro 5.5 - Few smaller mistakes, but those can be punished easily by strong opposition, luckally Mallorca is not strong opposition.
R. Costa 5.5 - Did not cause a penalty by my judgement, but I'm quite biased. Otherwise same as Navarro as he did make some smaller mistakes.
Alba 6 - Not nearly as good performance as against Barelona, but did well in defense and went forward often enough.
Pablo 8 - Should probably share man of the match with Guaita as he found himself at the right place at the right time and scored two goals.
Banega 6 - Good passing, strong on the ball, but needs to work on his defending somwhat and stamina, seems to run out of steam by the 60th minute and kind of slow when moving.
Topal 7 - Great cover for the defense, made 2 visible tackles to prolong the Mallorca attack and helped out that way, and provided some clean and simple passing.
Mata 6.5 - Improvement over the last match and started the action that lead to the goal. His dribbling seems sloppy often times and need to work on that.
Jonas 7 - Most dangerous man and even though did not score any goals, he provided the assist to Pablo for the second goal and his movement and ball control were always great.
Aduriz 5.5 - Just came back from injury and he ran as if he was not injured. Covered a lot of ground and generally useful.
Subs:
Joaquin 6 - Came in and provided a bit more depth on the right wing, but Valencia went defensive when he came on and could not really do much.
Vicente N/A - Came on late, had few nice touches, won the ball few times as well.
Albelda N/A - Short cameo just for him to regain some match form.

RCD Mallorca vs Valenca CF - Match preview

Just 3 days after the meeting with FC Barcelona, Valencia CF will travel to Mallorca who have been a very dangerous opponent in the past 2 seasons with 3 wins for Mallorca from 4 meetings and one draw.

Valencia CF are in a good form though and even though the loss to Barcelona may be a bit demoralizing, the players should be up to the challenge and capable of beating Mallorca. The main worry for Valencia CF coach Unai Emery should be tiredness, after the players have been playing matches every 3 days.

RCD Mallorca is currently at 10th position with 34 points from 26 games with their last match being a win against Espanyol away.

Piere Webo and Gonzalo Castro are Mallorca's most dangerous players and the main threat is going to come from them. Webo has scored 6 goals and also has 6 assists to his name, while Castro has scored 5 goals and 3 assists. This also makes them the best goalscorers in the team and best assistants in the team as well.

Mallorca are not particularity effective in front of goal, but they are not ineffective also, they are somewhere in the middle as their table position also shows. They are also in the middle when it comes to goals conceded and its neither too much or too little. So they are a pretty average team and you know what they bring.

RCD Mallorca squad:
Goalkeepers: Germán Lux, Dudu Aouate
Defense: Iván Ramis, Rubén González, José Nunes, Pau Cendrós, Enrique Corrales, Kevin García
Midfield: João Victor, Michaël Pereira, Chori Castro, Akihiro Ienaga, de Guzmán, Martí Crespí, Sergio Tejera
Attack: Emilio Nsue, Webó, Sergi Enrich

Valencia CF on the other hand just lost their unbeaten streak of 11 matches and no less in the Mestalla, but to Barcelona - one of the best teams in the world, albeit with the huge help of its sidekick the referee Iturralde Gonzales by disallowing a perfectly onside goal, which you can see from an airplane and not to mention from 10 meters away.

Valencia CF are still third on the table, but the advantage has been reduced to only 1 point above 4th placed Villarreal and Valencia must ensure a win tomorrow if they are to stay 3rd place, even though Villarreal travel to Madrid to take on Atletico.

Joaquin was injured in the Barcelona match, but has since recovered and will be available for selection, Maduro was injured on the last training session before the match against Barcelona so he is unavailable for selection, Miguel Brito and Chori Dominguez are still suspended by the coach and finally Aritz Aduriz has made a full recovery faster than expected and will be in the team to face Mallorca.

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

Valencia CF Technical:
Formation: 4-4-2
Line-up: Guaita; Bruno, Stankevicious, R. Costa, Mathieu; Pablo, Topal, Tino, Mata; Jonas, Soldado
Tactics: High defensive line, high opposing field pressure, deep zone defensive midfield, mostly crosses, position changes from the wingers, deep line in attack.
Its very important for Valencia CF to win vs Mallorca and I think the 4-4-2 system is perfect for it. Valencia also needs to have huge control in the midfield as Mallorca has proven to be a tough opponent that scores goals against VCF, so not allowing them too much time on the ball and stopping any counter attacks before they become dangerous is imperious to not conceding a goal.

Result prediction:
RCD Mallorca 1-2 Valencia CF
This is going to be a very tough match for Valencia CF and even though I think Valencia will ultimately win, its going to be a struggle for 90 minutes.