La Liga, Saturday, 17.08.2024 at 21:30
The new hope, he comes from Germany – both in the squad and on the bench! FC Barcelona want to be back at the top of La Liga in 2024/25, so a successful start to the season on Saturday would of course be an advantage.
They have to play away, but are still clearly favored by the bookmakers. Will I come to a similar conclusion in my Valencia Barcelona betting tip? In any case, I’ll tell you why I expect goals on both sides
The Xavi era is over at FC Barcelona. The runners-up had no chance in the title fight against Real Madrid and ended up trailing by ten points. Will they manage to put their arch-rivals in their place again in 2024/25?
Hansi Flick will ensure that a harmonious team structure is created. The former coach of FC Bayern and the DFB team was looking for a very special challenge and found what he was looking for in Catalonia
In Spain, people are not always squeamish about crisis situations, so Flick should know exactly what could be in store for him. Before I go into the results, what else has Barca done on the transfer market?
Dani Olmo was brought in from Leipzig at a cost of 55 million for the midfield star. Pau Victor, a center forward, also came from Girona for relatively little money. Returning players after loans and home-grown players, that’s it, no more professionals join the squad
The team should actually be well-rehearsed, so it’s natural to ask: How can it be that they lost 3-0 to Monaco? Did Flick rest some of the stars? Definitely not!
But in midfield they started with the highly talented youngsters Bernal, Casado and Torre, which completely took its revenge against Monaco’s breakers Zakaria and Camara. As you’d expect, the media weren’t too soft on Flick, recognizing neither a signature nor a system
Especially bitter: İlkay Gündoğan and Robert Lewandowski were injured in the test, so nobody really knows when they will be back at 100 percent. Gavi will not be available yet, nor will Ronald Araujo.
At least it could be a good omen that FC Barcelona’s season starts against Valencia. Barca are unbeaten in eight head-to-head meetings, six of which have ended with three points
The club has lost just one game at the Mestalla since February 2007, and that’s something Barcelona are happy to hear. I have to come back briefly to the defeat against Monaco, because the test matches weren’t all bad either.
The scores against Milan and Manchester City were 2:2 (each followed by a penalty shoot-out), and we even won 2:1 against Real Madrid. If you just want to be critical, you could of course say: Defensively, that’s not enough
The problems in defense will have spread to Valencia. But it is also clear that the role of favorites is clearly distributed. If you want to bet on a home win, you can get approximate odds of 4.60 in the Sunmaker app.
FC Barcelona, on the other hand, will have to settle for 1.70. The Blanquinegros finished last season in ninth place, and the 40 goals were particularly disappointing
The team has remained almost completely unchanged, but two strong attackers have been added in the form of Dani Gomez and Rafa Mir. So Valencia FC want to work on their offense, has that already been evident in preparation?
They recently won 3:2 against Frankfurt, where a lot worked. The other results, a 2-1 draw against Leeds and Eindhoven, the draws against Castellon and Levante and the 1-0 draw against Alaves, on the other hand, were anything but pleasing
Of course, Blanquinegros fans will be hoping that the home game will help them pick up their first points. Five of 19 home games have been lost in 2023/24, on the other hand 20 goals were not exactly spectacular
Hansi Flick wants to make history with FC Barcelona and win many titles. The championship is to be celebrated in a few months, so the impressions from the 0:3 against Monaco do not fit into the picture at all.
Defensively, there were a few problems during the preparation, and on top of that, not everything usually fits together on the first matchday. Valencia will be looking to take advantage of this on Saturday.
The bottom line is that Barca may be favored, but I don’t think they will be a whole class stronger than Valencia. For this reason, I’m going for a very classic tip and say:
Both will score!
