Valencia v Atletico Madrid – Saturday 10th September – Mestalla (22:00)
Valencia v Atletico Madrid
The Spanish La Liga will resume this weekend with teams having only played one match so far after a players’ union strike delayed game week 1. This season looks to be one of the most anticipated seasons in a while, not because Barcelona and Real Madrid will be challenged for the title, but because of how competitive the field below them will challenge for Champions League and Europa League spots. Valencia, Villarreal, Sevilla, Athletico Bilbao, Atletico Madid and big spenders Malaga will all be contesting for those places as arguably the best two clubs in the world will contest for the Spanish La Liga title.
Valencia were clearly the third best Spanish side last season but not strong enough to challenge Barca and Madrid for top honours. They have steadily lost big name players such as David Villa, David Silva and more recently Juan Mata to bigger clubs because of the financial difficulty the club finds itself in. After letting go of Juan Mata to Chelsea they brought in a smart signing in Dani Parejo from Getafe and Pablo Piatti who excelled at times for an Almería side who were little other than awful on their way to relegation. They’ve strengthened their goalkeeping options and, crucially, central defence with Adil Rami of French Champions, Lille. Then of course there is the loan signing of Sergio Canales after his year in the wilderness at Real Madrid. The Madrid kid is a real talent, and should certainly light up the La Liga if given consistent game time this season. The loss of their most influential player is the main reason they face a tough task of holding 3rd spot this season however they have a number of talented players who can prove key throughout the season.
Atletico Madrid finished 5th last season, 13 points behind Valencia and will be no doubt eyeing 3rd spot this season. Atletico looked to have made some good signings after letting go of their three biggest stars in Sergio Aguero, Diego Forlan and David De Gea. They brought in highly rated Colombian Radamel Falcao and the promising attacking midfielder Ruben Micael for a combined €46m from FC Porto after selling Aguero to Manchester City. Earlier moves saw them bring in the highly rated Arda Turan from Galatasaray and Sílvio of Braga, alongside Gabi of Zaragoza. Finally, former underage starlet Dani Pacheco was drafted in on loan from Liverpool. The picture suddenly looks a lot brighter for new boss Gregorio Manzano. As a man who believes in building team unity, and seeing the departure of those three players, he has a great opportunity to construct a new formidable team. Much will be expected of Falcao, and fortunately here there is much more to the forward’s game than what was seen at Porto; where he was asked to play a limited game, holding his position up front to showcase his finishing and sublime heading ability while the rest of the team worked and pressed. With the excellent Jose Antonio Reyes approaching something close to his Sevilla and early Arsenal form in recent years, they have potential to finish teams.
Valencia won their first match 4-3 against Racing Santander at home while Atletico failed to overcome visitors Osasuna in a goalless draw. Valencia came out 2-1 victors in their recent meeting and are tipped here.
