Valencia and Getafe will lock horns in the La Liga opener this Friday night at the Mestalla Stadium as the two look to get the season off to a flyer and improve on what was a torrid 2020/21 campaign for both sides.
It's been an extremely tough time for Valencia as a club in the past three years and ever since they won the Copa del Rey under Marcelino back in 2019, they have found their usual top five spot slip away and seen managers come and go like clockwork.
Entrenando en casa 🏟️#ADNVCF 🦇 pic.twitter.com/6rtVuhdEAe— Valencia CF (@valenciacf) August 12, 2021
Entrenando en casa 🏟️#ADNVCF 🦇 pic.twitter.com/6rtVuhdEAe
Now, after Salvador Gonzalez stepped in as an interim for the seventh time, he has now handed over the baton to Jose Bordalas, who himself is in his 17th managerial job in just 27 years.
This comes after Valencia finished with just 43 points and in 13th position in the last season, where they registered just 10 wins and 15 defeats in La Liga. In fact, the Bats were only 10 points off being relegated, which whilst still a big gap, is very close for a club of their stature.
Valencia also haven't made much movement in the transfer market with the sole loan transfer of Omar Alderete so far, and it's tough to see how they advance too much further up the table across the season.
However, it hasn’t been plain sailing for Getafe either, who avoided the drop zone in La Liga by just five points in 2020/21 and were in a battle for survival all season long.
Getafe have made some solid moves in the transfer market, however, and with the arrivals of Sandro Ramirez, Vitolo, Jose Macias, Stefan Mitrovic and Carles Alena, they have put their squad in a much better position.
On the other hand, Valencia should get the job done here on La Liga’s opener and with fans back at the Mestalla, it should be a special day for Bordalas’ first game in charge of the club.
Given the poor defence of Valencia that conceded the sixth-most number of goals in the league (53) in 2020/21, Getafe should find themselves in front of goal with a decent array of opportunities.
However, the Bats should reign supreme and start La Liga’s first season in 17 years without the great Lionel Messi in style and put down an early marker for a top half finish and potentially a bit more.
Our prediction for Valencia v Getafe is a 3-1 win for the home side.