Valencia welcome Real Madrid to the Mestalla Stadium on Wednesday night with a top-four place on the line. Valencia have not been the scintillating scoring team they were a season ago. Despite a lack of goals from Los Che, they have recovered from a poor start thanks to solid defence. Valencia are just three points off of a Champions League qualification place.
Real Madrid are on their third coach of the season. Zinedine Zidane returned on March 11th and it feels like nothing ever changed. Real Madrid have won their last three matches with Zidane overseeing two of the victories. Sunday’s thrilling win over Huesca was classic Madrid as they got an 89th minute goal from Karim Benzema to win.
Zidane could be without goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian suffered an injury in training which kept him out of Real Madrid’s win over Huesca. Zidane made the decision to start his son, Luca, in goal for Courtois rather than No. 2 Keylor Navas. Zidane rested several stars after they returned from the international break. The thinking was justified before kick off as Huesca is La Liga’s last place team. Luka Modric, Marco Asensio, Raphael Varane, and Toni Kroos were all rested alongside Navas. All should return to the Real Madrid team in midweek.
Valencia manager Marcelino has two injured players to worry about for Real Madrid’s visit. Cristiano Piccini and Francis Coquelin did not appear at the weekend against Sevilla. It is doubtful they will be fit for the game against Real Madrid. With Valencia gearing up for the Europa League quarterfinals, Marcelino may choose to sit them out for further recuperation. Centre-back Ezequiel Garay is expected to start for Valencia after returning from a thigh injury.
Just one of the last 10 matches between Valencia and Real Madrid have ended in fewer than 2.5 goals. That one fixture came earlier this season as Real Madrid won at home 2-0. The two Spanish sides tend to put the ball into the back of the net when they meet. In 2017-18, Real Madrid and Valencia combined for nine goals in two games.
Wednesday night’s fixture will once again see Valencia and Real Madrid light up the back of the net. The fixture will see over 2.5 goals scored with neither side able to get the upper hand. Four of the last 10 matches between Valencia and Real Madrid have ended in 2-2 scorelines. Their midweek clash will be another epic 2-2 thriller.