FC Barcelona will face Valencia CF on Saturday afternoon. The big question is who does Ronald Koeman have in central defense, Clement Lenglet or Oscar Mingueza? Lionel Messi, meanwhile, wants to build on his strong record. The preview.
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On Wednesday evening against Real Sociedad, Ronald Koeman, who will face his ex-club against Valencia, surprised with his decision to put Ronald Araújo and Óscar Mingueza together in central defense. But this daring decision worked out completely, the two 21-year-olds harmonized great with each other, showed themselves to be self-confident, focused and strong in duels. Araújo and Mingueza were part of the starting XI together for the first time, but they are by no means strangers; after all, the two know each other from their time at Barça B.
Mingueza or Lenglet?
Now they have also been able to prove themselves at La Liga level and can certainly be seen as an option for further games. Clément Lenglet will also have taken note of this. The Frenchman can look back on disappointing games on his part. In Piqué’s absence, he could not develop to the defense chief, seemed to be almost overwhelmed with this responsibility, which was especially evident in the Champions League second leg against Juventus Turin. In his 100th competitive game in the Blaugrana jersey, he was taken off the field after a desperate performance after 55 minutes. His personal low in the last few weeks.
On Wednesday he came into the game against Real Sociedad for ten minutes, but he couldn’t convince here either. In his place, Ronald Araújo slipped into the role of defense chief and even had to make up for a positional error by Lenglet through an intense duel in his own penalty area. If Mingueza and Araújo will also play against Valencia CF and can build on the performance against Sociedad, that would be a clear and clear nod to Koemans in the direction of Lenglet. When asked about these personal details, Koeman did not want to look into his cards at the press conference.
Meanwhile, Koeman emphasized that he was hoping for another appearance like against Real Sociedad – especially in terms of attitude. “We have to put a lot of energy into it,” demanded Koeman, who also wants better effectiveness in exploiting opportunities: “We must finally exploit our opportunities.”
Messi’s strong record against Valencia
Two players in particular have this task: Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi. From Valencia’s point of view, the Argentine certainly represents the greatest threat, after all La Pulga hits hardly any other team better than Los Ché. In 27 league games against these opponents, Messi scored 24 times, at Camp Nou he even scored 15 goals in 13 games. Only against Sevilla (29 goals) and Atlético Madrid (26) does the Argentine have a better yield. However, when the two teams met in January, which FC Barcelona lost 2-0, Messi missed the last game of the two clubs at Camp Nou.
Even if Messi is lagging behind his own expectations with five league goals from eleven games this season, his form has been showing up again recently. Goals scored against Levante and Osasuna speak for this as well as his most eager appearances against Juventus, Levante and Real Sociedad. It is still unclear in which position Barça’s number 10 will appear against Valencia, but he was also able to convince as a wrong nine in the half-right position. Valencia be warned and give everything to ensure that not much more will be added to the 19 goals conceded from 13 games so far.
Chaos-Club Valencia
Hardly anyone is surprised that the Chaos Club is in 12th place in the table after the 13th matchday. The owner of the association, Peter Lim, made some questionable decisions in the past, and the bat supporters are not very keen on the entrepreneur. The club’s financial problems were supposed to be made up for in the summer with player transfers, but they did not cover themselves with fame here either. Captain Dani Parejo was given a free transfer to league rivals Villarreal, and Francis Coquelin also moved to the yellow submarine. Ferran Torres and Rodrigo were sold to the Premier League without Valencia being able to sign adequate replacements – or Lim even wanting to.
After all the well-known departures, another player stands out: Carlos Soler. The player from Valencia’s own youth was directly involved in seven of the last nine goals, with all goals coming from dormant balls. He collected his two assists from free-kick crosses, all five hits from penalties. In Valencia’s 4-1 win over Real Madrid, he scored three penalties. Attacker Maxi Gomez has specialized in getting penalties. Should Clement Lenglet be allowed to start this time, the French should be warned.
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