[ad_1]
FC Barcelona (5th, 20 points) vs Valencia CF (12th, 14 points) *
* Points and positions at the time of writing on Friday
Competition / Round: 2020-21 The league, Matchday 14
Barcelona departures and doubts: Ansu Fati, Gerard Piqué, Sergi Roberto, Ousmane Dembélé (out)
Valencia Outs & Doubts: Hugo Guillamón, Jasper Cillessen, Kévin Gameiro, Toni Lato (out)
Date and Time: Saturday, December 19, 2020, 4.15 p. M. CET / WAT (Barcelona and Nigeria), 3.15 p. M. GMT (UK), 10.15 a. M. ET, 7.15 a. M. PT (USA), 8.45 p. M. IST (India)
Event venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Referee: Alejandro José Hernández Hernández
WHERE: José Luis González González
How to watch on television: beIN SPORTS (US and Canada), LaLigaTV (UK), SuperSport (Nigeria), Movistar LaLiga (Spain), Not available (India), others
How to broadcast: FuboTV (US), Premier Player (UK), Facebook Live (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others
After a very important victory against The league Leaders of Real Sociedad in the middle of the week, Barcelona returns to action in the league with another home game against a tough rival, this time Valencia in the largest stadium in the world.
Barça finally won a great game this season and did so thanks to a really impressive performance in the first half, and although the second half was bad, they still managed to hold on to a massive three points and return to the Champions League contention after two consecutive victories in The league.
But as the second half on Wednesday demonstrated very clearly, consistency is still the biggest problem for this team. Barça have yet to win three games in a row in the league, and doing so would be a big step towards a possible dream title thanks to the big clash between Sociedad and Atlético de Madrid next week. If points are added and Barça continues to win, what seemed impossible less than a week ago could begin to come true.
However, we cannot look forward. Valencia is coming to Camp Nou this weekend and while this is a team in bad shape (only one win in six and four games without a win) that lost many very important players over the summer, this is still Valencia with enough talent to Cause big trouble to Blaugrana. Barça must replicate the first part against The real and do it for over 45 minutes to make sure they win and make this a solid winning streak to maybe get into 2021 with a chance to compete for the trophies.
Barça is winning and looks good, Valencia does not win and does not look good. It should be a victory, right? Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona cannot guarantee wins so this could be quite nervous.
Let’s Dance.
POSSIBLE ALIGNMENTS
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Ter Stegen; Dest, Araujo, Lenglet, Alba; Pjanic, De Jong; Griezmann, Pedri, Braithwaite; Messi
Valencia (4-4-2): Jaume; Wass, Gabriel, Diakhaby, Gayà; Musahar, Soler, Racic, Cheryshev; Gomez, Guedes
PREDICTION
The form of Valencia does not matter. They will make a game of this, and I still can’t trust Barça for the second half they played against The real. Still, I’m optimistic: 3-2 for the good guys.
