Real Zaragoza v Valencia – Spanish La Liga Preview
The Spanish La Liga is going to kick off yet again this weekend. After the UEFA Champions League action on Wednesday, Valencia is going to be involved in another away fixture against Real Zaragoza in the Spanish La Liga. Valencia is third in the Spanish
La Liga – only four points above the fourth placed Villarreal. On the other hand, Real Zaragoza is only a point above the relegation zone.
Valencia is enjoying a good patch in the Spanish La Liga. However, on Wednesday, they were outplayed by the German side, Schalke 04, as they knocked Valencia out of the UEFA Champions League. On the positive side, Valencia can now concentrate on the league
in an effort to remain in the top four of the Spanish La Liga.
Real Zaragoza’s last fixture was against the league leaders, Barcelona. Zaragoza was to travel to the Nou Camp. The Barcelona coach, Josep Guardiola rested his important players and Zaragoza was able to avoid humiliation. Barcelona won the game 1-0 with
the only goal coming from Seydou Keita. With that defeat, Zaragoza managed to remain near the relegation zone in spite of rocketing to the fourteenth position in the table.
Valencia’s last fixture was against Mallorca. Mallorca is not performing particularly well in the Spanish League, as they are currently in the tenth position. Mallorca’s home record is quite impressive, and has won most of their points in their home ground
– Iberostar Estadi. However, Valencia went away from home to face Mallorca and got all three points from them. The third placed Valencia conceded the first goal of the game but scored two late goals to gain all three points.
Valencia needs to win the game against Real Zaragoza since the yellow submarines, Villarreal are only four points behind them. In any case, for Valencia to keep up their pace in the points table and maintain third position, they will have to gain all three
points from this away fixture.
It is going to be a difficult fixture for Valencia since the last two times they faced Real Zaragoza, they were unable to take three points. Last season Zaragoza 3-0 in their home ground. This season; however, Real Zaragoza faced Valencia and got a single
point from them. Even though Valencia are considered to be favourites to win this fixture, Real Zaragoza can prove to be strong at home.
Real Zaragoza played over defensively against Barcelona. The bottom of the table Spanish side showed how stubborn they can be when it comes down to defending. Zaragoza’s coach played six defenders and it was hard for a team like Barcelona to score against
them. In case they play the same strategy against Valencia, Zaragoza might be able to gain a very useful point.
The man to watch for Valencia would be Juan Mata. The Spaniard has picked up great form recently. While performing against Mallorca, the Spaniard was able to help his side with two wonderful passes that later managed to convert into goals. It was Pablo Hernandez
who converted both the passes into goals, but there is little doubt in who the architect was in both the moves.
Mata gave a fine performance against Barcelona as well. He was played as a lone striker against the Catalans, and with his immense speed was able to trouble a second-choice Barcelona defence, consisting of Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets.
The man to watch for Real Zaragoza is Antonio Doblas Santana. The goalkeeper showed great resilience even against a team like Barcelona. He was able to keep a clean sheet and robbed Barcelona from a lot of opportunities.
The predicted score line of the game is 1-3 for Valencia. Valencia is in great form and would be looking to forget the loss against Schalke that they suffered during midweek. Zaragoza, on the other hand, would be looking forward to take advantage of their
home ground and would try to make a move forward to find the back of the net, which might be bad for their defence.