Real Madrid Is Suddenly Valencia’s Biggest Fan (Along With Every Other Barcelona Hater)

Lionel Messi and company look to be running away with La Liga. Heading into the Barcelona vs Valencia match on Sunday at the Mestalla, the Catalan club is unbeaten with 11 wins and one draw. Barcelona is sitting on 34 points, 10 ahead of both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, the only other two clubs to have won La Liga in the past dozen years.

But there’s one club that could throw a wrench into the Barcelona procession: the last club other than the three aforementioned clubs to win La Liga. Between Barcelona and Real Madrid in the standings is Valencia in second place, just four points behind the Blaugrana. Valencia, like Barcelona, is undefeated, only with two fewer wins and two more draws, coming against the two Madrid clubs behind them. (Atletico is also unbeaten but has six wins and six draws.)

Right now, the club with the coolest crest in the league holds the key to making La Liga a competitive race.

Valencia is unbeaten and just four points behind Barcelona in La Liga. Photo: @BLU_Products | Twitter

Los Che could cut the deficit to one point with a home victory on Sunday and allow the Madrid clubs a chance to get back into the title race. A Barça victory means Team Messi will have a massive cushion before December even rolls around.

Valencia, which last won the league in 2004, its second in a three-year span, has been a revelation this season. After finishing 12th last campaign, coach Marcelino Garcia Toral has turned the club around, aided by a revitalized Simone Zaza and an attack rivaled only by Barcelona. Led by Zaza, who is second in La Liga with nine goals, the attack is scoring 2.67 goals per match. Even the defense is strong, boasting the fourth-best goals against average at 0.92. At the Mestalla, Valencia is outscoring opponents by an average of 2.3 goals per match. 

Barcelona’s one league stumble this season came in a 1-1 away draw with Atletico Madrid on Oct. 14. While the Blaugrana are nearly untouchable at home (20 goals for, two against), they’re a bit slower on the road, with seven fewer goals scored in the same number of matches. 

Messi, who unsurprisingly leads the league with 12 goals, was rested for the first half of the scoreless midweek Champions League game against Juventus, perhaps in preparation for the big Sunday showdown.

Lionel Messi leads La Liga with 12 goals this season. Photo: @BarcaUniversal | Twitter

Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde knows the importance of this match — opening up a seven-point lead over the rest of the field would be a great blow to the psyche of the rest of the league. The idea that Barcelona would have to drop at least seven points over the final two thirds of the season after the Catalans have dropped two points in the first third is daunting enough, never mind that assumes Valencia (not to mention the Madrid clubs even further back) would have to be perfect the rest of the way. 

Real Madrid won its 33rd league title last season, nine more than Barcelona. But if Los Blancos want to have a shot at catching the Blaugrana this season, they’d better hope the home team wins the Barcelona vs Valencia match on Sunday.