The semi-finals of the Copa del Rey have dominated Spanish football over the last week and as Sevilla progressed to the final past Leganes on Wednesday night, we still need to find out who they will face. Last Thursday, it was the first leg between Barcelona and Valencia at the Camp Nou and it was Barca who gained the advantage with a 1-0 win. That certainly wasn’t a bad result for Valencia away from home as they still have a good chance of making the final.

STATS

• This won’t be Valencia’s first tough game in the last few weeks as all three of their last three have come against sides in the top four of La Liga. They faced Atletico and Real Madrid either side of being beat by Barcelona, they lost 4-1 to Los Blancos and 1-0 to Atleti. However, their results in the league have suffered as a result of this cup run which won’t be worth it if they don’t make the final.
• Barcelona had to come from behind in the last round as they lost their first leg away at Espanyol and while they won’t have to necessarily do that here, they are still away from their deafening home support. Espanyol didn’t just beat them in the Copa del Rey first leg, they also drew 1-1 in the league with them in their last game.
• Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez are both bang in form at the moment and with 23 and 16 goals in all competitions respectively, the Valencia defence are faced with the near-impossible job of trying to stop them.
• Simone Zaza had a brilliant start to the season and looked to be challenging Messi for the Golden Boot but his form has dropped off so he’ll be looking to get back on track.

HEAD TO HEAD

Valencia are one of many teams who have been victim to Barcelona’s domination of Spanish football across the last few decades, especially in recent years. They have beaten Barca just twice in 25 attempts and if you’re counting Valencia’s Copa del Rey triumph in 2008, that’s three times in 26. Their most recent meeting was, of course, in the first leg of this tie where Suarez scored the winner in the second-half. The Uruguayan has nine goals in his nine appearances against The Oranges.

VALENCIA NEWS

Valencia will be hoping to reach their first Copa del Rey final since 2008, which they won 3-1 against Getafe. They have some good news regarding their injured players as Javier Jimenez, Jeison Murillo and Goncalo Guedes have all returned to training ahead of the match. Andreas Pereira is still injured and won’t feature.

Latest matches: Valencia CF

04.02.2018	LaLi	Atletico Madrid	Valencia CF	1:0	L
01.02.2018	Copa	FC Barcelona	Valencia CF	1:0	L
27.01.2018	LaLi	Valencia CF	Real Madrid	1:4	L
24.01.2018	Copa	CD Alaves	Valencia CF	4:4	D
20.01.2018	LaLi	Las Palmas UD	Valencia CF	2:1	L

BARCELONA NEWS

Barcelona will be hoping to reach their fifth consecutive Copa del Rey final after winning the last three. They’ve been handed a huge boost as Ousmane Dembele has returned to training, but Thomas Vermaelen and Lucas Digne won’t play.

Latest matches: FC Barcelona

04.02.2018	LaLi	Espanyol Barcelona	FC Barcelona	1:1	D
01.02.2018	Copa	FC Barcelona	Valencia CF	1:0	W
28.01.2018	LaLi	FC Barcelona	CD Alaves	2:1	W
25.01.2018	Copa	FC Barcelona	Espanyol Barcelona	2:0	W
21.01.2018	LaLi	Betis Sevilla	FC Barcelona	0:5	W

SUMMARY

After picking up the slight lead in the first-leg, Barcelona go into the match as favourites but the Mestalla is known as a tough stadium to visit. Valencia aren’t an easy team to beat at home, especially in the big matches and could easily overturn the one-goal deficit.