Apart from a handful of clubs which can boast of being close to the summits of football for several decades, the other teams experience more cycles to stay at the top as much as possible. In Spain, Valencia can attest to this. A major team since the start of the millennium on the other side of the Pyrenees, the team from southern Spain has experienced several major difficulties in recent seasons since the pandemic. Pointed out, the owner of the club Che has changed his mind enormously in recent years but the mayonnaise has never taken hold.
Thus, Valencia fought to maintain last season after several years of stagnating in the soft underbelly. A slow decline which necessarily did not bode well for the future of the Iberian club. This season, however, the residents of the Estadio Mestalla have regained color. Currently seventh in La Liga, Murciélagos can fully hope to be European at the end of the season, as their performances are encouraging while they are only two points behind Real Sociedad, sixth.
Nuggets galore and a Baraja method that works
After a successful start to the season, Mouctar Diakhaby’s teammates nevertheless experienced a huge slump for almost two months. But since the new year, the six-time Spanish champion club has won five of their seven meetings in 2024. In addition to an oiled collective, Valencia relies on several individuals who respond. While Giorgi Mamardashvili still shines in the Valencia goals, Javi Guerra shines in the midfield. Trained within the club, the 20-year-old midfielder is not the only player from the nursery to shine at Mestalla. On the wings of the attack, Fran Perez and Diego Lopez, who spent time with Real Madrid and Barça during his training, had two excellent seasons. In defense, Cristhian Mosquera (19 years old) asserts himself as one of the most promising players in Spain in his position while Yarek Gasiorowski (19 years old) could prove even more interesting by playing more following the departure of Gabriel Paulista . All this without forgetting the brilliant Hugo Duro at the forefront of the attack and who peaks at 10 goals in 25 games this season.
Running at 1.63 points per game, Valencia can also count on a very experienced coach who does not hesitate to give this young and talented group a chance. Ruben Baraja, who passed through several modest clubs in Spain, arrived last February with the objective of keeping the club in the elite. Brilliantly achieving this objective, the 48-year-old technician was reinforced until 2025 and even exceeds the objectives this season. However, the latter is not losing his way and is aiming to maintain it, as he said a few days ago: “our goal is to get Valencia in the First Division next season because it helps us stabilize and not suffer from last season. The next goal will be to participate in every match. Thinking about other things can cause frustration or anxiety. We have to be ambitious to try to come away with three points in every game.» In the shadows, Valencia is slowly recovering and this is certainly a good thing for Iberian football.
