Valencia CF

Players from Valencia walked off the pitch during Sunday's La Liga match against Cadiz after a racist comment was allegedly directed toward Mouctar Diakhaby, according to ESPN.

Per The Guardian's Sid Lowe, Diakhaby and Cadiz defender Juan Cala came together for a challenge and began going their separate directions before Diakhaby started walking back toward Cala.

Lowe wrote how cameras appeared to show Valencia defender Gabriel Paulista admonishing Cala for using the phrase "s--tty Black" in reference to his teammate.

The players eventually returned to finish out the match, with Cadiz earning a 2-1 victory. Diakhaby, however, was subbed off for Hugo Guillamon prior to the fixture restarting.

Mouctar Diakhaby was subject to alleged racial abuse from Cadiz's Juan Cala, and the entire Valencia team walked off the pitch in support of their teammate. #CadizValencia pic.twitter.com/sdK2AuIBNi

— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) April 4, 2021

Valencia defender Jose Gaya explained the situation with Movistar.

"Diakhaby told us he heard a racist insult so we all went off the pitch," Gaya said (via ESPN). "We were told that we had to play because if we didn't they would take the three points off us and maybe we'd be docked more points.

"Diakhaby asked us to play on, we wouldn't have done so if he hadn't done so. He said he wasn't in the right state of mind to keep playing. He is devastated."

Valencia also issued a statement to its Twitter account:

We offer our complete backing to @Diakhaby_5

The player, who had received a racial insult, requested that his teammates return to the pitch.

WE SUPPORT YOU MOUCTAR

𝗡𝗢 𝗧𝗢 𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗜𝗦𝗠 ✊🏽✊🏿 pic.twitter.com/iPtPSpdNYv

— Valencia CF (@valenciacf_en) April 4, 2021

Cadiz issued its own statement to say it is "against all forms of racism or xenophobia, regardless of who is responsible, and work hard to help eradicate this."

"We have complete confidence in the integrity of our squad members, who are staunch supporters of the fight against racism and have at all times shown an exemplary attitude in every match the team has played," the club said.

Spanish football club Valencia have announced 35 percent of their players and staff who have been tested for the coronavirus have returned a positive test. 

Los Che announced the news on Monday, adding all cases are asymptomatic and urging people to stay home and isolate themselves:

"Several further tests for the COVID-19 coronavirus amongst Valencia CF coaching staff and players have come back positive. All cases are asymptomatic and those involved are currently isolated at home, receiving medical assessment and carrying out their scheduled training plan.

[…]

"Valencia CF would like to take this opportunity to insist that the population stay in their homes and strictly follow previously published hygiene and infection prevention measures. We also wish to express our confidence in our healthcare system and the recommendations by the Ministry of Health for those cases of coronavirus infection being treated with isolation."

Per sportswriter Sam Marsden, Valencia reported five cases on Sunday, noting the lack of symptoms highlights the importance of staying home even when feeling well:

Valencia say club have more cases of first team players/staff with coronavirus. Five announced yesterday. Now say 35 percent of those tested have the virus. All cases are asymptomatic which shows importance of staying at home even more even if feel fine pic.twitter.com/k8AvmZPCRI

— Samuel Marsden (@samuelmarsden) March 16, 2020

The Spanish club traveled to Milan for a UEFA Champions League match against Atalanta on February 19. Milan is the capital of Lombardy, one of the regions hit hardest by the virus.

Per CNN, Italy has the second-highest number of reported cases of and deaths from the virus, with 24,747 people infected so far.

The two clubs met again in Valencia on March 10 in an empty Estadio Mestalla. Atalanta beat Valencia 4-3 in a spectacular contest, capping off an 8-4 aggregate win to advance to the quarter-finals:

There's only one fan in attendance for the Champions League match between Valencia and Atalanta...

...a statue of Valencia superfan Vicente Navarro who passed away in 2019. pic.twitter.com/IcksqQ9pr2

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) March 10, 2020

It was the last time either team was in action, with both La Liga and Serie A postponed while Spanish and Italian authorities deal with the crisis.

Valencia defender Ezequiel Garay confirmed on Sunday he has tested positive for the coronavirus, as relayed by LaLiga TV's Semra Hunter:

Valencia’s Ezequiel Garay is the first confirmed case of a player with #COVID19 in #LaLiga. pic.twitter.com/R13cJe9B4L

— Semra Hunter (@SemraHunter) March 15, 2020

"Evidently my 2020 did not start well," read an accompanying message on the post, per Football Italia. "I have tested positive for the coronavirus. I feel fine, and now all I can do is listen to the health authorities, so I will self-isolate."

Garay did not take part in the recent UEFA Champions League matches with Atalanta, as he is suffering with a torn ACL. Bergamo, where Atalanta are based, is close to what is now the epicentre of the outbreak in Italy.

Per Football Italia, Valencia later confirmed "they have five members of the club, between players and staff, who have tested positive for COVID-19."

The former Real Madrid and Benfica player is the first La Liga footballer to announce publicly that he has tested positive for the virus.

Along with the rest of the major leagues in European football, La Liga has been suspended because of the spread of the pandemic.

Per BBC, the Spanish government is set to put the country in a state of lockdown in a bid to stop the spread of the virus. The measures would mean citizens would only be allowed out of their homes for emergencies, for work and to purchase food.

As noted in the report, aside from Italy, Spain is the European nation most seriously hit by the coronavirus.

Kike Mateu is a familiar face for football fans in Spain. He's a contributor on El Chiringuito de Jugones, the country's most popular nightly TV football show. But he's become even more well-known since contracting the coronavirus (COVID-19) while in Milan to report on the UEFA Champions League game between Atalanta and Valencia on February 19.

Mateu's trip to northern Italy for the match was like any other he has taken as part of his regular beat covering Valencia. He got on a flight from Valencia to Pisa, rented a car and drove three hours north to Milan for the match being played in the historic 80,000-seater San Siro Stadium.

Atalanta, who are playing in their first UEFA Champions League campaign, raced into a four-goal lead before Valencia's substitute, Denis Cheryshev, scored a consolation goal midway through the second half.

The 31-year-old, who was part of a travelling crew of Spanish journalists, carried on as he normally would, attending the game's press conference and dropping down to the mixed zone after the final whistle to interview some players. There had been just three confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Italy at the time of the game. 

Once he'd finished his reports for the game, he jumped back in his rental car, sleeping overnight in a small town outside Milan. He flew back to Valencia the next day, a Thursday. The weekend passed without incident, except for another heavy Valencia defeat—this time a 3-0 loss to Real Sociedad in La Liga.

That Monday afternoon, however, Mateu began noticing the first symptoms of a flu-like virus, including fatigue and a dry cough. When he woke up on Tuesday morning, he felt slightly worse. With more cases having been confirmed in Northern Italy at that time, he decided to get checked out. 

"I started to feel bad but nothing serious," says Mateu. "The typical symptoms when you have a cold—that you have your nose a little blocked and you generally feel a bit poorly."

"Just because I was in Milan, I thought it would be important to confirm that I did or didn't have the coronavirus instead of keeping on going, and going to work, as if nothing was happening, as normally I would do."

When Mateu phoned a 112 emergency line number to report his condition, he was told a medical unit would call out to test him. It never came. As he was still in limbo, and out of a sense of civic duty, he self-isolated for the rest of the day, along with his wife and their son, who stayed home from school.

On Wednesday morning, he phoned the emergency line again, stressing to the person on the other end that he had been in Milan. He was told their services were straining to cope with the number of calls they were receiving and that the medical unit would call out to him the next day, Thursday.

Faced with another 24-delay, Mateu decided to take action himself, going first to a private healthcare clinic (which wasn't equipped to test for the coronavirus) before eventually arriving at Valencia's University Hospital Clinic.

He was tested, and at 4:30 a.m. the following morning, Thursday, 27 February, he was confirmed as having the coronavirus. To alert others, he diligently sent messages to those he remembered being in contact with after his return from Milan a week earlier. He's been in isolation since his diagnosis.

"I am completely isolated," he said during a phone interview with B/R last Friday. "The people who are infected have to be totally isolated from other people. I suppose there might be other people with the coronavirus in the hospital here, but I don't know. I'm in lockdown. I have no information about what happens outside.

"I can't see anyone. Nobody can visit me, and I've been like this for nine days so far. What I feel above all is really bored. I have books to read, a tablet, and I can watch television, but after a while you just want to do something else—go out onto the street, go for a walk, go to the beach, breathe in some fresh air. I really miss all these things. Being isolated, if you don't feel bad or if you don't have symptoms, as I don't have any now, what you want is permission to go home.

"There are three or four doctors who treat me. Every day, they come to visit me—to see how I'm getting on, to explain to me exactly all the medical tests they are doing to me. The way I am now, they only come once a day—to confirm if I'm OK, and I don't see them again until the next day.

Mateu was the first to be diagnosed with COVID-19 in the province of Valencia. His background in the media and his willingness to speak about his experience both make him a notable voice in the coverage of the virus.

One of the things Mateu did once he became clinically isolated was to release a video on the Las Provincias website, describing his symptoms and the course of rest and treatment he'd been following. Salvador Illa, Spain's minister of health, applauded the public service broadcast.

Paracetamol (also known as acetaminophen) is the only medication Mateu has taken while in clinical isolation. He's in waiting mode. He doesn't know when he will be released.

"I would love to know, but nobody knows how long I will have to be here," he says (public health experts have been recommending a 14-day quarantine period)."When it's over, and after some time passes, I will remember it, sitting with my friends, having a beer, and I will laugh at the bad luck I had in getting infected.

"In the meantime, I want to send the message from here that people out there who might get it should stay calm—that it's a very mild illness, and that you can recuperate without any problems.

"I don't have fever. I'm not sneezing. I don't have any general discomfort. I feel good. The only thing I have is a dry cough—I had it from practically the first day. Before it was constant, but now I only have it once in a while.

Mateu understands however, that while his discomfort has been mild, symptoms can be much more serious and complicated for the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. 

In a statement released last Saturday after the 100,000th worldwide case of COVID-19 was confirmed, the World Health Organization reiterated that, "Every effort to contain the virus and slow the spread saves lives."

"We must stop, contain, control, delay and reduce the impact of this virus at every opportunity. Every person has the capacity to contribute, to protect themselves, to protect others, whether in the home, the community, the healthcare system, the workplace or the transport system," the statement added. 

On Tuesday, Mateu will watch Valencia's return leg against Atalanta on television, just like Valencia's football fans, as the game will be played behind closed doors at the Mestalla Stadium, following confirmation by UEFA. The move is a precautionary measure against the spread of COVID-19.

And it's in keeping with several global initiatives around sporting fixtures and matchday practices. These include, for example, a ban by UEFA on pre-match handshakes between players and officials. And there is some nervousness around the hosting of the Euro 2020 championships later in the summer. Serie A games have been suspended until April 3. La Liga in Spain is monitoring the situation.

And it's in keeping with several global initiatives around sporting fixtures and matchday practices. These include, for example, a ban by UEFA on pre-match handshakes between players and officials. And there is some nervousness around the hosting of the Euro 2020 championships later in the summer. Serie A games have been suspended until April 3. On Tuesday, La Liga in Spain also announced that its games will be played behind closed doors for at least the next two weeks.

“The La Liga measures follow the decision by the Spanish High Council of sports today that all competitions and sporting events in Spain, professional and non-professional, state and international level must be held behind closed doors. Public health is paramount,” says Joris Evers, La Liga's chief communications officer.

To learn more about the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, visit the World Health Organization website.

                 

Follow Richard on Twitter: @Richard_Fitz

Winning a trophy usually doesn't result in a manager getting sacked, but Marcelino Garcia Toral is convinced guiding Valencia to victory in last season's Copa del Rey ultimately cost him his job.

The 54-year-old was dismissed from the Mestalla on Wednesday after just over two seasons in charge and replaced by former Real Madrid assistant and Spain under-21 chief Albert Celades, per BBC Sport.

Marcelino went into detail on Friday about how pursuing success in Spain's cup competition proved his undoing, per Perform (h/t AS):

"I am absolutely sure that the trigger for this situation was the Copa del Rey. During the season, we received direct and indirect messages that we had to discount it (the Copa). The fans wanted to fight for it and the players too, and they had the conviction to win it. The coaching staff wanted to fight and win the Copa.

They didn't tell me why they didn't want the Copa, only that it was a minor tournament and that I could be putting the main goal (Champions League qualification) at risk. Winning the Copa was the trigger for this situation."

Marcelino says he thinks he was sacked for (trying to) winning Copa del Rey. That’s appalling on so many levels.

— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) September 13, 2019

Ironically, Los Che winning the Copa didn't negatively impact the club's pursuit of a place in this season's UEFA Champions League. Valencia qualified after finishing fourth in La Liga for a second year running on Marcelino's watch.

The strong finish to the campaign was capped by beating champions and holders Barcelona 2-1 in the cup final at Real Betis' Estadio Benito Villamarin back in May.

However, Marcelino described how club chairman Peter Lim was not in the mood to celebrate the achievement: "We did not receive congratulations in Seville (after the Copa final) from the owner (Lim). When I went to Singapore (for a meeting with Lim and Anil Murthy, club president), I was congratulated for qualifying for the Champions League, not for winning the Copa."

The lukewarm response to lifting the trophy was a curious one since it represented Valencia's first piece of silverware since winning the same tournament in 2008. Los Che's fortunes had dipped considerably during the subsequent years, with Marcelino helping to salvage the mess created in part by the ill-fated appointment of former Manchester United defender and Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville in 2016.

Yet as Richard Martin of Reuters pointed out, Neville's tenure may lend credence to Marcelino's words:

After Marcelino claimed that Peter Lim didnt like him winning the Copa del Rey with Valencia, worth remembering what Gary Neville said to @SecondCaptains about playing in Copa del Rey and Europa League when he was there. "The owner told me 'get out of those two competitions'".

— Richard Martin (@RichMartinMcr) September 13, 2019

Neville didn't last four months in the dugout before Valencia went through Pako Ayestaran, Cesare Prandelli and Voro ahead of settling on Marcelino.

The Spaniard built a functional team around the defensive qualities of holding midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia and former Arsenal duo Francis Coquelin and Gabriel Paulista. Goncalo Guedes and Rodrigo Moreno provided cutting edge up top for a team good enough to also reach the semi-final of last season's UEFA Europa League.

However, rumours of tension between Lim and general manager Mateu Alemany didn't help Marcelino's cause. Even so, Julian Burgos, Conrado Valle and Rob Train of AS reported players are "in a state of shock regarding Lim's decision."

Argentina international centre-back Ezequiel Garay was left far from impressed with the club for parting company with his manager:

"Who ever made this decision did NOT just walk over you, they have dragged the whole team and support down with them, something I will say loud and clear: IT'S NOT FAIR."

Ezequiel Garay was not happy with Marcelino's sacking 😤 pic.twitter.com/YqkHeGLFml

— GOAL (@goal) September 12, 2019

Wherever the fault lies, this isn't the first time Marcelino has produced good work under difficult circumstances only to leave a club under a cloud. He guided Villarreal from the Segunda division back to Spain's top flight then took the Yellow Submarine to the last four of the Europa League in 2016.

An enterprising team with solid foundations thanks to Gabriel and Eric Bailly, as well as ample ingenuity provided by Denis Suarez and Adrian Lopez, appeared primed for bigger things.

Trouble surfaced the same summer, though, with Marcelino abruptly leaving shortly before a new season began amid reports of player unrest.

While he's obviously a talented manager, Marcelino needs to find the ideal environment to support his vision for building a successful team. His achievements, coupled with the perception of erratic behaviour at the top of the Valencia hierarchy, should mean Marcelino isn't out of a job for long.  

Valencia manager Marcelino has said he does not want to see star forward Rodrigo leave the club this summer, but he admitted a "great offer" may be enough to see him move on amid reported interest from Barcelona.

Rodrigo has been one of the most consistent goalscorers in La Liga in recent years and played a big part in another successful season for Los Che. They finished fourth in Spain's top flight, then beat Barcelona to win the Copa del Rey final.

Speaking about the Spain International, the Valencia boss said he didn't think the player wanted to move on but admitted things can change quickly, per Goal:

"Rodrigo is not going to leave Valencia because that is not a thought in his head. But, like every player of that age and trajectory, if a great offer arrives, a good one for both parties, the coach has to accept it. 

"I have tried to have an important role in discussions, but in sales the coaches cannot be part of that process. For us, Rodrigo is a very important player, but it will be the club and the player who decide. There must be an offer that is good for both parties. The market will dictate that."

It's noted in the report that Barcelona and Roma have been linked with the 28-year-old. 

According to Javier Giraldo of Sport, the chances of a transfer to Barcelona have "grown significantly in recent days." Rodrigo has until 2022 still to run on his contract at the Mestalla, and his release clause stands €120 million (£106 million).

Here is a reminder of what the centre-forward can produce:

| 🇪🇸 |

Not long ago Rodrigo scored this belter for Valencia in #LaLiga ☄️

He scored the first goal for Spain on Saturday, can he do the same tonight? pic.twitter.com/9LbAT08jWV

— ELEVEN Football (@ElevenSportsFB) March 26, 2019

Overall, the 2018-19 season wasn't one of the most productive for Rodrigo, as he struggled in the early stages of the campaign and only managed to find the net on eight occasions in the top flight.

However, in the final weeks of the term, he came good. Not only did the 28-year-old net in the Copa win over Barcelona, but he was also on target in the final game of the La Liga season. The 2-0 win was enough to secure Valencia's UEFA Champions League spot for 2019-20.

In addition to goals, Rodrigo is a mobile presence up top, as he's able to drift into wide areas and knit play together. For Barcelona, he'd provide a fine alternative to Luis Suarez at the point of the attack.

As relayed by Sid Lowe of the Guardian during the Copa del Rey final, the Blaugrana have a dearth of options in this position:

If on the day when you have literally NO ONE else to play up front you still don’t use the striker(?) you signed, some pretty significant questions have to be asked about the decision to sign him.

— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) May 26, 2019

Aside from Rodrigo, Barcelona have also been linked with Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann, with the Frenchman confirming he will be leaving the club this summer.

Either would be savvy acquisitions for Ernesto Valverde's team, although both would cost a substantial amount. Having already parted with £65 million for Frenkie de Jong, it will be intriguing to see where else Barcelona decide to invest.

The tall, gangly Cristiano Piccini is one of Valencia's unlikely heroes. The Italian right-back popped up in the box in the dying seconds of Valencia's last game of 2018 for a crucial cameo. Valencia were hosting Huesca at the Mestalla Stadium. Valencia's season was in disarray—they were lying 14th in the table, four points from the drop zone.

Things were about to get worse. Only the crossbar saved Valencia from going 2-1 down to bottom-placed Huesca following a late free kick by Huesca's David Ferreiro. With the ref about to blow full-time, Piccini stormed into the box in the last play of the game—with 94 minutes on the clock—and crashed home a left-footed shot first-time into the net. The stadium erupted. It's the only goal he's scored for the club.

"When Piccini scored the winner in the last second for Valencia, the Mestalla celebrated like 'locos,'" says Toni Calero, a journalist with Las Provincias, a Valencia-based newspaper. "It was difficult to understand because in the end to win a match at home against a really inferior team was nothing big, you would think, but it was a turning point in the season.

"The coach, Marcelino, was on the ropes. His team had played a lot of games where they created chances, but they hadn't won. So on a day when a goal goes in in the last second felt brilliant because it changed the dynamic of the team. It helped erase the pain of so many draws, which should have been wins. Valencia have had a lot of heart this season, and that was one of the games that proved it."

Valencia have endured a topsy-turvy season. They couldn't buy a goal in the first half of the season, registering only 17 goals by the halfway stage in their league campaign (the joint-lowest rate in the division). That left them 10 points adrift of the UEFA Champions League places—a mid-season margin that no club had ever made up, according to the statistician MisterChip.

The club miscalculated when it brought in the striker Michy Batshuayi on loan from Chelsea during the summer. Batshuayi had done well on a loan period with Borussia Dortmund last season, scoring seven goals in nine starts in the Bundesliga, and also scoring in the FIFA World Cup with Belgium, but the goals dried up for him in Spain. He only managed one goal in 15 league games for Valencia.

"The move to bring in Batshuayi was negative," says Cayetano Ros, a journalist with El Mercantil Valenciano. "He couldn't score. The players in the dressing room knew the high salary he was earning, and he was playing out of shape, carrying weight. Other forwards were uncomfortable with him—they played less. When he left in January, it opened the door for others to play more and score more. Where the team had been getting draws—16 in 38 league games—they now started to win more. All these draws had been the problem."

Marcelino—who had hauled Valencia back into the Champions League during his first season in charge, following two diabolical 12th-placed seasons—found his head on the block mid-season. He held his nerve. Crucially, he had the backing of his dressing room.

"In Singapore, where the club's owner, Peter Lim, resides, they toyed with dismissing Marcelino," says Calero. "They doubted whether he had the power to drive the team on. Mateu Alemany, the club's general director, convinced Lim to have patience with Marcelino, though, because he saw the work day-to-day that Marcelino was doing and how the players react to him.

"Marcelino understands really well the importance of connecting with his footballers. When you speak to Valencia's players, they all say the same thing: He's very honest—for good and bad. If he has to say something to you, he'll say it to your face, and very clearly, whether a player is in his plans or not. He's a great motivator.

"Marcelino was a professional footballer himself for a long time. He played underage for Spain teams. He understands how a dressing room functions. The team's most important players—Dani Parejo, Rodrigo, [Jose] Gaya—always publicly back Marcelino. One of the abiding images of this season was after Valencia's game against Getafe in the cup when Parejo, the team's captain, embraced Marcelino on the pitch. The pair were practically crying, happy that finally the work they had put in was paying dividends."

When Marcelino was installed in the job in the summer of 2017, he cleared out the troublemakers in the dressing room—including Enzo Perez, Diego Alves and Alvaro Negredo—and persuaded Parejo, who had potential moves to Sevilla and Barcelona on the table, to stay with him. Marcelino has built his team around Parejo, supported by a fine cast of young players, including Goncalo Guedes as well as academy graduates from within—Gaya, who has been capped by Spain, and Carlos Soler.

"The key to Marcelino is that he's a very good psychologist," says Salva Folgado, a journalist with El Pais. "He can cajole his footballers. He likes a dressing room with footballers who aren't in conflict unlike the dressing rooms of a lot of other clubs. He won't tolerate a player in his squad who will be a nuisance or who will generate a bad atmosphere. He's the boss.

"He convinced Parejo—who was on the verge of leaving—to stay. Parejo has said that Marcelino is the best trainer he's worked with during his career along with Ernesto Valverde. Valencia has given Marcelino complete power. He functions like a manager in England, deciding transfers—who comes and who goes—as well as coaching the first team."

Parejo's career has travelled a long and twisting road. He was earmarked for greatness at Real Madrid's youth academy—so highly regarded that club legend Alfredo Di Stefano famously boycotted Real Madrid's reserve team games because he was upset that Parejo had been farmed out on loan to QPR in England.

Parejo's promise went unfulfilled, and he was cut adrift by Real Madrid. He spent a couple of seasons at Getafe before rocking up at Valencia in 2011, where it hasn't always been plain sailing. During Gary Neville's shambolic, four-month reign as Valencia coach during the 2015-16 season, Parejo was stripped of the captaincy, and he got into trouble in December 2016 when he was filmed dancing with a hookah in his hand in a nightclub.

Marcelino has revived his career, however. Last year, Parejo got called up to the Spain national team squad to belatedly win his first international cap at the age of 28. This season no other central midfielder scored as many goals (nine) as Parejo in La Liga.

"Parejo is Valencia's most important player," says Ros. "He directs and organises the team's play. He makes interceptions. Having him in the team relaxes those around him. He's the team's leader, the player with most quality, the most authority and respect. He's one of the best players in La Liga."

Folgado identifies Valencia's Brazilian goalkeeper, Neto, as another cornerstone of Valencia's team. Having spent a couple of seasons as back-up to Gigi Buffon at Juventus, Neto has been a revelation at Valencia since joining at the start of Marcelino's reign in 2017.

"I'm not exaggerating when I say that in 90 per cent of the games that Valencia has played this season, Neto has made a stupendous save that has stopped a definite goal, a save that's helped the team earn points," says Folgado.

"Arsenal are interested in signing him for next season. According to information from a close confidant of Neto's, Neto is still not convinced about the move, but Valencia would have to sell him for the fee they would receive. His buyout clause is €80 million, but he would be sold for about €25 or €30 million."

Neto will have his work cut out trying to keep Leo Messi—who is on course to win his sixth Golden Shoe award as Europe's top scorer—from scoring in Saturday night's Copa del Rey final. Any team with Messi in its ranks is "favourite", says Ros, who otherwise believes the teams are "evenly matched."

Barcelona will start with a depleted side, as they will be missing several star players, including Luis Suarez, goalkeeper Marc Marc-Andre ter Stegen, probably Ousmane Dembele and possibly Philippe Coutinho. After the embarrassing exit to Liverpool in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League, another humiliating defeat would jeopardise Valverde's position as head coach.

Valencia—who completed a remarkable late-season surge by securing Champions League qualification on the final day of league fixtures—will travel to Sevilla with a more carefree attitude and keen to sign off on the club's centenary year by winning a first trophy since their last Copa del Rey triumph in 2008.

"Valencia's chances depend on the form of Messi. If Messi catches fire, it'll be a big problem for Valencia," says Calero. "Valencia is a very defensive team. It knows very well how to play on the counter-attack. Valencia have a style that Barcelona finds difficult to break down. They've played Barcelona twice this season, and both games ended in draws. This gives Valencia hope.

"Barcelona's elimination from the Champions League against Liverpool did a lot of damage mentally. Valencia's spirits are better. They'll be more relaxed. It's a factor in Valencia's favour."

             

Follow Richard on Twitter: @Richard_Fitz

Valencia have confirmed Michy Batshuayi will return to Chelsea in the "coming hours or days," with the La Liga outfit set to end his loan agreement early.

The Belgium international striker moved to Valencia in the summer for the 2018-19 campaign but has struggled to make an impression. The 25-year-old has only started four games in the top flight for Los Che and has netted just three times in all competitions.

Speaking about the striker, Valencia's sporting director Mateu Alemany confirmed Batshuayi is poised to end his disappointing stint at the Mestalla, per Sky Sports:

"Batshuayi's situation is very clear. We are negotiating the player's exit with various other clubs."

"I expect he will leave in the coming hours or days. The player knows he is leaving, we told him some weeks ago. We hope that, for his sake, this can be resolved as soon as possible. He is leaving and it's now a matter of negotiation."

Competition for a starting spot at Valencia looked set to be fierce this term given the options manager Marcelino has to choose from. 

However, players with excellent goalscoring reputations like Batshuayi, Rodrigo Moreno, Goncalo Guedes and Kevin Gameiro have all failed to find their best. It appears the club have now given up all hope that Batshuayi will come good.

For the striker, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Borussia Dortmund, it will be a huge disappointment not to have fared better at Valencia. 

Kristof Terreur of Het Laatste Nieuws commented on what the player must do if he's to make improvements in his game:

Everybody who has worked with Michy Batshuayi says that he has a lot of attributes and is one of the most clinical strikers in the box. Only: he’s sometimes too playful and not always disciplined. The type that needs to feel love and warmth if you want him to perform.

— Kristof Terreur (@kristofterreur) January 10, 2019

After picking up a serious injury during his time at Dortmund and failing at Valencia, the next step in the career of the forward feels like a crucial one.

While Chelsea have struggled to find a consistent goalscorer this season, with both Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata unable to nail down a place in the XI, Liam Twomey of ESPN FC doesn't believe the Belgian will be staying at Stamford Bridge:

Batshuayi heading back to Chelsea in January. I suspect he won't be back for very long though... #cfc https://t.co/kQCfCPeCnX

— Liam Twomey (@liam_twomey) January 10, 2019

Given his goalscoring record has always been impressive prior to his switch to Spain, you suspect there won't be a shortage of suitors for Batshuayi. According to Simon Jones of the MailOnline, both West Ham United and Crystal Palace are interested in the player. 

Getting regular games feels crucial for the former Marseille man. Aside from his brief spell at Dortmund during which he was a regular starter, he's held a reputation throughout his career as being an impact substitute; he's now at an age where he should be seeking to shed that status.

Basthuayi has the physicality, penalty-box intelligence and finishing skill to be a consistent goalscorer in one of Europe's elite leagues. After so many moves so early in his career, some stability and trust from a coach feels key for the sharpshooter.