Barcelona vs Valencia Spanish Primera Division - 18-04-2015

FC Barcelona vs Valencia
Competition: Spanish Primera Division
Match date: 18 April 2015
Kick Off Time: 15:00 BST
Venue: Camp Nou (Barcelona, Spain)

FC Barcelona team stumbled in their title pursuit last weekend when they drew on the road with Sevilla, 2:2. Despite holding a 2:0 lead through the first half hour of action, the Catalans fell asleep and allowed Sevilla back in the match with 2 unanswered goals on either side of halftime. The draw allowed for Real Madrid to close the gap at the top to just 2 points, and the Catalans will be feeling the pressure mount with just 7 matches remaining.

However, Barcelona will be buoyed by their massive UCL victory last time out, as the Catalans hit the road to Paris and stole a 3:1 lead from the first leg. Neymar began the scoring in the first half to take a 1:0 lead into halftime, but the second half would see Luis Suarez steal the show with a nifty nutmeg of David Luiz and a brace to seal the 3:1 victory. The hosts are now unbeaten in their last 11 competitive fixtures and have claimed victory on 10 of those occasions. Furthermore, they have now won 15 of their last 16 competitive matches at the Camp Nou, outscoring their opponents 59 to 11. While Valencia did conquer the hosts here last season, the Blaugrana are vastly improved since then and will have the extra motivation of revenge to spur them on and avoid any letdown in-between their UCL clashes with PSG.

Valencia team also enter the weekend in a good run of form, as the visitors have now gone their last 10 La Liga fixtures without a loss. They have claimed an impressive 30 points out of a possible 39 from their last 13 league games, resulting in a current 4th place ranking while they sit just a single point behind Atletico Madrid. While a title challenge is unlikely, they do have an opportunity to put their name in the hat with a win here at the Camp Nou. They will take confidence from the fact that they conquered the seemingly-indomitable Barcelona fortress in their last visit there last season, and manager Nuno Espirito Santo will be keen to remind his players that the hosts are in fact mortal.

However, while that victory at the Camp Nou will serve to boost the players’ belief, it also adds extra impetus for the hosts to come out firing on all cylinders. That isn’t good news for a team that had lost their previous 7 trips to the Camp Nou before last season’s upset, and it doesn’t help matters that they have added an in-form Luis Suarez since. Furthermore, Los Che have been outscored 5 to 25 in their last 8 competitive trips to Barcelona, and Sunday should see them fall in an important match for both sides.

Barcelona last 5 matches:

22/03/15 Barcelona 2 – 1 Real Madrid
05/04/15 Celta de Vigo 0 – 1 Barcelona
08/04/15 Barcelona 4 – 0 Almería
11/04/15 Sevilla 2 – 2 Barcelona
15/04/15 PSG 1 – 3 FC Barcelona

Valencia last 5 matches:

13/03/15 Valencia 2 – 0 Deportivo
20/03/15 Elche 0 – 4 Valencia
05/04/15 Valencia 0 – 0 Villarreal
09/04/15 Athletic Club 1 – 1 Valencia
13/04/15 Valencia 3 – 0 Levante

You can watch the match here: Link 1 , Link 2 [Live Scores]