Valencia vs Barcelona La Liga prediction and stats: The Hansi Flick era begins
Barcelona travel to face Valencia on the opening day of the 2024/25 La Liga season for Hansi Flick’s first game in charge.
Last season’s runners-up Barca will be hoping to go one step further this season and secure their 28th La Liga title. But can Valencia end their poor recent record and cause an early shock?
Three predictions for Valencia vs Barcelona
Valencia 1-3 Barcelona (12/1 with Midnite)
Barcelona have lost just one of their last 16 games against Valencia in LaLiga (W10 D5), 0-2 in January 2020, and have gone unbeaten in the last eight (W6 D2). Valencia are also on a poor run of form in the league having not won any of their last seven games in LaLiga (D2 L5), their longest winless run under Rubén Baraja.
Barcelona are one of the three sides that Valencia manager Rubén Baraja has faced three times in LaLiga without winning (D1 L2), along with Mallorca (D2 L1) and Real Betis (D1 L2).
Robert Lewandowski First Goalscorer (7/2 with Midnite)
Robert Lewandowski has scored four goals in three games against Valencia in LaLiga, his joint-highest tally against a single opponent in the competition (also four against Celta de Vigo and Elche). The Barca striker has also found the back of the net six times in his last six league matches, including two in the last two.
BTTS (4/5 with Midnite)
Valencia have kept just one clean sheet in their last seven league matches, while both teams to score has landed in three of Barcelona’s last four league matches on the road.
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How both teams go into Valencia vs Barcelona
After finishing a whopping 10 points behind rivals Real Madrid last season, Barcelona will be looking for a much better campaign this time around.
German manager Hansi Flick is the new head coach after Xavi’s departure and fans will be hoping his time in charge is more like his time at Bayern rather than Germany. During his time in Bavaria, he suffered just seven defeats in 86 games, winning 70, but finished his most recent job with Germany having lost six of his 25 matches, ending with a 48% win ratio.
He has a huge task in front of him if he is going to bring home Barcelona’s 28th LaLiga title, but has been handed an opening day fixture that has been kind to his side in recent seasons. Barcelona have have lost just one of their last 16 games against Valencia in LaLiga (W10 D5) and will hoping to pile more misery on Rubén Baraja’s men.
Valencia finished last season with two draws, five defeats and zero wins from their final seven matches of the campaign, ending the season in 9th, a staggering 19 points off the European places.
Valencia host Barcelona at the Mestalla Stadium on Saturday 17th August at 8:30pm.
Valencia team news
Goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili looks set to leave the club this summer, so Stole Dimitrievski should start for the home side. Rafa Mir has joined on loan from Sevilla, but may start the game on the bench, while Jose Gaya, Jaume Domenech and Mouctar Diakhaby all remain out.
Barcelona team news
New signing Dani Olmo is yet to be registered with LaLiga so will have to sit out the opening game of the season. He joins Gavi, Ansu Fati, Frenkie de Jong and Ronald Araujo as spectators, but Lamine Yamal is expected to start despite just returning to squad after winning EURO 2024. Pedri is a doubt.
Valencia vs Barcelona head-to-head
This fixture has been a one-sided affair in recent times, with Valencia winning just one of the previous 17 meetings between the two sides (D8, L8).
| Valencia vs Barcelona H2H | |||||||
| Date | Score | Ground | |||||
| 29/04/24 | Barcelona 4-2 Valencia | Camp Nou, Barcelona | |||||
| 16/12/23 | Valencia 1-1 Barcelona | Mestalla Stadium, Valencia | |||||
| 05/03/23 | Barcelona 1-0 Valencia | Camp Nou, Barcelona | |||||
| 29/10/22 | Valencia 0-1 Barcelona | Mestalla Stadium, Valencia | |||||
| 20/02/22 | Valencia 1-4 Barcelona | Mestalla Stadium, Valencia | |||||
| 17/10/21 | Barcelona 3-1 Valencia | Camp Nou, Barcelona | |||||
How to watch Valencia vs Barcelona live
This game will be broadcast live on Saturday 17th August at 8:30pm on Premier Sports 1.
