On the brink of relinquishing their La Liga crown, Barcelona at least endeavour to salvage some pride when Valencia arrive at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Monday night.

La Blaugrana have fallen 14 points behind Real Madrid at the top of the standings, while their visitors' European aspirations suffered a blow in a 2-1 loss to Real Betis last time out.

Match preview

On the back of suffering a reverse Remontada against Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight of the Champions League, thus dashing their hopes of European supremacy, Barcelona's grip on the Spanish top-flight crown grew ever weaker in a quintessentially controversial Clasico.

As the white-clad home crowd rejoiced in Jude Bellingham's late winner, an apoplectic Blaugrana ranted and raved about Lamine Yamal's phantom goal - club president Joan Laporta went as far as to threaten legal action if the ball was found to have crossed the line - but the Blaugrana chief was in a more buoyant mood earlier this week.

Indeed, after weeks and weeks of affirming that he would not be reversing his exit decision under any circumstances - having announced his resignation after January's loss to Villarreal - head coach Xavi has suddenly had a change of heart and will stay on to lead Barca for the 2024-25 campaign after all.

The reigning La Liga champions hit a rich vein of form after Xavi dropped his first exit bombshell, but their Clasico defeat coupled with Real Madrid's 1-0 beating of Real Sociedad on Friday night leaves them 14 points adrift of Los Blancos, albeit with a match in hand.

In spite of their last two failures, Barcelona ought to take solace from their three-match La Liga winning run on home turf - keeping clean sheets against Mallorca, Getafe and Las Palmas in the process - but victory on Monday would surely just delay the inevitable.

Likewise, Valencia make the trip to Catalonia having seen their own end-of-season aspirations suffer a cruel blow last weekend, where their three-match unbeaten run came to an end with a home loss to fellow European chasers Betis, inspired by a former Premier League striker.

Two strikes from Ayoze Perez either side of a Pepelu penalty reply propelled Manuel Pellegrini's men into the top seven at the expense of their hosts, who will kick off Monday night in eighth position, albeit with just a one-point gap to make up to their Europa Conference League rivals.

Even challenging for the continental positions marks a significant improvement for Los Che, whose dramatic fall from grace saw them just about avoid demotion to the second tier in 16th place in 2022-23, and finishing in the top eight would represent their best result since 2018-19.

Valencia's three-game unbeaten run before falling short against Betis included successive 1-0 wins away to Granada and Osasuna, but not since November 2017 have they triumphed in three straight La Liga contests on the road, and their head-to-head versus Monday's hosts unsurprisingly does not make for pleasant reading.

Indeed, Los Che have just one triumph under their belts from their last 15 games against Barcelona and are winless in seven against La Blaugrana - losing five of them - although Ruben Baraja's men fought back to hold the champions to a 1-1 draw at Mestalla just before Christmas.

Team News

As well as the emotional pain of a potentially fatal Clasico defeat, Barcelona lost the luckless Frenkie de Jong to another ankle injury in first-half injury time at the Bernabeu, and this severe sprain will sideline the Dutch midfielder for the remainder of the season.

De Jong - whose Euro 2024 participation should not be impacted - joins Gavi (ACL) and Alejandro Balde (hamstring) on the long-term infirm list, and fellow midfielder Pedri, a regular occupant of the treatment room, did not train at full intensity during the week as his load is carefully managed.

However, there is nothing to suggest that Pedri will not be fit to replace the stricken De Jong in Xavi's engine room, while Joao Cancelo should hold his spot at left-back despite a defensive disasterclass in El Clasico.

As for Valencia, Baraja's primary concerns relate to the defence rather than the engine room, as Mouctar Diakhaby (knee) and long-serving left-back Jose Gaya (thigh) are both out of contention.

Striker Roman Yaremchuk is yet to make an appearance this month due to a hamstring injury, and having failed to return to team training during the week, the Ukrainian will not be ready to make his comeback on Monday.

Baraja will therefore be working with an identical squad from the recent loss to Betis, where Fran Perez only lasted until the break before being withdrawn for Sergi Canos, so the ex-Brentford man may throw his hat into the ring for a starting role here.

Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Cancelo; Pedri, Christensen, Gundogan; Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha

Valencia possible starting lineup:
Mamardashvili; Correia, Mosquera, Ozkacar, Vazquez; Canos, Pepelu, Guerra, Lopez; Duro, Almeida

We say: Barcelona 2-0 Valencia

Both Barcelona and Valencia would pride themselves on defensive discipline before their rearguards were carved open last weekend, but the attacking firepower on the hosts' end significantly outweighs that of their visitors.

Also boosted by the news of Xavi's resignation U-turn, the reigning champions ought to snap their two-game winless sequence with a professional performance, albeit one that will surely not be enough to retain their crown come the end of the season.


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