La Liga: Valencia visits Barcelona hoping to stave off danger of drop

Valencia's bid to deal a serious blow to their status faces one of their toughest tests on Sunday when they travel to Spanish league leaders Barcelona.
Twenty years is nothing for Valencia. Our club's fans still long for the time when their team won the Spanish league and reached European glory.

These days, after a season in which they sold the most players to other players, the team from Spain's third largest city has a new goal: to avoid the embarrassment of transfers.

Valencia's bid to deal a serious blow to their status faces one of their toughest tests on Sunday when they travel to Spanish league leaders Barcelona.

Valencia is in 18th place - one point from safety. He has several injured players, including striker Edinson Cavani, and former player Ruben Barajas is adapting to his new coach.

Valencia needed an own goal from a Real Sociedad player to end a run of eight games without a win at the Mestalla last weekend. Previously, Valencia had gone 12-4 in seven wins and one draw in the league.

After giving his fans something to celebrate, Valencia striker Hugo Duro broke down in tears as the players sat on the pitch.

"The truth is, Ugo Duro shows the frustration we feel," said colleague Samuel Lino. "A heavy mistake for us."

Baraja faces a starting lineup dilemma at Camp Nou after replacing Gattuso, having managed only two games so far. Duro will fill in for the injured Cavani. But first choice defender Jibril Paulista and Jose Gaia will be sidelined after recovering from injury.

Barcelona may have their best player on the injured list. Lewandowski, Pedri, and Dembele are injured and will not play in Thursday's Copa del Rey semi-final against Real Madrid. Lewandowski leads the league with 15 goals.

But Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández could call on a deep squad full of international talent.

At least the Barajas players don't have to filter the vitriol of their fans for club owner Peter Lim.

The home game of Valencia was an opportunity for thousands of fans to challenge the ownership of our Singaporean businessmen. Barajas is looking forward to his time there, having helped Valencia win league titles in 2002 and 2004 and reach the Champions League final in 2000 and 2001. The latest example is the transfer of Spanish midfielder Carlos Soler to Paris Saint-Germain.

Valencia will be led by Lino, a standout player in his first season in Spain, and US midfielder, Usun Musah.

Barcelona itself had to settle for a 1-0 defeat in Almeria. The defeat left the league leaders seven points behind second-placed Madrid.

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