La Liga: Xavi Makes a U-Turn, Valencia Gunning for Europe

Barcelona vs Valencia

With Real Madrid already on the verge of winning the La Liga title, Barcelona and Girona are in a tight battle to secure the second spot in the standings.

After a haunting week of football, Barcelona fans received news of their head coach, Xavi, who was poised to leave the club by the end of the season, deciding to stay and “continue the project” at Camp Nou.

Meanwhile, Valencia have completely turned things around this season after finishing as one of the bottom teams last year. Los Ches are in a race to clinch the last spot in European contention, with just four points separating them from the 6^th-placed Real Sociedad.

It’s the home stretch in the Spanish top flight, and teams like Barcelona and Valencia are still clawing their way to the best finish they can garner this season, so it’s only fair to expect a spirited effort from both clubs when they lock horns in Catalonia.

 

Talking Points

Will Xavi stay with Barcelona?

After a devastating week of football, the Catalans find themselves out of European competition with an El Clasico loss that gravely hurts their La Liga title defence. Now, with Real Madrid on the verge of La Liga glory, Barcelona and Girona are tussling elbows for their best-case scenario, which is to end the season in second place.

Unfortunately for Barcelona, they’re facing a hard pill to swallow and accept that their manager, Xavi, will leave the club without a trophy in hand. Or so it seemed.

Yes, Barcelona will end their 2023–24 campaign without an addition to their trophy cabinet, but reports say that it won’t be the last chance they get to give Xavi a trophy as the Barca head coach.

In breaking La Liga 2024 news, recent reports have claimed that Xavi has decided to stay with Barcelona and continue his role as their head coach.

The club legend was adamant to leave the club by season’s end, but the reason behind the sudden U-turn of the former Barcelona midfielder was because of the undying support he received from the Barcelona president, board, and players.

“I changed my mind because I really felt total confidence from the president, from the board and the players too. This project isn’t finished yet,” Xavi stated.

“Me, my staff, all together feel that we have strength to make important things together and continue this project.”

He went on saying, “My original decision was the right one at the time because we needed a change of course. But the situation is different now. I feel strong enough to continue building this project. We may not have achieved the trophy-winning targets that we set for this season, but there is hope for next season and I think we are very close to achieving big things.”

It looks like SBOTOP Barca fans have something to be happy about moving forward.

 

Potential European place for Valencia

While the top four in the La Liga season are pretty much a lock among Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atleti, and Girona, the last two European spots are still up for grabs.

One of the teams in contention to compete on the European stage next year are Valencia. They finished 15^th last season, but they proved that they’re ready to take the next step, as they’ve been one of the mid-table staples this campaign.

With just four points behind Real Sociedad, which currently holds the last European spot in La Liga, avid Los Ches fans should expect a spirited run from Rubén Baraja and his men in the last few games of the season.

 

History

Barcelona have completely bossed their past head-to-heads against Valencia. Since 2003, these outfits have faced each other 50 times, and in those games, Barca have won 25 while Valencia have only eight to their name with 17 draws to boot.

During their last encounter, Valencia managed to end the game levelled thanks to Hugo Guillamon’s heroics. The rivals were forced to share the points after a 1-1 draw at the Estadio de Mestalla.

 

Betting Tip

Despite their recent woes, Barcelona are still one of the best clubs in La Liga, which is well reflected in how the La Liga 2024 betting odds are priced for this match.

Barcelona are the heavy favourites at 1.31, while visiting Valencia are the overwhelming underdogs at 7.70 with a draw price of 4.69. I would personally go with Xavi’s Barcelona on this one, but their price of 1.31 doesn’t really scream value.

That’s why my betting tip is total goals under 2.75 at 2.02. A low-scoring game has been the primary theme for their past three matchups, and it doesn’t seem like that’ll change anytime soon. The last time they scored more than two goals was back in February 2022, when Barcelona beat Valencia 1-4 on the road.

   

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