VALENCIA may not be challenging for the La Liga title these days and might no longer be strong enough to vie with the likes of Juventus, Manchester City and Paris-Saint Germain for a place in the Champions League final.
And the Mestalla club are also highly unlikely to start their record €40 million summer signing Goncalo Guedes as the Portuguese winger only returned from a long-term injury layoff at the weekend.
Yet, the Spanish giants will still take to the field at Parkhead in the first leg of their Europa League last 32 double header tomorrow evening expecting to win and progress to the next round of the competition.
Valencia have endured a difficult spell both on and off the park of late and their league wins of 2002 and 2004, Champions League final appearances of 2000 and 2001 and UEFA Cup triumph of 2004 are distant memories for their supporters.
READ MORE: Chris Sutton: Celtic can upset the odds against Valencia
The 13 games they have drawn in the league in the 2018/19 campaign are a club record and have left them 20 points adrift of leaders and defending champions Barcelona.
But the team managed by Marcelino are still strong favourites to triumph against Brendan Rodgers’ side and go through. With good reason. They remain packed with expensive foreign imports, experienced internationalists and supremely skilful stars.
“Valencia are quite confident,” said Cayetano Ros, of Spanish daily newspaper Levante yesterday. “They are normally successful with Scottish teams. They remember beating Celtic on penalties in the UEFA Cup in 2001 when (Ferrer) Mista scored the winner. They are optimistic about this double header.
“It has been a very strange season. They have drawn 13 out of 23 games in La Liga. It is a huge amount. That is because the coach, Marcelino, is very conservative. They don’t want to lose, they aren’t very focused on winning, they aren’t ambitious or brave going forward. They are a very defensive team and are very good at the back.
“Guedes, too, isn’t fully fit. He has been out for a long time with a pelvic injury. He made his comeback at the weekend (in the 0-0 draw with Real Sociedad in the Mestalla on Sunday) after two months out. But he only came on for the last 15 minutes. He needs more minutes before he can start.
READ MORE: Guedes, Cheryshev, Gabriel: Ones to watch for Valencia
“He is a very important player for Valencia. He cost €40 million from Paris Saint-Germain last summer. He spent last season in Spain on loan and he was easily their best performer. That is why they paid so much money for him. He has played very little this season.”
Valencia will still, however, have a wealth of talent. They have lavished sums on players that Rodgers can only dream of. Rodrigo (€30 million), Ezequiel Garay (€20 million), Gabriel Paulista (€13 million), to name just three, are all likely to be involved against Celtic.
“Gabriel Paulista, the Brazilian central defender, is very good, very quick,” said Roy. “Alongside him, Ezequiel Guray, who is Argentinian, is very secure as well. Out wide, there are Cristiano Piccini, the Italian, on the right and Jose Luis Gaya, another Spanish international, on the left. He is very quick also.
“But the most important player for Valencia is Daniel Parejo. He is a central midfielder who organises everything. He very good, very technical, very skilful. He is involved in everything, he never rests.”
He added: “The fans think they have a good team, not as great as in the past, when we had brilliant players like David Silva, Juan Mata, David Villa, of course, but still not bad.
“There are certainly quite good players, internationals like Rodrigo, Gaya, Parejo, Paulista, Garay, Neto, the Brazilian goalkeeper, who is very good as well. The team is okay. But, of course, we would like to win more.
READ MORE: Celtic ready to go up one more level against Valencia
"The team has been very up and down. They had a very bad time two seasons ago. But they recovered last season and qualified for the Champions League. That was considered a success by the supporters. The fans are happy now because they have come from hell.
"Now they are quite satisfied with this coach. There was a very critical moment about a month ago and he was on the verge of being sacked. The team couldn’t win any games. But he got some good results and now supporters are happy with him.
"The team are in three competitions and anything is possible. They aren’t that far off the Champions League positions in the league. They have a chance to get into the Copa del Rey final. They have the second leg of the semi-final against Real Betis at the end of the month. They are also alive in the Europa League and expect to go through."
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