With very little left to play this season, Barcelona looks to end a disappointing campaign filled with near-misses when it hosts Valencia in a La Liga match on Monday.
Humbled in El Clásico last weekend amid a controversial finish, Barcelona now find themselves 11 points behind leaders Real Madrid with six games remaining, mathematically still in the title race but, in reality, all but annihilated. Outside of the Champions League and the Copa del Rey, Barça have nothing left to fight for except holding off third-place Girona, who are two points behind and would love nothing more than to finish the season above the Catalan giants.
Xavi might have been training for his future at the club, but after reports of his extension deal, there isn’t even that motivation to push them the rest of the way.
Valencia, meanwhile, has European qualification at stake in its final six games of the season. Located eighth in the table, they are one miserable point behind Real Betis, seventh-placed, and four points behind Real Sociedad, sixth-placed. With Athletic Club winning the Copa del Rey and almost certainly qualifying for Europe due to their position in the table, seventh place will probably be enough for a place in the Europa Conference League.
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Barcelona vs Valencia prediction, odds
- Lean result: Valencia double chance (+200)
- Score prediction: Barcelona 1-1 Valencia
Barcelona have very little to play for this season, and while some young players will have reasons to earn playing time ahead of next campaign, other older players will lack the motivation to perform at the highest level.
Furthermore, Barcelona have suffered three of their four league defeats at home this season, while Valencia have reversed their poor run of form from the first half of the campaign to produce much better results away from home in recent months. Valencia haven’t won a true away game in Barcelona since 2016, but managed a draw here in 2020, as well as at home in this year’s first leg, so a positive finish here would be far from a historic result. .
