Valencia take on the visitors Celta Vigo in the round of 1/8-finals of Copa del Rey. The match will be played on Wednesday, January 17th at Estadio de Mestalla (Valencia).
Valencia looks much better than a year ago. The Bats are a club with a rich history, and some of the brightest chapters are associated with Rafa Benitez's tenure. However, after a brief stint under Bordalas, where they narrowly missed winning the cup (losing to Betis only in post-match penalties), Peter Lim clearly made a misstep by bringing in Gattuso. Of course, it's not solely Gennaro's fault, but under his leadership at the beginning of the previous calendar year, the team hit rock bottom in the league standings. Baraja, a local legend as a player, managed to lift them from there. Furthermore, the progress of Los Che continued even after the summer break, starting with a couple of victories. Led by the likes of Yaremchuk, they have looked solid overall, winning and losing roughly in equal measure. They even crushed Cadiz 4-1 in the last round.
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Celta apparently believed that, together with Benitez, they could revive their status as a strong team. After all, things hadn't been going well for Rafa lately, and the ambitious club from Vigo was also struggling. However, the outcome was very poor, and it's surprising that the experienced coach did not leave Balaidos, where mid-season coaching changes have been commonplace, especially after a problematic start. Even when things started to stabilize somewhat, in December (a 1-0 win against Granada broke an 11-round winless streak), the team remained in the relegation zone. Only a rather unexpected 2-1 victory against Betis allowed them to climb to the 17th spot. In the last round, they even managed to draw with Mallorca, adding another point to their tally.
Since the beginning of 2021, The Bats have won all five head-to-head matches in a row. It was only in November, also at Mestalla, that they couldn't break through the defense of Celta, resulting in a goalless draw. Los Che are considerably higher in the league standings than The Galicians and have the home advantage. Without overthinking it, we opt for the quite tempting option of a home team victory.
Prediction for the match: Valencia to win.
