Rivaldo Exclusive: Valencia won't make life easy for Barca in Copa clash

Hoping for a more comfortable advantage

In the Copa del Rey first leg at Camp Nou, I was hoping for a better win from Valverde's team, but we have to recognise Valencia's strong defensive exhibition.

A 1-0 lead still offers Barcelona different ways to approach the game, as their opponent needs to attack at Mestalla, and the Blaugrana could take advantage of that with more space to play.

I believe the Barcelona players have more experience and intelligence and that could be crucial to qualifying for the Final. It will be important for them to control the game, command possession and drain Valencia of any time on the ball, something Barcelona are very capable of thanks to their players technical quality.

Valencia won't struggle for motivation in this match - even though they've lost their last five games in all competitions - as this is an excellent opportunity to beat and even eliminate Barcelona, something their fans can be really proud of.

As I often say, beating Barcelona makes you go around the world, but I'm convinced that Barca will end up earning another victory, and probably by the same score of 0-1.

Valverde rotating his squad at La Liga

Despite not beating Espanyol last weekend, 'Los Culés' won't be worried about that. I know that another loss against a rival could have been troubling but that's not the case. Barcelona are managing their sizeable advantage on top of La Liga, and with such a wide margin, a draw in the Catalan Derby won't worry Ernesto Valverde too much.

To be honest, Barcelona's coach even rotated his squad at the RCDE Stadium, leaving Lionel Messi on the bench - using him for about 30 minutes. With a very busy schedule right now, Valverde needs to be smart with his team rotation, trying to avoid injuries and fatigue with his most important players.

Yerri Mina looking for his debut at Mestalla

Gerard Piqué scored the equaliser against Espanyol but also received a knock that will side-line him for this match, joining Thomas Vermaelen on the list of unavailable defenders.
For that reason, Valverde only has Samuel Umtiti and Yerry Mina that can play centrally, but Sergio Busquets could also drop back there if needed.

Mina is still looking for his first appearance and will certainly be eager to start at Mestalla and show what he can do to earn a first team place at Barcelona. We'll see if Valverde is already confident about playing him from the start in such an important clash.

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