Barça vs Valencia: Preview
The champions look to win a fourth domestic double in five years and their fifth consecutive Spanish Cup
FC Barcelona vs Valencia CF
Competition/Round: 2018-19 Copa del Rey, Final
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Marc-André ter Stegen, Luis Suárez, Arthur, Ousmane Dembélé, Rafinha, Kevin-Prince Boateng (out), Philippe Coutinho, Nélson Semedo (doubt)
Valencia Outs & Doubts: Denis Cheryshev (out)
Date/Time: Saturday, May 25, 2019, 9pm CET (Barcelona), 8pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 12.30am IST (India, Sunday)
Venue: Estadio Benito Villamarín, Seville, Spain
Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco
How to watch on TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), Canal+ Sport 1 (Nigeria), TVE La1 (Spain), others
How to stream: WatchESPN (USA), others
So here we are. What could have been the chance of a second trophy in the middle of a potential Treble week is now just the depressing end of a depressing season for Barcelona. The sixth Copa del Rey Final in a row and another embarrassing Champions League exit make this an especially difficult game to care about.
But here’s the thing: this is a Final. Unlike so many Barça fans who are trying to fool themselves into thinking losing this game will magically change the coach, make all the bad players go away and bring Mbappé, I just want my team to win this game. Winning a Final is always awesome, and I personally will never take it for granted. I will continue to expect much better football and actual coaching next season, but for two hours on Saturday I just want to win the Final.
In this depressing season, winning has somehow become the lesser of two evils instead of a positive thing. But I’ll always take winning over losing. Always.
Winning won’t make anything better. Losing will only make things worse.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-4-2): Cillessen; Roberto, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Vidal, Busquets, Rakitic, Aleñá; Messi, Malcom
Valencia (4-4-2): Doménech; Wass, Garay, Gabriel, Gayá; Soler, Parejo, Kondogbia, Guedes; Rodrigo, Gameiro
PREDICTION
We’re going to win this, because of course we are: 2-0 Barça.
Source: barcablaugranes.com
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