Zinedine Zidane and his Real Madrid team travel to Mestalla to face a Valencia side in great form in what appears to be the most difficult task since the French coach's return to the bench for the Whites.
Valencia
An encouraging, impressive and blistering 2019 it has been for Marcelino's men after completing a 16 consecutive matches without a loss last weekend, not even the Benitez era in which they lifted the league title bettered this record.
Valencia sit sixth in the table with 43 points after 29 games. Their opponent tomorrow has twice as much loss as they have accrued this season which begs the question, why are they far below their tomorrow opponent in points? That is down to the amount of draws Marcelino's men have collected. They are a team well balance and solid defensively, letting few goals in and netting few as well but they seem to have improved in front of goal lately with five wins out of seven.
Valencia are in the race to catch up with Getafe and Alaves for the race of the Champions league last spot after they dealt a blow to another Champions league spot contender, Sevilla at home last weekend. both Getafe and Alaves sit four and one point above Valencia respectively and the host will be hoping to increase their chances of qualifying for champions league with a win or at least, a draw tomorrow with 9 more matches still to play for.
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Real Madrid
Los Blancos has had nothing but a rollercoaster ride of a season and that has outrightly left their season practically over while March was just beginning.
Two coaches sacked in a season and the third, who is currently managing the team is a former Champion for the team, well respected and adored for the successes he brought to the team both as a player and as a coach, Zinedine Zidane.
Under Zidane, Real Madrid has won both matches he has overseen although against relegation threatened teams and this third match represents the toughest he will face since his return.
With Real Madrid's season concluded before Zidane's rehiring, the French coach has the freedom to lose or experiment on his team with all fingers pointing at next season's preparation.
There is no denying that Real Madrid has been pretty much bad in all sections of the pitch this season especially their defence. They have let in a huge number of goals and lost matches they should have won although they appeared to have revived their winning spirit under Zidane but the defensive problems still remain clear.
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Predictions
This match at Mestalla appears to be a very tricky one. Valencia have something to play for, which is qualifying for the Champions League while Real Madrid practically have nothing to play for bar pride. However, mathematically all hope is not lost for Real Madrid lifting the league title come end of season and they would most likely chase Barcelona to the end of the season. The idea of chasing Barcelona and the league appears to be a faint one as Zidane is bent on experimenting on his team over chasing some faint hopes.
Selection of Team B's goalkeeper Luca Zidane and giving 19 year old Brahaim Diaz a run out goes a long way in showing how little Zidane value the idea of competing for the league title but you never can tell what A stands for with the French man. Resting Luka Modric, Keylor Navas and Toni Kroos could be a sign he has his sights set on Valencia, so expect a tough one at Mestalla tomorrow.
My Picks
Under 3.0.. Odds @ 1.89 (Betscorum)
Real Madrid to win... Odds @2.28(Betscorum)
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