With the 2016 Euro Soccer’s Copa del Rey in the semifinal stage, this Wednesday we have the ‘Ches’ of Valencia CF (12th Liga) playing Barca of Barcelona (1st La Liga) with the game being played Wednesday the 4th of January 2016 and played at Camp Nou in Barcelona Spain with kick-off at 3 PM ET.
For those that Bet on Soccer at an Offshore sportsbook, in this semifinal game the ‘Ches’ of Valencia are seeking to stay alive in this 1st leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals taking on La Liga league leaders the Barca’s of Barcelona. Their team’s leader is G. Neville will give it their all in this match-up to attempt to win a tournament this season after a disappointing start to date. To do that they have to overcome the red hot team of Spain in Barcelona, and thus their goal is to survive that game at Camp Nou with Barca, who at their home stadium have not lost a game their this season, and have won 6 consecutive games.
Thus, yes their goal is to win and move on to the 2nd leg that would be played at their Mestalla Stadium, which would give them a great chance of winning and moving into the Finals of this Copa del Rey. The ‘Ches’ realize that the Barca team has been playing excellent soccer for season, and it will not be an easy task, but on the bright side the match is played at their home field, and they must create a way stay in the this tournament.
The Barcelona is a tough task for any of their opponents as at their Nou Camp home field they overcome their opponents 23 to 3 in their ultimate 6 matches, therefore it is of utmost importance that Valencia keeps the game ending close before their 2nd game at their Mestalla Stadium next week. The reason behind that madness is the incredible fan support Valencia gets at their home field, and that could be a decisive factor for them, because with a close game at Camp Nou it will give them an opportunity to overcome in the return match on their home field. Earlier this season in a La Liga game at Mestalla the teams came out with a 1-1 draw.
Before we move on we ask that fans take note that another semifinal game will be on Thursday at 2:35 PM ET with Sevilla FC (5th La Liga) playing Celta de Vigo (7th La Liga) with the game being played at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium in Sevilla, Spain.
Some other considerations of Valencia is that they are still in this tournament, but in reality their game performance to date in La Liga leaves something to be desired, as they have not had a league win since back in November 2015 when the beat Celta de Vigo 5-1. Valencia in their ultimate 8 league game went 5 and 3 and this past Sunday they lost to Sporting Gijon. This will be the Valencia teams 1st appearance in the Copa del Rey this season since back in 2008 when they won the tournament.
On the other side the Barcelona team with their stars Messi, Suarez and Neymar they have overcome most all of their opponents this seasons winning 8 consecutive games, and have not lost since back in October 2014 giving them 26 victories in that time frame.
Presently Barcelona is leading in La Liga by 3 points with a 1 game lead, as they just had a 2-1 victory over Atletico Madrid this past Sunday, who is presently 2nd in La Liga rankings. Also, this is the 6th consecutive time that Barcelona has played in the semifinals for the Copa del Rey, and last season they won this tournament.
The sports betting prediction for this Copa del Rey semifinal or 1st game of 2 between Barcelona and Valencia it is our belief that the Barcelona team is just too powerful in their striking game and they will beat Valencia 2-1 in this 1st leg of the semifinals.