HOPING TO END A BAD RUN

Match details

Valencia CF- Sevilla FC 

Matchday 31 LALIGA EA Sports 

Mestalla 

Friday 11 April 21:00 CEST 

History

Founded in 1911, Valencia are one of Spain’s most successful teams with the club boasting six La Liga titles, eight Copa del Rey wins, and numerous European trophies, including the UEFA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup. They also reached back-to-back UEFA Champions League finals in 2000 and 2001. They play at Mestalla which has a capacity of 49,000 fans. Despite challenges in recent years, the club remains renowned for their youth academy, "Acadèmia," which has produced players including David Silva, Jordi Alba, Ferran Torres, and current club captain, José Gayà.

Standings

After a 9^th place finish last season, Valencia find themselves at the other end of the table and looking to avoid relegation to the second tier of Spanish football for the first time since 1986. Ahead of kick off they lie in 14^th place – six points above the drop zone – although a five-game unbeaten run has strengthened their position, including a dramatic last-minute 2-1 win against Real Madrid last time out. 

Standings

After beating Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, the hosts are experiencing one of their best runs of the season. The arrival of Carlos Corberán in the dugout has helped them to move away from the relegation zone, currently sitting in 14th in the table with 34 points. They have now gone five games unbeaten, winning their last two matches, beating Mallorca at Mestalla following that away in the capital.

Xavier García Pimienta's side, meanwhile, are 12th with 36 points after their last three league defeats. 

Team news

Xavi García Pimienta has had some bad news in the form of injury. Rubén Vargas, who had to be substituted in the last game against Atlético de Madrid, has a grade II hamstring injury in his right thigh, and Akor Adams also suffered a thigh injury in that game, while Djibril Sow and Adrià Pedrosa picked up problems during the week but have recovered in time to be included in the 23-man squad. Valencia, meanwhile, will only be missing injured duo Thierry Correia and Iván Jaime. 

Last five meetings

11/1/25 Sevilla 1-1 Valencia

17/2/24 Valencia 0-0 Sevilla

11/8/23 Sevilla 1-2 Valencia 

16/4/23 Valencia 0-2 Sevilla

18/10/22 Sevilla 1-1 Valencia  

Key player: Diego López

The Spain Under-21 has been a revelation for Valencia this season with eight goals and five assist in all competitions this season – the most goal contributions of any Valencia player this season. He was named the LALIGA EA SPORTS Best Under-21 player for the month of March after scoring against Osasuna (3-3), Real Valladolid (2-1), Girona (1-1) and Mallorca (1-0) to cap off a fine month for the forward. 

Coach: Carlos Corberán

A Valencia native, Corberán had a brief career in the Spanish lower leagues before retiring aged just 23 to focus on coaching. After working various roles at the like of Villarreal, Al-Ittihad, and Al-Nassr he was appointed as manager of Cypriot side Doxa. Corberán then made his name at Leeds United under the guidance of Marcelo Bielsa, before going on to manage Huddersfield, Olympiacos, and West Brom. He was appointed Valencia head coach in December 2024.

Player links

Of the current squads Rafa Mir is currently out on loan at Valencia.

Going back further some of the players to have played for both teams during their career include Éver Banega, Kévin Gameiro, Álvaro Negredo, Javi Navarro, Adil Rami and Andrés Palop.

Classic meeting

UEFA Europa League semi-final second leg

1 May 2014

Mestalla

Having qualified for the knockout round of the Europa League and overcome Maribor, Real Betis and Porto we were drawn against fellow Spanish side Valencia in the semi-finals. In the first leg at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán two goals in three minutes from Stéphane Mbia and Carlos Bacca had given us the advantage heading to Mestalla. However, a nightmare first half saw Valencia level up the tie through Sofiane Feghouli and an own goal from Beto. Things got even worse with 20 minutes to play in the second half as Jérémy Mathieu turned in from close range after a corner giving Valencia the lead for the first time in the tie. As the clock ticked into injury time it looked like the European dream was ending until a long throw from Coke eventually found the head of Mbia who crashed in a dramatic headed goal to send us through on away goals and onto another European league final against Benfica in Turin.