The hot and humid Valencia survives the end of summer with the excitement of Valencia-Barcelona this Saturday (21.30, Movistar). The city, definitively swept away by tourism, a phenomenon that also allows more tickets to be sold for each match, has also succumbed to a team where the lack of stimuli, the signings without neon lights and a League that is uncorked without great aspirations do not matter. It does not matter that there are signs of “Lim, Go Home” on balconies, night clubs and even on the entrance bridges. It does not matter that they do not smell even remotely like a Kylian Mbappé or a Dani Olmo. And it seems that it does not matter that its star, the Georgian goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, has one foot in Liverpool. This Saturday Mestalla will be packed. As it was last season and, very probably, as it will be this season that begins. The fans do not fail.
The coach, Rubén Baraja, knows where he is going. And he decided some time ago that it was a waste of time to get frustrated or complain about the way the team was made. At least in public. Peter Lim did not buy Valencia to build a team that could compete in the Champions League. So this summer the black and white coach is content that, at least, they have not dismantled the block that he built last season with the youngest squad in the entire national championship. The Valladolid native knows very well what his mission is: to keep a team full of patches afloat. “Our level of investment cannot be high due to the economic difficulties and we have to adapt,” he said yesterday in his appearance prior to tonight’s opening game in the League against Barcelona.
Mamardashvili is still at Valencia and Baraja has made it clear that as long as he is there, he will play. “He has a contract, he is our player; for me he is ready to take part in tomorrow’s game.” He is a major player. The Georgian saved many points last season, and although the club has brought in a very reliable replacement, Stole Dimitrievski (from Rayo Vallecano), it will be difficult for him to offer the performance of the still first-choice goalkeeper, valued at 45 million euros.
In the midst of all these circumstances, Baraja has an advantage. There are several players who want to be at Valencia. Their love for the club has made them walk through the door and not move. Like José Luis Gayá, the captain, still injured; Pepelu, the scaffolding of this team; Hugo Duro, the top scorer; Sergi Canós, one of the two wingers, along with Fran Pérez, injured, or Rafa Mir, a new striker who completes the trio of reinforcements along with Dimitrievski and Dani Gómez, on loan from Levante.
Then there is a legion of youth players – including Javi Guerra, after his failed signing for Atlético – who stood up for themselves in the last League and will have one more year of experience, including Olympic champions Christian Mosquera and Diego López.
There are not many more reasons to be hopeful about this Valencia that has deliberately fallen into decline. But Baraja knows the cards he has been dealt and he plans to play his third season with them – the second since he arrived at the helm. “When you are going to renew your contract you have to feel the energy, feel that you can contribute things on that path, that the players will follow you… That is the idea that I have. And the effort of the players and the commitment are beyond any doubt. My objective is to improve, to be ambitious and to overcome the difficulty. I am not going to complain, it is about wasting energy. I am focused on the competition.”
It won’t be an easy start. The Barcelona of Hansi Flick will start, taking over from Xavi Hernández. Baraja highlights the style shown by his colleague. “We have seen that he is very daring, very vertical, that he looks for the opponent’s goal with speed and is precise between the lines. His players make goal passes very easily and we have to be alert.” And once again, a recurring comment in his speech, he looks towards the stands in search of help that can balance some duels. “If we don’t give 120% or the maximum in each game, we can’t compete against anyone. Tomorrow we play against a great team, but we play at home and there we have that intangible that is Mestalla, our field, and Mestalla always responds.”
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