'Valencia depend on a miracle' – Relegation threat looms large for VCF after Sevilla loss
The Mestalla-based club are 18th in LaLiga with just nine rounds remaining. It's getting tense...
Time is running out for Valencia. Sunday’s 2-0 loss at home to fellow struggers Sevilla leaves Los Che in big trouble in 18th place in LaLiga and relegation for the first time since 1986 is becoming a real possibilty. Despite positive noises from manager Rubén Baraja before the game, confidence is low and the fans are pessimistic. The next nine matches will be huge.
Valencia had lost their previous game against Almería, but at Mestalla recent form had been better: two wins and a draw in their last three. The warmth of the fans at their famous old home had lifted them lately, despite all their problems. Sevilla had been struggling too: a ‘direct rival’, as it is said in Spain. “We need to be an energetic team to get the result we want,” Baraja said on Saturday. “Which is to win.”
His side were energetic on Sunday: Valencia had more possession, more shots and more corners than Sevilla. The intensity was not lacking, but the end product was. Also some good fortune as key decisions went the way of the visitors. VCF were unhappy that Sevilla’s first goal was allowed to stand after what they claimed was a foul in the build-up to Loïc Badé’s strike. And there was widespread indignation later on as a handball by Fernando in the area surprisingly went unpunished, despite a pitchside check by referee Carlos del Cerro Grande.
A penalty at that stage would have offered a lifeline to the home team and it seemed certain to be given. Instead, the official waved his arms to overrule his initial call and Sevilla went on to score again. “We’re disgusted,” Valencia’s corporate director Javier Solís said to DAZN after the match. “We’re angry. The officiating was a complete disgrace and not just the penalty which was taken away from us. It was a robbery – and in slow motion.”
Solís went on to add that “football smells bad” and said he could count “17 serious VAR mistakes” which had gone against Valencia this season. The city’s sports paper, Superdeporte, worked out that VCF would have 10 more points if it were not for what they called “erroneous decisions” from the video assistant referee in 2022-23.
It is no use, though. Those points are gone and in any case, almost every team in the bottom half of the table has complained about refereeing decisions and VAR in LaLiga this term. Things just have a way of going against you when times are tough – and that is what is happening at Valencia right now.
Read: 'A sick man in intensive care' – Valencia a club in crisis amid huge fan protests at Mestalla
Baraja is a club legend from his playing days who was appointed in February following the departure of Gennaro Gattuso. His first match was a 1-0 defeat at Getafe. “If we look at the table, our situation, are we going to kill ourselves with the matches we have left?” he said after that defeat in Madrid.
There were 17 games left then. Now there are nine and Valencia are even worse off. After the loss at Getafe, Valencia won two of their next three, but they have not won again since. And although defeats away to Barcelona and Atlético Madrid were expected, one point from Rayo Vallecano at home, Almería away and Sevilla at Mestalla is a worrying run. Relegation form.
“Valencia depend on a miracle,” Marca said on Sunday. And journalist Diego Picó, who attended the match as a fan, entitled his piece: “Mestalla: funereal silence.” In it, he wrote: “Valencia are hurting like a person who has lost a loved one. The silence was deafening. Nobody believes.”
Superdeporte asked their readers if any did believe in a poll on their website on Monday: “Do you think Valencia will stay up?” To which 75% said no. Sunday’s loss to Sevilla was the club’s 16th of the season in LaLiga and only bottom club Elche have more.
Elche have been beaten 20 times and have just 13 points from their 29 fixtures. They are up next for Valencia. After that: Real Vallaldolid and Cádiz. Winnable games, all of them, but the same was said of Almería and Sevilla.
Baraja, meanwhile, is under scrutiny. One Valencia-based journalist claimed on Sunday night that former coach José Bordalás would be willing to return. He took Valencia to the Copa del Rey final last season, which seems a long time ago now, only to be sacked by owner Peter Lim.
The Singaporean businessman has not been seen at Mestalla since December 2018 but appeared alongside Cristiano Ronaldo last week in a post on Instagram celebrating the pair’s 10-year collaboration for Lim’s foundation. Valencia fans, who continue to mobilise for change at Mestalla and protest against their owner, were not impressed.
On Sunday, fans directed their anger at the board by turning towards the director’s box following the second goal and after the game, the players had to leave by bus through the back of the stadium and escorted by the police as thousands of supporters stayed outside to vent their ire and frustration.
With just nine fixtures remaining, the atmosphere is tense. Valencia will still be in the bottom three if they beat Elche next weekend – as they sit three points behind Almería with an inferior head-to-head record – but it would be a platform on which to build, in terms of momentum and also belief. “There are a lot of points left,” Baraja said. “We’re just one win away from getting back into the fight. Nobody is giving up.”
Before the game against Sevilla, striker Hugo Duro said: “This is a mini league, with six teams, and we are better than the rest.” In terms of the quality of Valencia’s players and their squad strength, that may well be true. But unless they start showing it soon, one of Spain’s biggest clubs will be playing in Segunda next season.