One of the most underestimated defenders of La Liga – Raul Albentosa – plays for Malaga. He was good playing in Eibar last season, and when he left in January, Eibar started to play awfully and moved to the bottom of the table.
This season Albentosa is bringing back the confidence to Malaga’s defence. As a result, they have fourth best defensive stats in La Liga: just 23 conceded goals in 26 games. This is better than Real Madrid. And Albentosa scored a header against Real Madrid, by the way.
But now it’s not clear if Albentosa can play against Valencia because of a knock. If not, it will be far easier for Valencia to attack.
Valencia are on fire now – four wins in the last five games. They lost to Athletic Bilbao 0:3, but is was just an accident. The score was 0:0 till the 72th minute, and then Valencia looked sharper. But Negredo missed a lot of chances.
Now Gary Neville will field Paco Alcacer and some other players. Valencia have a longer bench than Malaga, so they can field a strong team for the upcoming game.
Valencia’s Diego Alves is back to the goal and he is now fully fit after the cruciate ligament injury. This Brazilian goalkeeper can save any dangerous shots and win games by himself. So I suggest that Valencia will not lose here.