Valencia star boastful of home support ahead of cup tie against Barcelona

Valencia midfielder Javi Guerra has revealed that he is hoping the team’s strong showing at their home ground, Mestella, will help their chances against Barcelona ahead of their Copa Del Rey quarterfinal clash on Thursday. 

Despite suffering a humiliating 7-1 defeat to Barcelona earlier this year, Guerra believes that Valencia can pull off an upset, particularly with the support of their fans at Mestalla.

Guerra’s comments came after Valencia’s recent win over Celta Vigo, which marked their fourth victory in seven matches under new coach Carlos Corberan. The midfielder believes the results have been due to home support.

Valencia’s surge in form under Corberan has been impressive, and Guerra warned Barcelona that Los Che are a force to be reckoned with, especially on home soil.

Corberan also spoke about the upcoming match, saying that Valencia must draw inspiration from their embarrassing defeat to Barcelona earlier this year. 

Barcelona, meanwhile, will be looking to build on their recent 1-0 win over Deportivo Alaves, which helped them bridge the gap at the top of the league table. The Catalan club will be favorites to win the Copa Del Rey clash, but Guerra’s comments serve as a reminder that Valencia will not be pushovers.

The Copa Del Rey quarterfinal match between Valencia and Barcelona is set to take place on Thursday, with Valencia looking to pull off a major upset and Barcelona seeking to take another step towards winning the competition.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid has filed an official complaint with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) over the refereeing in their 1-0 defeat to Espanyol. The club is upset over a challenge by Espanyol defender Carlos Romero on Kylian Mbappe, which they believe should have resulted in a red card. Instead, Romero was only given a yellow card and went on to score the winning goal in the 85th minute.

In a statement, Real Madrid expressed their frustration with the refereeing, saying that the events of the match “have exceeded any margin of human error or referee interpretation.” The club has demanded that the RFEF hand over the VAR audio recordings related to the two key plays in the match, including the challenge on Mbappe and a disallowed goal for Vinicius Jr.