Valencia – Celtic

Valencia will try to finish the job against Celtic when these two teams meet at the Estadio Mestalla in a second leg from the Europa League 1/16-finals.

The Spanish team is already touching the 1/8-finals after a 2-0 win in the first leg in Glasgow. Marcelino’s team showed its class and celebrated a win at the Celtic Park, which is putting them in the position of a huge favourite. Denis Cheryshev opened the score for Valencia, while Ruben Sobrino made it 0-2 for Los Che. Now Celtic’s task is getting really complicated.

Nothing is impossible in football, but Celtic’ manager Brendan Rodgers will have to create a great plan in order to eliminate Valencia. The Scottish team is in a very delicate situation after what happened in the first leg.

In the Spanish La Liga Valencia are having a very inconsistent season so far. Right now Los Che are 9th in the league standings, having 14 draws from 24 games played. If they don’t start winning on a more regular basis really soon, Valencia could be left out of the European competitions for next season. In their last five games Valencia are unbeaten with a record of two wins and three draws. In their last game Los Che made a 0-0 draw against Espanyol at home.

Meanwhile Celtic are on their way to win the Scottish Premiership once again. Brendan Rodgers’ team is a leader in the standings, having 8 points advantage in front of the 2nd Rangers. In their last five games Celtic are perfect – five wins. In their last match they celebrated a 1-0 win during the visit to Kilmarnock.

Valencia are the big favourite against Celtic, especially after what’s happened in the first game. Los Che are really close to the 1/8-finals of Europa League. Let’s see if they can make the final blow.