The inherent flaw in La Liga is that no matter how well a team starts a season, it's basically impossible to gauge whether or not they're "for real" until they face one of the big three. Such is the case for Valencia who have opened the year undefeated in six matches, a run good enough for 14 points and second place in the table. The problem is, they've not played Real Madrid, Barcelona or Atlético Madrid ... until Saturday.
Valencia vs. Atlético Madrid live stream: How to watch La Liga online, TV schedule and more
Valencia have taken advantage of a friendly schedule to start the season, now comes their first big test of the season.
Los Che welcome the defending champions to the Mestalla for their first big test of the year, and a chance for Nuno’s squad to announce their intention to be a contender for a Champions League place. While it’s important to remember that one game won’t define a team’s season, a loss by Valencia would allow them to be written off to a certain extent as just another La Liga team who is good, but predictably not good enough to challenge the usual suspects at the top.
Unfair and ridiculous as that might be, it’s the current state of affairs in the top flight of Spanish football. So we shall see how Valencia play on Saturday and go from there.
Key Player: Valencia defense
A big part of Los Che’s success early this season is their stellar defensive play. Through six league matches they’ve only conceded three goals, which is pretty darn good. Goalkeeper Diego Alves deserves a lot of credit, as do the players in front of him, generally Rúben Vezo and Nicolas Otamendi. In the end though it’s a team effort, and Nuno’s team has been scoring a lot of goal while keeping the ball out of their own net. Atléti will put that to the test.
Key Matchup: Valencia vs. Atléti’s physicality
Few teams in Spain like, or can handle, Atlético Madrid's physical style of play. It's not the norm in La Liga and while it's often not pretty, it's highly effective since most of their competition struggle to deal with it. The task ahead of Los Che on Saturday is finding a way to match Atléti's physicality and deal with it. They can't let Los Colchoneros dictate the flow of the game, since that's a sure what to eventual destruction thanks to the array of attacking talent at Diego Simeone's disposal.
Valencia injuries and suspensions
Out: Alvaro Negredo (broken toe).
Atlético Madrid injuries and suspensions
Out: None
Valencia's only injured player is on-loan striker Alvaro Negredo who remains sidelined with a broken toe. Atléti are free from injury concerns entering the match.
Match Date/Time: Saturday, 4 p.m. local, 10 a.m. ET
Venue: Estadio de Mestalla, Valencia, Spain
TV: beIN Sports, beIN Sports en Español (U.S.), beIN Sports (Canada), GOL T, Canal+ Liga/HD (Spain)
Online: beIN Sports CONNECT (U.S.), beIN Sports CONNECT (Canada), Gol Stadium (Spain)
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