On Wednesday, Valencia will welcome fellow La Liga side Alaves to Cuidad Deportivo Valencia for a pre-season friendly.
Los Che won last year's friendly via a 2-0 scoreline, but they went on to lose 1-0 in both of their league meetings with Alaves in the 2023-24 season.
Match preview
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Valencia boss Ruben Baraja extended his deal until June 2026 after he oversaw an encouraging 2023-24 season.
After leading the club to safety in 2022-23, Baraja had Valencia threatening for European qualification in his first full season in the Mestalla dugout.
Unfortunately for Los Che, their European bid was ended by a seven-game winless run, but they would have still been pleased to finish in the comfort of ninth position with the youngest squad in the division.
With the focus now on the 2024-25 campaign, Valencia began their pre-season schedule with a 3-1 win over Racing CF Benidorm, before playing out a goalless draw in Saturday's clash with second-tier Castellon.
They still have five more friendlies to play against Alaves, PSV Eindhoven, Levante, Leeds United and Eintracht Frankfurt as they build up to their league opener against Barcelona.
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Alaves finished the highest of the three promoted teams last season, collecting 46 points from 38 games to achieve an impressive 10th-placed finish.
That represented Alaves' best league placing since they finished in ninth position in the 2016-17 La Liga campaign.
As a result of his fine work, Alaves boss Luis Garcia was rewarded with a new contract in May, extending his two-year stay until the summer of 2026.
The Basque have begun their preparations for the new campaign with penalty-shootout wins over Racing Santander and Real Sociedad after playing out draws in both encounters.
They will now turn their attention to games against Valencia and Levante, before they go on to face Tenerife, Hercules, Huesca and Osasuna.
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Team News
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Valencia have signed goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski on a free transfer from Rayo Vallecano as they seemingly prepare themselves for Giorgi Mamardashvili's potential departure.
Los Che have also bolstered their forward line with the addition of 27-year-old forward Rafa Mir, who has arrived on a season-long loan move from Sevilla.
Cristhian Mosquera and Diego Lopez are currently preparing to represent Spain at the 2024 Olympics, while Yarek Gasiorowski is away at the European Under-19s Championship in Northern Ireland.
As for Alaves, they have made a number of additions this summer, including Hugo Novoa, Stoichkov, Tomas Conechny and Moussa Diarra.
Asier Villalibre has also returned to the club on a permanent deal after helping the club win promotion during a loan spell in the 2022-23 season.
Luis Rioja, who has been linked with a move to Valencia, is expected to play some role in Wednesday's game, having featured as a substitute against Racing Santander and Real Sociedad.
Valencia possible starting lineup:
Dimitrievski; Folquier, Tarrega, Ozkacar, Vazquez; Guerra, Guillamon, Almeida, Canos; Duro, Mir
Alaves possible starting lineup:
Owono; Tenaglia, Maras, Abqar, Ortiz; Benavidez, Guevara; Vicente, Guridi, Conechny; Garcia
We say: Valencia 1-1 Alaves
Both sets of players will be focused on getting valuable minutes under their belt rather than placing too much importance on the final result, and we think that these two closely-matched teams could end up playing out a draw in Wednesday's friendly.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
