In less than two weeks Celtic will visit Valencia in a huge Europa League round of 32 clash, and the good news for the Scottish champions is that their opponents have a demanding domestic fixture list that will ask much of them before they even come up against the Hoops.The bad news, however, is that the LaLiga side have just hit their finest form of the season, and are functioning far better than they were when the draw was made.Getting the better of a team from a much bigger league with a far bigger budget was never going to be easy for Celtic, but developments since the tie was announced in mid December have not favoured the Scots.
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Dani Parejo vs Bara en 45 minutos: 1 gol, 22 pases (100% acierto), 7/7 balones en largo, 3 tiros a puerta, 3/3 duelos ganados, 2/2 tackles y 2 recuperaciones. Tremendo.— Albert Ortega (@AlbertOrtegaES1) February 2, 2019It wasnt all perfect though, as Barcelonas recovery to draw the game proved.While Valencia have shaken off many of their issues from before, they still lack the cool head to see things out from a favourable position. In the second period Rodrigo squandered a golden opportunity to make the score 3-1, and within seconds Barcelona had equalised at the other end through Lionel Messi.The brilliance of the Argentinians disguised shot was almost impossible to defend, but the build-up wasnt, and the mistakes the visitors made showed they still have a habit of lapses in concentration that give opponents a fighting chance.
| |Lionel Messi scored his 115th double in #LaLiga against Valencia today Barca were 2-0 down and Messi brought them back level pic.twitter.com/Ayz9GMjwmn— Eleven Sports (@ElevenSports_UK) February 2, 2019That said, holding on to a valuable point from a game where they would surely have let all three slip not long ago reflects upon a renewed mental strength in Valencia that should not be underestimated.After conceding the equaliser they spent large periods under intense pressure, but the generosity in the defensive cover that players like Ezequiel Garay produced made a huge difference, and gradually helped them to grow in confidence.Rodrigo, covering huge stretches of the final third even after running for more than an hour, was another example of how Valencia have the hunger of a small team to match the talent levels of a squad that was built to compete at Champions League level.
Valencia have been crazy deep in this half. A lot of ground to cover if they want to break pic.twitter.com/uSXcBHZJkS— Lee Roden (@LeeRoden89) February 2, 2019Los Che ultimately left Camp Nou feeling further vindicated that they have finally turned a corner, and while the accumulation of fixtures in the coming 10 days could yet take its toll, the feel-good factor now surging around the Mestalla following months of doom and gloom will have a huge impact.The harsh reality is that Celtic will likely need to produce the perfect game twice if they are going to upset the odds at the LaLiga sides expense.
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