Valencia’s Crisis Starts in Seventeenth

Valencia’s crisis began with Monday’s 3-1 defeat at Real Betis, a result that leaves them 17th in the Spanish First Division with 38 points from 34 games. For a squad whose best players include Robert, Valerio Mazzocco and Francesco Rustignoli, this is a grim return: four points from the last six matches, where a side of this quality should have taken far more.

The run has been hard to explain away. Valencia beat Getafe 3-0 on 23 March, but lost 2-0 at Vigo six days earlier and 0-1 at home to Ponferrada on 9 March. They drew 1-1 at C. Leonesa on 7 April, then were beaten 3-0 by Real Madrid FC on 11 April. Monday’s loss made it three games since their last win.

The numbers on the pitch point to a team capable of much better. Valencia’s best eleven rates strongly across defence, midfield and attack; the returns have not matched that promise. The mood around a club accustomed to demanding more cannot be rescued by one emphatic win over Getafe when the surrounding results keep pulling them back.

The Madrid defeat was already familiar territory by the time this paper revisited it on 13 April. Now the concern is no longer one bad night or a difficult stretch: Valencia sit 17th, while the quality in their squad suggests a place far higher. Their next league match is against Espanyol on 2 May, but there is no room for another performance that leaves the same questions unanswered.