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Some matches do and don’t matter. Preseason results don’t matter, no matter who the opponent. That said, beating Valencia to oblivion is satisfying no matter the circumstances. Finding out our U8s beat their U8s in a friendly would make me smile. So, here are the links I have on how to watch this match. Parejo is starting against his old club and that will be fascinating to watch in the early going.
As we all remember, last time these two teams faced it was absolute dominance by Villarreal. Valencia, in the very early days of the total unraveling that has happened since, were unable to offer any threat whatsoever- failing to get any shots on target and giving up four times as many shots as they attempted.
Many things have changed at Valencia since then, and even the most adamant Meriton supporter cannot say they’ve done so for the better. The club is in absolute disarray, with pillars like Parejo and Rodrigo moving on to far more stable clubs that do not have an absolute disaster of a front office and ownership group.
Lineup
1. Asenjo
3. Albiol
4. Pau
5. Parejo
7. Gerard
8. Coquelin
11. Chukwueze
17. Alcácer
20. Peña
23. Moi Gómez
25. Pedraza
#ValenciaVillarreal | Here is the official team sheet from the @PinatarArena. pic.twitter.com/v6wTg820hh
— Villarreal CF English (@Eng_Villarreal) August 28, 2020
It’s good to see a proper CB pairing put out for this match, as well as both Coquelin and Parejo lined up against their old teammates. There are a lot of players in this lineup that I think will be first choice this season, and I am particularly interested to see how Pedraza looks among them. The first 45 minutes, at least, should be very informative.