La Liga Tips: Back 6/1 treble in passionate clash between Barcelona and Valencia | OneFootball

Spanish LaLiga

Flick's Barcelona are coming off a huge European effort in midweek

Jamie Kemp takes a look across three fixtures across matchday 21 in La Liga, including Barcelona's clash with Valencia to round out the weekend...

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Atletico Madrid v Villarreal - Sat, 15:15

Atletico Madrid produced late heroics once more in midweek, with Julian Alvarez's late winner earning them a signature victory against Bayer Leverkusen. It was the third time this season they've scored a 90th-minute winner in the Champions League this season - already the most by a team in a single campaign in the competition's history.

Diego Simeone's side have been immense at the Metropolitano this season, particularly in second halves. They have taken over late on in games with a remarkable regularity this season, and it's almost as if their opponents need to be ahead by multiple goals at half time just to have a chance of taking a result by the final whistle. Indeed, their second half goal difference in La Liga this term is +20, scoring 24 times and only conceding four in return.

With that said, I like Villarreal's chances of being competitive in this match. They were fantastic in a 4-0 victory over Mallorca on Monday night (very likely their best performance this term), and they've had an extra two days to recover than Atletico, who needed a monumental effort to get past Leverkusen 48 hours later.

Villarreal are also a team whose performances have been better than their results in La Liga this season. They've conceded 31 goals from just 23 xG against this term, defending better than their record suggest. And with a little more rub of the green, we could well be looking at a top-four calibre side here, who aren't a million miles away from competing with the 'big three' - at least while they have no European football on their schedule.

I wouldn't like to bet on any visiting side to win at the Metropolitano this season, but I do think Villarreal can manage a result there. In the end, I'll opt for both teams to score and throw in 3+ corners and 2+ cards each (both teams average 2+ cards per game in La Liga this season).

Real Valladolid v Real Madrid - Sat, 20:00

Things are all of a sudden looking very good for Real Madrid. While finding themselves in the driving seat in La Liga - without really looking anywhere near top gear and with a big helping hand from various shock Barcelona results - their star attackers are starting to find some ominous looking form.

It took a bit of time, but we can safely say Kylian Mbape has now arrived. Indeed, we might just be at the beginning of a dominant reign, where his firepower propels a Real Madrid side to domestic success even without finding their best, most balanced version as a collective.

It remains to be seen how much or if Ancelotti will rotate for this game, but Real Madrid's humming group of attackers look like a frightening proposal for a Real Valladolid side who are leaking goals - and especially one who are in the process of losing heir best defender, Juma Bah, to Manchester City.

Despite Mbappe being the clear danger man for the home side should he feature, I'm drawn to Jude Bellingham as an anytime scorer here for a bit more value. Firstly, his scoring form has really picked up of late. Since the start of December, the 21-year-old has netted seven goals in 13 appearances across all competitions, while averaging 2.3 shots and 4.5 touches in the opposition box per 90 in this period.

And secondly, this is very likely to be a chippy, physical game. Real Madrid coming to town is always treated as a major event in Valladolid, and the home side will have to try and unsettle in every which way they can. Indeed, they were super aggressive in their victory over Real Betis in their last home game - they'll need similar here.

Bellingham thrives in these scenarios. On the road against teams they're huge favourites against, where the games are physical and the home crowd are engaged, the Englishman always comes to compete. He loves quieting the stadium, and he'll keep running relentlessly into the box until he gets the opportunity to do so.

Barcelona v Valencia - Sun, 20:00

If there was ever a game that summed up what Barcelona are under Hansi Flick, their 5-4 victory at Benfica this week was precisely it. Barça became just the second team in Champions League history to concede 4+ goals in a match and still go on to win it.

Though it's hard to imagine Flick's side becoming a truly stable defensive team any time soon, they are utterly relentless in attack. The sight of Raphinha streaking down the pitch in the 96th minute to score the winner was the picture that said a thousand words. Barça, again, gave up a lot on the defensive end in the match, but simply hit back harder for every punch they took.

It's the same story in La Liga. They're by far the best attack in the division, yet their defence has been too easily breached in recent times. And after a gruelling night in Lisbon on Tuesday, I'm expecting this to be a tough game where they again find themselves in the business of having to outscore their opponent.

Valencia are unbeaten in their last four games under Carlos Corberan, and have only conceded once in that time. In their pivotal victory over Real Sociedad last time out, they limited a Europa League contender to just 0.81 xG, despite only having 35% possession. This team know how to suffer, and will likely improve in that respect the more Corberan keeps working.

They're a tough team to break down, and they'll have done plenty of work in preparing for counter attacks this week - a game plan they undoubtedly have the tools for through the legs of Luis Rioja, Diego Lopez and Javi Guerra, to mention a few.

Valencia will have a lot of defending to do too, but I like their chances of being able to get up the pitch and force Barça's high line into running backwards. The Catalan side have only kept two clean sheets in their last 12 across all competitions, and have leaked a lot of big chances for a team of their calibre.

And just finally, these are two ultra-aggressive sides. We know that for sure with Barça under Flick, and Corberan has breathed new life and energy into this Valencia side. The visitors have averaged 2.3 yellow cards per game in La Liga this term, while Barcelona have had 12 across their last four games in all competitions.

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