Where to watch Valencia vs. Watch Barcelona, ​​choice, live stream: odds, prediction, TV channel, what you need to know

Barcelona starts the new La Liga season on Saturday against Valencia CF with the meeting between the two teams in Mestalla. It ended 4-2 against the Catalan giants in April, with Barca as hosts at the time and Hansi Flick has a strong record to defend with 19 points from seven games against Los Ches. The Blaugrana finished strongly last season although it was too late to catch Real Madrid, but Valencia struggled to get over the line with no wins in their last seven league games and one point from four home games.

A top-half finish last season could give hope to European aspirations this season, but Ruben Baraja will need a strong start if he is to have any chance. This is a tough opening game and Valencia have struggled at home recently, so a strong start would be very welcome. However, it is a new era for Barca under Flick and the hope will be to challenge for the title longer than last year. The last time the Catalans dropped points against their Valencian hosts was in a 1-1 draw at the end of 2023, but Baraja’s team have not won this match since the beginning of 2020.

Here are our storylines, how to watch the match and more:

How to watch and odds

• Date: Saturday August 17 | Time: 3:30 PM ET
• Location: Mestalla-Valencia, Spain
• TV: ESPN Deportes | Live stream: Fubo (try it for free)
• Chances: Valencia +360; Sign +290; Barcelona-138

New faces

Neither of these two teams have been as busy as other European clubs this summer, with Valencia doing minimal business with just one permanent arrival in the form of free agent goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski from Rayo Vallecano. Levante’s Dani Gomez and Sevilla’s Rafa Mir have been loaned out, but it has been another cheap spell at Mestalla so far. As for Barca, money has been spent on UEFA Euro 2024 hero Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig and Girona’s Pau Victor, but it was a tall order to register the Spain international in time for this match.

Team news

Valencia: Sergi Canos, Jose Gaya, Jaume Domenech, Fran Perez, Samu Castillejo and Mouctar Diakhaby are all out. Perez, Diakhaby, Domenech and Gaya have been out for a long time and will remain unavailable. Mir will lead the attack alongside Hugo Duro, while Giorgi Mamardashvili will be in goal until a decision is made on his future with Liverpool who are interested in the Georgian international.

Possible Valencia XI: Mamardashvili; Correia, Gasiorowski, Tarrega, Vazquez; Pepelu, Guillamon, Tejón, Almeida; Mir, Duro.

Barcelona: Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Gavi and Ansu Fati have all been ruled out for this. Ronald Araujo is also unavailable and Pedri may not be back training until later this month. Lamine Yamal hasn’t played much in pre-season after his European Championship heroics, but could play a role here.

Possible Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen; Kounde, Christensen, Martinez, Balde; Gundogan, Olmo, Raphinha; Lewandowski, Yamal, Torres.

Prediction

Flick is keen to get off to a winning start and Barça’s record against Valencia is good. Overall, the Catalans should be able to open with a win here to make an ideal start in La Liga. Choose: Valencia 0, Barcelona 1.