When Barcelona travels to Estadio Mestalla on Wednesday to take on Valencia they will be looking to build off an 8-0 thrashing of Osasuna. The heavy La Liga favorites need to assert their dominance over the league by beating one of the main contenders on their home turf.
After back-to-back disappointing draws against Real Sociedad and AC Milan, L'equip blaugrana were a team on a mission against Osasuna. Five different players scored goals, including Lionel Messi who netted a hat trick, as Barcelona made a statement to the rest of the league.
It won't be that easy against Valencia. Los Che are a team in that second tier behind Barca and Real Madrid with hopes of proving they belong in the same conversation as the usual suspects at the top of the table.
Striker Roberto Soldado has scored five of the six Valencia goals through three games and is likely in the best form of his career.
The 26-year-old Spaniard has played with four different La Liga clubs over the past six seasons and seems to have settled in nicely with Los Che. Stopping him will be priority No. 1 for Barcelona on Wednesday.
The most important aspect of the game for Barca is getting that mental edge back. After those two unimpressive second half performances last week, they gave some lower level La Liga teams hope of beating the champions.
They need to squash those dreams and remind everybody why they won the Champions League last season. A road win over Valencia will go a long way in doing that.
