Valencia – Krasnodar

Valencia welcomes the Russian side Krasnodar in a first leg from the Europa League 1/8-finals. Let’s take a look at this fixture at the Estadio Mestalla on Thursday night.

Valencia reached the 1/8-finals of the competition after beating Celtic in the previous round. After a comfortable 2-0 win at the Celtic Park, the Spanish side finished the job with a 1-0 over the Scottish team at the Mestalla. The only goal in the game was scored by Kevin Gameiro 20 minutes before the end.

Valencia are currently 7th in La Liga, which is not the best they hoped for, but the club also qualified for the final of Copa del Rey and still have chances to do the same in Europa League. In other words, their season could get much better in the coming months.

Meanwhile Krasnodar celebrated a great win over the German side Bayer Leverkusen during the 1/16-finals. After a 0-0 draw on Russian soil, Krasnodar reached the 1/8-finals with a 1-1 draw at the BayArena in Leverkusen. Both goals came in the last minutes of the game. Magomed Suleymanov opened the score for Krasnodar, while Charles Aranguiz equalised for Leverkusen. The Germans needed one more goal in order to progress, but they were unable to score it.

This season is really good for Krasnodar so far. In the Russian Premier League the team is currently 2nd in the standings, being on 3 points behind the leader Zenit. Right now Krasnodar have realistic chances to chase the title in Russia, which is amazing for this club.

On paper Valencia are favourites against Krasnodar, but have it in mind that it was the same for Bayer Leverkusen as well. The Russian side is a strong one, but it won’t be easy for them as well.