After being named as a finalist for Ballon d’Or, Neymar leads Barcelona into Valencia on December 5, 2015. (Getty)
Barcelona may be having their way with La Liga this season, but there will be bigger storylines at play when they visit the Mestalla. Despite sitting fifth in the table, and only one game out of a Champions League spot, Valencia hired a new manager during the week.
Gary Neville will make his manager debut, but it won’t be today against the Catalans. Neville told reporters it would be “too unprofessional” to manage the team before even trained with them, and will watch from the stands. Interim manager Voro will roam the sidelines for Valencia, who will face a tough matchup against Barca’s deadly attacking front.
Valencia is known to play Barca tight at the Mestalla. Last year it took an injury-time goal from Sergio Busquets to boost Barca to a 1-0 win.
Here are the basics:
DATE: December 5, 2015
CHANNEL: beIN Sports in the US, Sky Sports 1 in the UK
KICKOFF TIME: 2:30 p.m. Eastern
LOCATION: Estadio de Mestalla
LIVE STREAM: Click here for all the live stream information.
THE LINEUPS
Barcelona: Bravo, Piqué, Rakitic, Sergio, Alves, Iniesta, Suárez, Messi, Neymar, Mascherano, Alba
Valencia: Domenech, Gaya, Abdennour, Santos, Vezo, Pérez, Parejo, de Paul, Alcácer, Mina
Find out how to watch this game in Spanish at AhoraMismo.com