Mourinho's fear of Valencia is about Madrid's legs, not Mestalla's form
José Mourinho is afraid of Valencia "in inverted commas", and the fear comes from his own squad's week rather than Valencia's season. Madrid play their third away match in seven days against a side that has had the week to rest and has yet to win a league match at Mestalla.
Real Madrid landed from Athens at three in the morning after Wednesday's win over AEK, and Saturday is their third away match in seven days, after Racing Santander and Athens. On Friday Mourinho said he was afraid of the match, "afraid in inverted commas", because Valencia are "a fresh team that has had the whole week to prepare for it".
Madrid win it, narrowly: Valencia have shown nothing at Mestalla to frighten them, and the week in their legs is all that keeps it close.
The fear is about the week, not the opponent. Valencia have not won a league match at Mestalla this season, are 19th with nine points, and have scored eight league goals, as few as anyone in the division. Javier Aguirre's first win since replacing Carlos Corberán came on Sunday, 1-0 at Elche, in his fourth match.
Madrid have won seven in a row in all competitions since losing the derby to Atlético on 20 September. Mourinho will rest Éder Militão and Antonio Rüdiger for Ibrahima Konaté and Dean Huijsen, Vinícius Júnior serves the last match of his four-game ban and Rodrygo is injured, which leaves the goals to Kylian Mbappé. "His one against one cannot be defended," Aguirre said, "but we are eleven."
The table makes the night bigger than Valencia's form. Madrid are third on 27 points, three behind Barcelona and one behind Atlético, who meet on Sunday, and a win takes them level with Barcelona before that game. It is also Madrid's last league visit to the old Mestalla before Valencia move to their new ground next summer, and they have won on their last two.
