Preview: Valencia vs Barcelona - prediction, team news, lineups

Barcelona will be aiming to continue their impressive start to the 2026-27 La Liga campaign when they head to Mestalla on Sunday afternoon to tackle Valencia.

The Catalan outfit have taken maximum points from their opening three games of the season and sit top of the La Liga table, while Valencia are in 17th spot on one point.

Match preview

Valencia boast a record of one draw and two defeats from their first three league matches of the season, with one point leaving them down in 17th spot in the division.

Los Che opened their campaign with a goalless draw against Celta Vigo, before suffering back-to-back defeats to Real Betis and Deportivo La Coruna.

Valencia finished ninth in Spain's top flight last season and would have been looking to kick on this term, but it has been an underwhelming start to the campaign.

Carlos Corberan's side made seven signings during the summer transfer window, with Arnau Martinez and Ryunosuke Sato among those to make the move to Mestalla.

Valencia recorded a 3-1 win over Barcelona in the corresponding match during the 2025-26 campaign, which proved to be their first success over the Catalan side since January 2020.

Barcelona comfortably lead the overall head-to-head record between the two sides, having posted 115 victories to Valencia's 60, while there have also been 57 draws in their 232 meetings.

Hansi Flick's side, who are the reigning champions, have been note perfect in La Liga so far this season, beating Elche 5-0, Athletic Bilbao 2-0 and Rayo Vallecano 5-2 last time out.

The Catalan outfit are currently top of the table on nine points, and they will be aiming to make it four league wins in a row before beginning their Champions League campaign against Feyenoord.

Barcelona made eight signings during the summer transfer window, with Anthony Gordon, Rodri, Karim Adeyemi, Gabriel Jesus, Jesse Bisiwu, Dominik Livakovic, Hamza Abdelkarim and Joao Cancelo arriving at Camp Nou to boost the squad.

It is shaping up to be a fascinating title race between Barcelona and Real Madrid this season given how impressive the latter have also looked early in the campaign.

Valencia La Liga form:

Barcelona La Liga form:

Team News

Justin de Haas (ankle), Sergi Canos (knee), Jose Copete (ankle), Diego Lopez (knee), Guido Rodriguez (muscle), Umar Sadiq (hamstring) are all out of the match for Valencia.

Meanwhile, Dimitri Foulquier (muscle) and Luis Rioja (muscle) need to be assessed before final decisions can be made on their availability for this match.

Only Sadiq has scored for Valencia this season, but there are expected to be starts in the final third of the field for both Sato and Arnaut Danjuma.

Barcelona, meanwhile, will be missing Frenkie de Jong (knee), Roony Bardghji (knee) and Jesse Bisiwu (contusion); Gavi (knee) is also a slight doubt due to a knee issue.

Rodri is expected to again feature off the bench for Flick's team, with Marc Bernal and Pedri set to continue in the middle of the midfield for the reigning champions.

Raphinha has been in excellent form this season, scoring five goals and registering one assist in three La Liga appearances, and he will continue in the final third of the field.

Fermin Lopez should return as the number 10, with Lamine Yamal and Gordon in the wide areas.

Valencia possible starting lineup:

Dimitrievski; Diakhaby, Tarrega, Martinez; Maffeo, Guerra, Urgrinic, Pepelu, Gaya; Sato, Danjuma

Barcelona possible starting lineup:

J Garcia; E Garcia, Cubarsi, Martin, Espart; Pedri, Bernal; Yamal, Fermin, Gordon; Raphinha

We say: Valencia 1-3 Barcelona

Barcelona are absolutely flying at the moment, and we are expecting the Catalan giants to put another three points on the board, but Valencia should be able to give their fans something to cheer.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.