Madrid, Sep 4 (IANS) Valencia coach Carlos Corberan has a long injury list to add to his early-season problems ahead of Sunday’s La Liga match at home to FC Barcelona.
Valencia go into the game with just one point from their opening three games, which came from a 0-0 draw at home to Celta Vigo on the opening day.
Since then, Corberan’s side has lost 1-0 at home to Real Betis and was beaten 3-1 away to Deportivo La Coruna last weekend, adding to the pressure at Mestalla Stadium, which lost patience with club owner Peter Lim a long time ago.
A further defeat would leave Valencia in the relegation zone. However, to make matters worse, Corberan’s side will be missing several key players to take on Barcelona.
Guido Rodriguez, Jose Copete, Sadiq Umar, Justin de Haas, Diego Lopez and Sergi Canos are all certain to miss Sunday’s key game, while Dimitri Foulquier, Luis Rioja and Kayne van Oevelen are all doubts.
The only good news for Corberan is that deadline-day arrival Harvey Elliott will be able to start after completing his loan move from Liverpool, although Elliott has struggled with a lack of competitive football over the past months.
Barcelona have started this season with three consecutive wins in which it has scored 12 goals.
Earlier, Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott joined Valencia on loan for the 2026-27 season as he looks to revive his career. The 23-year-old moves to Spain after a difficult season on loan at Aston Villa, where he made just four league appearances.
“I wanted the opportunity to come here, play regularly and experience a different league,” Elliott said. “I’m very grateful to Valencia for giving me that opportunity. I feel ready to get started, but ultimately, it’s down to the coach whether he wants to put me in,” added Elliott, who travelled to Spain on Monday night to finalise his deadline-day move.
Elliott’s contract with Liverpool runs until June 2028, and the loan does not include an option to make the move permanent.
Following Elliott’s arrival, Valencia has loaned Portuguese midfielder Andre Almeida to recently promoted Racing Santander, which has also signed French defender Jeanuel Belocian on loan from Bayer Leverkusen.
–IANS
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