Celta Vigo striker Iago Aspas (#9). (Photo : Getty Images)
Middling team Valencia CF (8-11-10, 34 points) will take on the challenge of contending squad Celta de Vigo (13-10-6, 45 points), who is aiming for a Champions League berth, at their home field of Mestalla Stadium on March 20th, Sunday as the 2015-2016 La Liga season begins to wind down.
Valencia is coming off a sorry 0-1 loss to cellar-dwelling team Levante UD at the Estadi Ciutat de València last Sunday, as reported by SkySports.
Italian forward Giuseppe Rossi, who is on loan from Serie A club ACF Fiorentina, scored the lone goal of the match for Les Granotes as Levante completed a shutout of head coach Gary Neville's struggling squad.
It was the second straight loss for Los Che and their third defeat in their last four contests, dropping them to 12th place in the league table, only seven points above the bottom-three relegation zone and tied on points with Real Betis.
Betis took the 11th spot because they are ahead of Valencia in their head-to-head record this season.
Meanwhile, Celta Vigo pulled off a 1-0 victory over another reeling team, Real Sociedad, at their home field of Estadio Municipal de Balaídos last Saturday, as per ESPN.
Spanish striker Iago Aspas provided the winner for head coach Eduardo Berizzo's side right at the 16th minute before the two teams went scoreless for the rest of the match.
It was a bounce back win for Os Célticos after two straight winless domestic matchdays, a goalless draw with Villarreal and a 1-7 annihilation from Real Madrid, to overtake Eibar for the seventh place in the overall standings.
The Sky Blues will try to claim the final Champions League berth for next season, currently held by fourth-running Villarreal at the fourth spot, who are eight points above Celta Vigo.
With nine games left in Os Celestes' season, they can still mathematically salvage the spot if the Yellow Submarine, fifth-placed Sevilla, and sixth-placed Athletic Bilbao all encounter issues in their few remaining Spanish domestic matches.
The predicted result is a close 2-1 win for Celta Vigo.
Valencia starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Alves; Cancelo, Mustafi, Abdennour, Siqueira; Parejo, Fuego, Gomes; Feghouli, Alcacer, Piatti
Celta Vigo starting lineup (4-2-3-1 formation): Alvarez; Mallo, Cabral, Gomez, Jonny; Diaz, Radoja; Aspas, Wass, Nolito; Guidetti
