Valencia's Rodrigo De Paul (R) in action against Bayern Munich's Rafinha (L) during a recent friendly. (Photo : Reuters)
Unbeaten teams Real Sporting de Gijón (0-0-2, 2 points) and Valencia CF (0-0-2, 2 points) are set to face each other in a 2015-2016 La Liga match on Saturday, September 12 at the Estadio El Molinón in Gijón, Asturias-Spain.
Both squads are coming off two straight drawn games in the first two weeks of competitions of the Spanish league.
Sporting forced a goalless draw with powerhouse team Real Madrid in their opener then settled for another 0-0 tie with Real Sociedad in their most recent game on August 29, as per SkySports.
It was actually not about the defense of both squads, but the inefficient offense that made the match scoreless all throughout. Abelardo Fernández's boys just could not find the net along with the Royals.
As for Valencia, they also opened their season with a 0-0 draw, this time with Rayo Vallecano. Their next game came with goals, a 1-1 tie with Deportivo La Coruna at their home field of Mestalla Stadium on August 30.
Nuno Espírito Santo's men, who were still recovering from defender Nicolás Otamendi's transfer to Premier League club Manchester City, were startled after Turks midfielder Lucas Pérez fired a long-range attack that found the back of the net, putting the visitors on top 1-0 at the 39th minute.
But Spanish forward Alvaro Negredo answered a few minutes later, scoring the lone goal for the Oranges right before the first half of the match ended to equalize the count, via ESPN.
The score was unmoved from there amidst Valencia's relentless attacks in the second half as Deportivo held on for the draw.
The prediction is a close 2-1 win for Valencia over Sporting. Los Rojiblancos will finally have their first goal of the season, but the boys from Mestalla will prevail.
R. Sporting starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Cuellar; Lora, Hernandez, Espinosa, Lopez; Carmona, Picon, Cases, Menendez; Guerrero, Sanabria
Valencia starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): Ryan; Cancelo, Mustafi, Vezo, Gaya; Danilo, Fuego, De Paul; Mina, Negredo, Rodrigo
