LaLiga
Why Mestalla may lie empty for first 19 minutes of Valencia-Real Madrid
The first LaLiga action of 2025 is the rescheduled match between ‘Los Che’ and ‘Los Blancos’.
LaLiga is back! The first action of the new year sees struggling Valencia face Real Madrid at Mestalla on Friday with the match rescheduled with the original fixture in November being postponed after torrential floods devastated the city.
Friday’s game also marks a debut on the Mestalla bench for new Valencia boss Carlos Corberán with the local born coach ushered in to replace Ruben Baraja who was relieved from his role with the team languishing in the drop zone.
Valencia are staring relegation to LaLiga Hypermotion (Spain’s second tier) in the face having only recorded just two wins all season with ‘Los Che’ having only been relegated once in the club’s history (1986).
All not well at Mestalla
For many years now, many Valencia fans have slowly become disillusioned with how the club has been run since Singapore based businessman Peter Lim took control over a decade ago.
The 70-year-old took control of the Mestalla based side in 2014 and over the years, Valencia have been transformed from a regular in the Champions League to a team battling to maintain their top flight status.
Supporters are also angry that dividends generated from player sales are not being redirected into the squad with an excessive turnover in head coaches which fail to permit any sporting project a chance to blossom as time and time again, the club turn to their youth academy as opposed to spending in the transfer market.
Valencia fans ire
In recent years, protests have grown and become more frequent against Lim and ahead of Friday’s game, fans are using the high profile visit of Real Madrid to make their voice heard with Valencia fan consortium ‘Libertad VCF’ urging supporters to leave Mestalla empty for the first 19 minutes of the game, and thus, send a strong message to the millions of worldwide television viewers.
19 is an important and symbolic number for Valencia fans with the club being founded in March 1919.
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