Valencia have not won at Mestalla this season, and Real Madrid arrive on seven straight wins with Vinícius serving the last game of his ban
Mourinho’s Madrid can draw level with Barcelona at the top for a night, against a Valencia side in 19th under Javier Aguirre.
Nov 7, 2026
Valencia have played six La Liga games at Mestalla this season and have not won one of them. Real Madrid, who visit on Saturday night, have won their last seven matches in all competitions. Kick-off is 9pm in Valencia, which is 1:30am IST on Sunday.
Madrid go into the game third, three points behind leaders Barcelona. A win would take them level on points with Barcelona, at least until Barcelona play second-placed Atlético Madrid on Sunday.
Vinícius sits out the last game of his ban
José Mourinho will be without Vinícius Júnior one more time. The Brazilian was sent off against Villarreal on 10 October for pulling Nathan Saliba’s hair, and the two-match ban for violent conduct was doubled for his protests afterwards. He has already missed Sevilla, the Clásico at Barcelona and Racing Santander, and Mestalla is the fourth and final game. The ban only covers La Liga, so he played in Athens in midweek.
Madrid have not missed him much. They won all three of those league games, 2-1 at Barcelona among them, and on Wednesday they came from behind twice to beat AEK Athens 3-2 in the Champions League. Jude Bellingham scored the first equaliser on his 60th Champions League appearance.
Rodrygo, Raúl Asencio and Ferland Mendy are all injured. Madrid’s last defeat was 2-1 at Atlético in September.
Aguirre’s Valencia in the bottom three
Javier Aguirre took over a side in trouble, and it is still in trouble. Valencia are 19th on nine points from 11 games, and goals have been the problem all season. His first home game in charge was a 0-0 against Athletic Club.
They did win last weekend, 1-0 at Elche, with Umar Sadiq coming off the bench to score. Sadiq is over a hamstring problem and should start, and Harvey Elliott is back from suspension. Sergi Canós, Diego López and David Otorbi are out.
The history is all one way
The two clubs have met 216 times. Madrid have won 114 of them and Valencia 59. Madrid won both league meetings last season, 4-0 at the Bernabéu and 2-0 at Mestalla in February, and Valencia’s last win in the fixture was 2-1 at the Bernabéu in April 2025.
On paper this is a team that cannot score at home against one that has kept winning without Vinícius. Valencia’s hope is that Madrid, with a midweek trip to Athens behind them and an international break to come, have an off night.