Copa del Rey: Valencia-Atletico Madrid
 

I see decent value in the home side here, they should be in good heart after winning the derby game with Levante at the weekend and took Real Madrid all the way, losing by the odd goal in five, just before the Christmas break.
 

Saturday's win was the first with new boss Juan Antonio Pizzi at the helm, he is the 5th head coach in a little over 12 months, but there are good reasons to believe that this, finally, might be the right appointment. The 45 yo has already won titles in Peru, Chile and just recently in Argentina, with San Lorenzo, so is a proven winner, which is a good habit to have and he has some idea of how the club is run, have had a season at Valencia as a player. He has firm ideas about how things should be done and has already implemented one or two, including conducting pre match warms ups in total silence (to improve concentration), but in contrast, has already proved far more communicative than his predecessor in all other areas of the day to day running of the club.
 

Agaisnt Levante, Los Che were much changed, both in terms of personnel, Pizzi has started with a clean slate and brought back players out of favour with the former regime, width (at times with four wide players) and possession, which they dominated. They also played at a far higher tempo and with greater "intensity", which is clearly Pizzi's favourite word ( just read any interview) and he and they will be looking for more of the same this evening and to build some momentum.
 

Pizzi's timing might also be perfect with Singapore billionaire Peter Lim offering to buy a large share of the cash strapped club and to provide funding this month, for a Champions League push.
 

Tonight the hosts will be without top scorer Jonas (15-8-1) which is a loss of course and Ever Banega, but the latter only saw ten minutes from the bench at the weekend and Valencia have won 5 from 7 (all comps) without the former.
 

Atletico are having a season to remember, but are heavily involved in the Champions League and going toe to toe with Barcelona (and Real) for the La Liga title and standing over this tie like the Colossus of Rhodes, is the weekend visit to Madrid from the Catalan giants, in what might well be a decisive championship game. To use one of Pizzi's key words, we know how "intense" Atletico boss Diego Simeone is and it is not in his nature to take any fixture easy, but surely even he has to appreciate there are bigger and more important battles ahead and if he really wants to progress in this competition, he can worry about it next week, when the Barcelona game is done and dusted and the second leg of this tie is scheduled.
 

His team are coming off a tough match at Malaga, where they managed to win 1-0, but rode their luck at times, Gabi and Raul Garcia were both suspended there, but are in the squad tonight and can surely expect some game time, ahead of the Barce visit, but elsewhere surely at least a little rotation and perhaps more importantly, caution. Having said that, the hard headed Argentine coach has named as strong a squad as possible, probably because everyone else has said he should rest players (think Sir Alex as a comparison) ! However, I suspect one or two names on the bench and everyone who does start, will know that the big game for them this week is not this evening. All about the bigger picture for me and I like Valencia with the handicap start. 1.25 units Valencia +0.25 ball 2.20 asian line/Ibramarket.
 

Valencia: Diego Alves, Vicent Guaita, Joao, Barragán, Víctor Ruiz, Ricardo Costa Mathieu, Guardado, Bernat, Oriol Romeu, Javi Fuego, Dani Parejo, Feghouli, Míchel, Pabón, Fede, Piatti, Sergio Canales, Paco Alcácer, Hélder Postiga.
 

Atletico : Aranzubia, Courtois, Godín, Filipe, Alderweireld, Manquillo, Juanfran, Miranda,  Tiago, Koke, Raúl García, Arda, Cristian Rodríguez, Gabi, Guilavogui, Adrián, Villa, Diego Costa