Valencia was founded as a Roman colony by the consul Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus in 138 BC, and called Valentia Edetanorum. In 714 Moroccan and Arab Moors occupied the city, introducing their language, religion and customs; they implemented improved irrigation systems and the cultivation of new crops as well. Valencia was the capital of the Taifa of Valencia. In 1238 the Christian king James I of Aragon conquered the city and divided the land among the nobles who helped him conquer it, as witnessed in the Llibre del Repartiment. He also created a new law for the city, the Furs of Valencia, which were extended to the rest of the Kingdom of Valencia.
In the 18th century Philip V of Spain abolished the privileges as punishment to the kingdom of Valencia for aligning with the Habsburg side in the War of the Spanish Succession. Valencia was the capital of Spain when Joseph Bonaparte moved the Court there in the summer of 1812. It also served as capital between 1936 and 1937, during the Second Spanish Republic.
The city is situated on the banks of the Turia, on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula, fronting the Gulf of Valencia on the Mediterranean Sea. Its historic centre is one of the largest in Spain, with approximately 169 ha (420 acres); this heritage of ancient monuments, views and cultural attractions makes Valencia one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations.
No link between Bruce Wayne and Valencia fortunately
Valencia Club de Fútbol are commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia.
Valencia was founded in 1919 and has played their home games at the 49,500-seater Mestalla since 1923. They were due to move into the new 75,000-seater Nou Mestalla in the northwest of the city in 2013, but the final move date has been postponed while the stadium remains under construction.
Valencia is the third-most supported football club in Spain, behind heavyweights Real Madrid and Barcelona. It is also one of the biggest clubs in the world in terms of number of associates (registered paying supporters), with more than 50,000 season ticket holders and another 20,000+ season ticket holders on the waiting list, who can be accommodated in the new 75,000-seater stadium.
Over the years, the club has achieved a global reputation for their prolific youth academy, or “cantera.” Products of their academy include world-class talents such as Raúl Albiol, Andrés Palop, Miguel Ángel Angulo, David Albelda, Gaizka Mendieta and David Silva. Current stars of the game to have graduated in recent years include Isco, Jordi Alba, Juan Bernat, José Gayà and Paco Alcácer.
Gaizka Mendieta
Valencia has had over 60 different managers with nine of them returning on many occasions. Unai Emery managed them for four seasons (2008-2012) his record was,
W107, D58, L55, Win % 48.6.
Emery in his Valencia days and Podgytino (Espanyol) – subliminal message?
Club Honours
Domestic
La Liga
Winners (6): 1941–42, 1943–44, 1946–47, 1970–71, 2001–02, 2003–04
Segunda División
Winners (2): 1930–31, 1986–87
Copa del Rey
Winners (7): 1941, 1948–49, 1954, 1966–67, 1978–79, 1998–99, 2007–08
Supercopa de España
Winners (1): 1999
Copa Eva Duarte
Winners (1): 1949
European
UEFA Champions League
Runners-up (2): 1999–2000, 2000–01
European Cup Winners’ Cup
Winners (1): 1979–80
UEFA Cup
Winners (1): 2003–04
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
Winners (2): 1961–62, 1962–63
European Super Cup/UEFA Super Cup
Winners (2): 1980, 2004
UEFA Intertoto Cup
Winners (1): 1998
As of April 23rd Valencia is in 5th place in La Liga and is 25 points behind league leader Barcelona. Their 2018/19 record is – W12, D16, L5, GF38, GA28, Win % 52.6.
In our three away games against Valencia our record is – W0, D1, L2, GF1, GA3.
We will need to take full advantage of our home game, where our record against them is – W1, D1, L0, GF2, GA1, in order to give us a good chance of making the Final.
GunnerN5
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Thanks, GN5
Suggested team
I am concerned about the suggestion of a 3-5-2 system…….
Yet another good read, GN5!
I’m really looking forward to this game, believe it or not! Not that I need to remind anyone, but we’ve lost our last 3, they’ve lost their last 2, Unai (I think) would love to get one over on a former team, Mustafi used to play for them -(pass to the team in red, Shkodran!)
Gabriel used to play for us, I believe Coquelin is suspended?
All set up to be a thrilling encounter COYG
Dr Legg??? 😂😂😂😂
GN5,
What a fascinating historical summary of Valencia and indeed pre-Spain. Thank you, sir.
Politicians, eh? 😳
Morning, Sue.
It seems that the real ‘bonkers’ man is Chas! 😁
What’s that team?
No idea who most of them are, and why they are there – not all secret Arsenal supporters are they, or perhaps were they.
Morning All,
GN5. Thank you. Fascinating history of the town. As you say, Valencia will be difficult opposition
Great post GN5 with excellent insight. Isn’t Valencia also the ancestral home of the paella?
Well I’m fully up for the 3-5-2 although I think you may have made 1 too many changes from the weekend Chas.
jjg,
Thank you for clarifying your comment for me.
You are right that I broadly agree with your contention.
I do not think that buying players willy-nilly would help at all. Certainly with the rumoured transfer money/player sales to be made available, which I commented on in detail last week, would make little difference to the numbers – or the quality.
And, with the squad we have, and the ageing players too, something needs to be done to give us some hope of remaining (?) competitive.
I am not interested in looking forward to another 12 or 20 years of the same-same that we have already gone thru, and continue to do. And I don’t think anyone else is either. 😩
Again, thank you for explaining your comment. 😁
chas. 6.51
Love your team. Like LB, I am concerned we do not have enough upfront. Oates is similar to Eduardo in his play and size.
One cannot rely upon Litvinenko as he all too often disappears during the games.
Gubba lacks pace and guile for a proper winger, though he does look like a blonde George Armstrong.
At the back there is a lack of height, TDA is a midget and Yasser, despite being a dogged defender is poor in the air, as is Housego.
Much will depend upon the flair and creativity of Slattery. Since Faulds Wood married John Stapleton (of “Watchdog” fame), her form has been poor.
RA & JJG,
May I join your chat?
I agree that just buying will and has not solved the underlying problems but buying better quality may.
Arsenal have been prone defensively for at least a decade, the management are not stupid, they can see it as easily as we can. Perhaps it is a problem which is difficult to solve, though I trust Emery to improve us next season.
RC rightly points out that many players should be removed from the squad but this is not a simple process. Our wage structure is such that other teams will not buy our rejects and given the PL rules we cannot keep expanding our squad.
I think a commitment to youth is the best way forward. Douzi, Terrier, AMN, Smith Rowe, Iwobi, Nelson, Mavro, Medley, Bellerin, Holding, Willock, Saka ++ could be a good enough basis to rekindle the Wenger idea of a homegrown Arsenal. At least then we would be assured of their commitment
VP. You will like this …
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/apr/29/arsenal-wsl-title-dutch-magic-montemurro?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX01vcm5pbmdCcmllZmluZ1VLLTE5MDQzMA%3D%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MorningBriefingUK&CMP=morningbriefinguk_email
Good morning RA… nah, I think your title is safe!! 😄 (plus you are from Wichita – I read people born there are renowned for being nuts!) 😝😝
Cheers GN5, that was a very interesting read. Valencia was on the must-see list and it has moved up a few places after reading your post. 🙂
Valencia is clearly a proper club and it should be a great adventure playing against them over two legs. It must be a big advantage that Emeritus has managed there for four years and he must know the club well.
In the meantime, let’s hope the red and white of Amsterdam will kick the skinny chicken of the ball tonight. 🙂
The only live Arsenal v Ajax I ever witnessed live was in 2003: 1-1 at Highbury. This footage from an Ajax perspective will make a few long for our former home of football again. Bergkamp felt a bit conflicted playing his former team, I reckon.
Raddy,
Your 8:28 — you are welcome to join the debate, altho I think both you and jjg have nailed it.
I am sending a letter ‘To Whom It May Concern’ at Arsenal, with our findings, and also RC’s suggestions, and maybe GB’s too — (so watch out for the pre-Transfer and post-Transfer action.
Early and positive, rather than late, and negative, hopefully. 😁
Come on Ajax! We shouldn’t see an awful lot of diving tonight (as Son is suspended)
I will watch it, but will have to mute it, as I can’t stand hearing “oh when the spurs….”
Sue,
Kansas is one of the states where the plains Indians live, and I might get them to circle your place of work and whoop and holler and stuff, if you get cheeky.
Signed King Bonkers 😇
RA. Good morning buddy. I did respond on the previous post
Always a good way to start the day with an informative GN5 post, thanks for that…
Valencia have a far superior european record to Arsenal and for a club of our size when I see our lack of success in Europe, I find it pretty embarrassing.
To me, and I know all the arguments about top four, but for me the Europa is huge, not least for the prestige of our club.
Wasn’t David Villa and Juan Mata also developed at Valencia?
Morning all,
The last three games are now history – now I’m looking forward to the team showing us another side of the schizophrenic personality.
Chas the clip of the Valencia game Chas – especially the second video – it’s always uplifting to see Man U getting trounced.
Morning all,
The last three games are now history – now I’m looking forward to the team showing us another side of the schizophrenic personality.
Chas the clip of the Valencia game Chas – especially the second video – it’s always uplifting to see Man U getting trounced.
Geez, word press is at it again. The comment never appeared so I re-entered it and bingo we get two……………..?
Hi ya, VCC,
Thanks, I just went back and found your comment.
I have been following Saracens for several seasons now, and love watching them.
This season we have been plagued by injuries, internationals and so forth, and yet we are still doing well, again, in Europe.
The odd thing is I am saying we have had an up and down season, and yet we are still in second place, way ahead of third place.
Wish we could say the same thing about Arsenal.
Oh, well — next season maybe? 😁
If we get through to the EL final and lose to Chelsea with Chavs finishing 4th in the PL..
Will we get a CL place as runners-up?
A breakdown of how PL clubs can qualify for the UEFA Champions League and Europa League
Below is a breakdown of how Premier League clubs can qualify to play in UEFA competitions.
The maximum number of English teams in UEFA competitions is seven.
(Please note UEFA reserves the right to change the conditions of the access list so these criteria can be subject to change.)
UEFA Champions League (UCL) qualification
In normal circumstances, four UCL places are given to English clubs who fulfil the following criteria:
The top four teams in the Premier League qualify for the group stage proper.
UEFA Europa League (UEL) qualification
In normal circumstances, three UEL places are given to English clubs who fulfil the following criteria:
The fifth-placed team in the Premier League qualify for the group stage proper.
The winners of the FA Cup qualify for the group stage proper.
The EFL Cup winners qualify for the second qualifying round.
Where these qualifications changes
a) If the FA Cup winners finish in the top five of the Premier League, their UEL group stage place will go to the next-highest ranked team not qualified for UEFA competitions in the Premier League.
b) If the EFL Cup winners finish in the top five of the Premier League (or top six if (a) happens), their UEL second qualifying round place will go to the next-highest ranked team not qualified for UEFA competitions in the Premier League.
How does winning UCL/UEL affect qualification?
Should a Premier League club win the UEFA Champions League they will automatically qualify for the group stage of next season’s competition regardless of their league finishing position.
Should a Premier League club win the UEFA Europa League they will automatically qualify for the group stage of next season’s UEFA Champions League regardless of their league finishing position.
A maximum of five Premier League teams are eligible for UEFA Champions League qualification.
In the event that a Premier League club win the UEFA Champions League and another win the UEFA Europa League and neither of these clubs finish in the top four of the Premier League, the club lying fourth in the table will drop into the UEFA Europa League group stage.
Raddy – now is the moment we call a lawyer for an explanation.
Actually can I join your chat as well JJG, RA, And now Raddy 🙂
I actually agree with Raddy that going out and spending gazillions on the flavours of the month isn’t a good policy for us. Utd have shown that it doesn’t always work and we don’t have the luxury of poor buys at high prices.
I think the ready made superstar at a high price should be avoided, because often they flounder and turn out not to be that ready made superstar. I think promoting the youth you mentioned Raddy and maybe even investing in recruiting further younger hungry players, but who have quality, and then developing the team over the next 2 seasons. Even those players will be a tidy £35-£40m, while the supposed ready made players seem to be in the £75m+ bracket now.
What is imperative is that we get the players we need to give the squad that balance, and stop this policy of buying samey players which for me became one of our biggest Achilles heels over the last few seasons that has lead us to this point.
We need to have pace, true width, a greater goal threat (outside of our strikers), and fight and focus, all within a framework of a mix of youth and experience. Certain older players should be kept on purely for that experience. We can’t go all youthy in one hit.
We need certain types of players to allow us some adaptability between 2-3 systems as well. It would be nice to be able to set up as a 4-3-3, 3-5-2, or 3-4-3 depending on the opposition and how attacking we want to be. At present I only see one of those systems fitting what we have in the squad.
We may have different ideas about who we might want to go out, come in and promote through. I have mine but will wait and have a fantasy football manager showdown with RC78 later 🙂
Under what circumstances can we have 5 teams in the CL?
If a top 4 positioned league team wins the CL or EL does that count as their qualification (trumping league position qualification) with their league position place being passed down to 5th (kind of what Raddy was asking).
Or is it irrelevant in passing a place onto 5th, and if say the league finishes City, Pool, Spuds and Chavs in the top 4 with Pool and Chavs winning CL and EL, then it is still those 4 and only those 4 that get CL.
The situation where I could see us having 5 teams in the CL would be if the 5th and 6th placed teams in the league both won the CL and EL, then they get automatic qualification regardless of league position along with the other top 3, making 5 in total, and 4th place drops to EL.
RA.. 😂 well I’m up for a whoop & holler (as you put it!)
The random stuff you come out with, surely does bring a smile to my face! 😄
Finish in the top 4 or win the EL and you qualify for CL next season. The only way that can change is if Spurs win CL and finish 5th or 6th AND Chelsea or Arsenal win EL and finish 5th or 6th (very unlikely now as Spurs look nailed on for top 4).
Apparently if you have ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ written across a wall in your house it makes you lower class. I’m not sure what having the words ‘Fuck Off Spurs’ across your living room wall makes you but I don’t care what anyone says, I’m keeping it.
FGG that makes you pure class!!
That makes you Arse class
Excellent work as per usual GN5. I know the subject is our home form against them, hence no mention of that heartbreaking night in 1980 when they beat us on penalties in the Cup winners cup final, on neutral ground (Heysel) Maybe that’s the subject of another post?
I’d given up going to matches that season, slightly to do with getting nearly killed by Wolves fans at the semi final at Villa Park the year before (Subject of my one and only post on AA….or anywhere, but much more to do with the need to accord my meagre budget to Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll.*
A sad and frustrating night…When Kempes missed the first pen (Pat Jennings save) Brady stepped up and missed his too, then everyone scored till Rix had his saved in the ‘sudden death’)
* A long-standing theme in my life…though not quite as long as the Arsenal (if I don’t count the ‘sexual’ fantasies I use to have about Emma Peel when I was about four…knew there was something to do, but just didn’t know what!)
Oh well, still get to the odd match when I’m back in N7.
I think the games tonight are going to be worth watching – altho, the second legs are where the real meat occurs.
To watch a game where we can have a dog in the race but without the tension and worry that accompanies an Arsenal game at the stage.
Bring it on.
For me a Barcelona v Ajax final would be my wish — I wonder why? 😁
This possibility was mentioned earlier in the season – Well done to the Arsenal in making this happen –
————————————————————————————–
Arsenal have paid to restore the grave of the man who inspired the club’s formation more than 130 years ago.
David Danskin was honoured by family and officials at a graveside ceremony.
Danskin asked some of his co-workers at the Royal Arsenal factory in Woolwich for a sixpence each to form Dial Square FC, who would later become Arsenal.
The Scotsman, who died in 1948 at the age of 85, then captained the side during their first match against Eastern Wanderers in December 1886.
Arsenal have since won 13 top-flight English titles.
“Little did he know that his love of the game and those early football games with his workmates at the Royal Arsenal ordnance complex in Woolwich would eventually result in what we know today as Arsenal,” said his grandson, Richard.
Arsenal managing director Vinai Venkatesham, who led the club delegation along with former captain and coach Pat Rice, added: “The millions of Arsenal fans around the world will always be indebted to David Danskin’s vision to create a football club.
“We’re pleased that at last his final resting place has been properly recognised
JML
GN5 has cannily included it in the ‘all-time results’ graphic but as a 0-0 draw which, of course, it was. 🙂
https://www.arsenal.com/news/arsenal-founders-grave-restored
There’s no getting past Doctor Legg
I’d be very happy with a Tadic brace tonight! Come on Ajax!!
How the hell has that Spurs side made the last 4 of the CL? Hopefully they get a good hiding tonight but no doubt they will spawn a 2-0 win or something.
Chas, thanks, I can see it now…..very cannily.
Come on Ajax, embarrasse the feckers!
Was anyone else at the England- Holland under 23s match at Highbury in (I think) 1972?
From memory, Holland won 3-1 and had some of their future 1974 World Cup final losing side in the team. Ran rings around England with that particular brand of football that was so new back then.
Apologies…spelling of embarrass looks a bit ‘Franglais’
Happens to me with words that are similar between the two languages.
John. I was probably there but those were my Lost Years, thanks to a healthy income and a surfeit of sex, drugs and R & R. I was at Hhighbury for the victory over Ajax in that Fairs Cup semi-final
Tonight I can see Spurs spawning a 3-0 win. Hoping for better from Barca but fear the worst.
10/1 for two all PL finals is not very good odds.
similaire
Looking forward to seeing the Ajax full backs and wide players. Also the young CB De Ligt who I would love us to sign but doubt we’ll be able to compete for him as he will be top dollar.
BR, I was too young for the Fairs cup matches, started to go to Highbury in the 71-72 season.(eight years old)
S,Ds and RnR was a bit later…..as explained above, choices were made, not having your healthy income!
It is pretty boring chanting at the Spuds Stadium — but the sound seems much louder that at the Ems.
The architects have ‘enclosed’ the sound, I think.
Did Jenas just say the Ajax team are ‘happy to fill each other’s gaps’? Must be the secret to their success.
You can see the confidence in this young Ajax team. Happy to have the ball in any area and the movement is fantastic.
What a goal!
Happy days 😎
I didn’t put the bet on RA. Was worried about jinxing Arsenal tbh!
20 mins gone at WHL. Ajax have 71% of the ball !
Ajax are playing fantastic football. A real joy to watch
All going well until now. Hopefully a second soon. 🙂
Just as with Arsenal so often this season, there is far too big a gap between midfield and attack in the Spuds team.
Ref: are you sure he’s ok to come on? Have you done a concussion check?
Spurs: yeah he’s fine, look.
2 seconds later he can’t stand up on his own!!!
Good work Spurs. Well done. 👏
Spurs lucky to be one down.
FGG. As you say, well done Spurs Doctor. Vertical didn’t know who he was yet the doctor insisted he was fine to play.
Vertical? He would’ve been horizontal if they weren’t propping him up! Dangerous.
😀
Poor old Poch, had a face like a smacked arse 😂😂
Well done Ajax 👏
I’ll be fuming if we play like Spurs just did on Thursday. CL SEMI- FINAL!? Where was the passion and effort. It’s like because Son wasn’t playing they didn’t fancy it. GK made 1 save. Should’ve been 2 or 3 nil.
FGG.. spurs & semi finals 😄
To infinity and beyond…….
Slim, your 4.37 is now one of my top 5 all time favorite comments.
Spurs have lost 18 games this season. That seems a lot.
Just when I am feeling down about my club, the misery of other clubs raises my spirits!
Come on Arsenal get your act together for this next game!
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