VALENCIA have a mountain to climb to salvage their Champions League campaign after suffering a 4-1 annihilation away at Atalanta.
Los Che's hopes of qualifying for the quarter-final stage are hanging by a thread and the hosts will be further hindered as they have to try and overcome the Italian outfit inside an empty Mestalla Stadium
Furthermore, Albert Celades' side are faltering domestically and Friday's 1-1 draw away at Alaves means that Valencia have only picked up one victory in their last six La Liga outings.
Indeed, a number of high-profile European giants have fallen inside the hostile Mestalla over the years, however, with no red-hot home crowd to draw energy from, coupled with a 4-1 deficit, the Spanish outfit are hurtling towards the European exit door.
What's more, Valencia will be coming up against one of Europe's most lauded teams who will be well-rested having been out of action since the beginning of the month.
The attack-minded La Dea hit Leece for seven in their last Serie A outing and Gian Piero Gasperini's goal-getters will be confident of grabbing an away goal in southern Spain.
The Betting Odds
A Valencia victory is at a best 15/8 with Bet 365, while the draw – an outcome that would eliminate the hosts – pays 11/4 with the same firm.
Atalanta are 5/4 with Betfred to sail into the last-eight in style by recording back-to-back wins against Valencia.
The Betting Angles
I landed a full house of winners in the first-leg by going for goals and punters will naturally gravitate towards the goal markets at the Mestalla given that free-scoring Atalanta are scoring for fun.
However, the bookmakers odds reflect this with both teams to score as short as 2/5 with most firms, while over 2.5 match goals is a general 4/9 and therefore different betting angles will have to be explored to try and generate some value from this contest.
Given that both teams have got on the scoresheet in four of Valencia's last five Champions League outings coupled with the fact that both teams have notched in eight of Atalanta's last nine outings, a repeat on Tuesday night takes appeal and adding each to team to pick up a card catches the eye at Evens with Bet 365.
Atalanta games more or less guarantee goals and given that Valencia have to go all out for a victory, another open and entertaining encounter should be in store.
With that in mind, I suspect that this could be a good fixture to make use of Bet 365's Bet Builder feature and another combination that I like the look of is over 2 match goals, over four corners and a card apiece at Evens (Bet 365).
What's more, Valencia are set to be without their two first-choice centre-backs and that adds further appeal to backing the aforementioned combination in what should be typically enthralling encounter involving the irresistible Italians.
Atalanta's dutch right-wing back Hans Hateboer hit a double in the San Siro and I'm attracted to the 4/5 (PaddyPower) that is available for the Dutchman to have one or more shots in this showdown.
Taking this approach does not require the shot to be on target – any attempt from Hateboer would see this bet land – and the above-mentioned price catches the eye in a contest that points towards goals.
Both Black and Blues wing-backs are a constant threat in Gasperini's preferred 3-4-2-1 formation and given that the hosts will have to throw caution to the wind to in search of a Mestalla miracle, the Dutch defender and Co could have the tools to trouble a vulnerable Valencia side on the counter-attack.
This UEFA Champions League match between Valencia and Atalanta will be played on Mar 10, 2020 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Valencia vs Atalanta prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
In December 2020 we sadly 
