Every team in La Liga plays each opponent twice, which gives a sense of fairness to the whole competition. You need to be consistent for nine months, facing the same set of rivals as everyone else. However, the season is long, and competitors evolve -- or, in some cases, regress -- in such ways that a team that might sound like a mighty opponent at some point could become an easy target a few weeks later.
In the case of Real Madrid's next fixture, the exact opposite has happened. They were due to visit the beautiful city of Valencia in the middle of December, exactly when the hosts seemed seriously committed to self-immolation. Players, club management, coach -- back then the prestigious Cesare Prandelli -- and especially a fan base that enjoys negative situations like no other in La Liga were making their worst to end up relegated at the end of the season.
That match was rescheduled due to Real Madrid's participation in the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, so Zinedine Zidane's team travels to Valencia on Wednesday, more than two months after the original date, to meet a very different opponent than the one that looked bound to the Segunda Division in December.
In these two months, Valencia have recovered their common sense, which, according to a Spanish saying, is the least common of the senses. In this case, the return to a more reasonable way of doing things has to do with Valencia's former centre-back Salvador Gonzalez, "Voro," one of the best caretaker managers any club could have. Voro has stepped in for the umpteenth time to patch things up between players and fans and has managed to turn Valencia into a threatening football team.
His predecessor, Prandelli, famously quit on Dec. 30, after his disappointment with owner Peter Lim reached unbearable heights. Some reinforcements did arrive later -- new hire Simone Zaza scored last weekend against Athletic Bilbao -- but the fact is that Voro has managed to turn the ship around with the same group of players that appeared useless and disappointing under Prandelli and Pako Ayestaran.
Any football fan will recognise a decent number of names in the Valencia squad, such as the in-form Nani, Munir or their penalty-stopper, Diego Alves. Some might struggle with other names, very likely youngsters coming from the local football schools. Due to their financial resources and their nurturing of promising young players, Valencia always have a decent pool of talent, local or imported, at their disposal. The question is whether the coach can manage the noise from the stands and the extremely complex internal club politics while he tries to coach a football team.
Always reluctant to accept the full-time job, Voro has given plenty of evidence that he can juggle between football, internal politics and fans without letting a single plate fall. His results since he started this spell aren't fantastic -- three wins, two draws, two defeats -- but he has taken Valencia far from the relegation battle and has brought back the confidence the squad need to aspire to bigger and better things.
Their next challenge is to show the determination they've displayed lately against Real Madrid.
Zidane knows well that the next two matches could open up the advantage over Barcelona at a point when Luis Enrique's team -- and the coach himself -- are surrounded by controversy. Barcelona's trip to Atletico Madrid on Sunday seems like a match in which they could drop points again, so two Real Madrid wins in Valencia and Villarreal could be almost fatal for Barca's title hopes.
The best possible news for Zidane is the return of Gareth Bale. The Welsh international scored a vintage counter-attacking goal at the weekend against Espanyol and brings a great relief to Real Madrid as a whole. Cristiano Ronaldo can now share the attention of opposing defences with the hard-to-stop winger, which should help Ronaldo improve his impact exactly when he has started to show signs of recovering his best form.
On Wednesday, Zidane will rotate his lineup again in Valencia. Bale will get more minutes, as might Isco, who is understandably considering a move at the end of the season. Marco Asensio, Pepe, Fabio Coentrao, Mariano and the injured Danilo won't travel to Valencia.
The Mestalla stadium has traditionally been a tough outing for Real Madrid. Only in the recent past, Rafael Benitez lost his job after a 2-2 draw in Valencia, while Carlo Ancelotti's streak of 22 consecutive wins ended in a 2-1 loss in the same stadium. In this case, Zidane has a fresher, more focused squad than in previous occasions, but their intensity will be key for a successful visit to the famed Mestalla stadium.