Real Valladolid vs Espanyol

Estadio Jose Zorrilla is the venue as La Liga newcomers Real Valladolid and Espanyol lock horns in their opening 2024/25 league match-up.

Valladolid lived up to their reputation as a ‘yo-yo club’ last term, securing La Liga promotion as Segunda Division runners-up. They’ve alternated between the top flight and the second tier in the past four years and will hope to end that notorious trend this season. While an opening-day clash against fellow newcomers Espanyol looks like a blessing, Valladolid stuttered in this fixture in 2023/24, going winless in all three H2Hs across the league and cup (D1, L2). Against this backdrop, they’ve been ruthless against this opposition on home soil, going undefeated in the last 11 league H2Hs they’ve hosted (W5, D6). That promises another inspiring league start for Los Pucelanos, who have lost their curtain-raising league clash only once across the last six years (W2, D3).

As for Espanyol, they fought their way back to La Liga through the promotion playoffs, overturning a narrow first-leg deficit against Real Oviedo to run out 2-1 aggregate winners. Back to the top flight, the Catalans can draw confidence from avoiding relegation in all five previous La Liga seasons following a second-tier promotion. More confidence stems from Espanyol’s tenth-best away record in their last La Liga campaign (W4, D6, L9). However, connoisseurs of action-packed football cannot be enthusiastic about Espanyol’s travels after seven of their last eight away league matches featured unpopular scorelines of 0-0 or 1-0 (W2, D5, L1). Though their visit to Valladolid in 2023/24 ended goalless, the last three top-flight meetings between these teams at this stadium have seen both sides on the scoresheet.