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From the joy of being in the round of 16 before an almost novice rival to curse the hype that matched them. Valencia will have to live the strangest tie in its history tonight against the Atalanta de Bergamo with the need to overcome a 4-1 against and an empty Mestalla due to the sanitary crisis of the coronavirus . The number 12 player, gagged.

Nothing has been able to do the club before the determination of the health authorities to decree that the match be played behind closed doors. The Italian Government , which has confined the inhabitants of Lombardy , the focus of the virus in Italy, has allowed the team to travel and even UEFA, little friend of altering their competitions, has accepted the mandate without questioning. Neither fans in the stands, nor press in the gallery nor press conferences in the previous one of the party. Mestalla , like a ghostly bunker, which will only be accessed by 36 players, technical bodies and employees and operators to broadcast the meeting on television. An anomaly on a day when Valencia needs a perfect match to be in the quarterfinals.

Although as an institution it has not raised its voice before the government decision, it has been done by Captain Dani Parejo . “If it is dangerous for people to gather in Mestalla, it is also dangerous in the Park of the Princes, Anfield, the Etihad, the Camp Nou and in the Allianz of Turin and Munich. However, we, Valencia, are not going to be able to play the most important game of the season in front of our fans, ”the midfielder shouted in a social network before the loneliness that lies ahead.

Parejo is the only expert to play a closed-door tie. It was at the St. Jacob-Park stadium in Basel in the quarterfinals of the 2014 Europa League and he knows what it is like to hear the blows of the ball with echo. That environment left Valencia with a 3-0 that managed to overcome in the caldera of Mestalla. The last closed door in Valencia was in 2006, in a Cup tie against Deportivo.

How do you face the need to score without a comeback environment ? "It's complicated. Everything that changes the usual conditions, unbalances. Players are accustomed to receiving great stimuli when they leave the field in a match like this. Thoughts associated with past successes, favorable situations that may have been lived recently, disappear. And Valencia gives the public an extra stimulation, ”explains David Peris , vice president of the Spanish Federation of Sports Psychology.

Although the closure of the field was announced almost a week ago, it was not until yesterday when the players assumed that they would face the titanic task alone. « All uncertainty and doubts produce excess stress that does not help . Now you have to set realistic goals to find the optimal state of operation of the equipment, ”he says. How? «Simulating the situation as much as possible and having a clear plan to raise awareness among players that it is the best possible. With determination, ”he says.

Parejo's lament for what he considers an injustice must be forgotten. «It is true that players need to know that they have pressed to prevent it from being played behind closed doors, that can leave them with a calm mind, but it is necessary to turn the page or it will be harmful. It's like when you get a penalty and you get lost in protests. The team is decentralized and can end up paying for it, ”warns the specialist. «You have to visualize that this is the situation they have and try to make adversity come back in their favor, to serve to unite the team».

Peris's recipe is clear: that Celades has a plan for the comeback , transmit it with faith and the players make it their own to manage stress and adapt before their rival. "It is important to do it before the opponent, because with this result of the first leg, if they enter the game better, the tie may be definitively resolved," warns the psychologist.

At this point, Atalanta plays with advantage . Since the outbreak of the health crisis and by order of the Italian Government, many matches in Series A have been played behind closed doors. "The fact that for them it is not new and the result in favor are the main weapons of the Atalanta", summarizes Peris.

The Gasperini group , who arrived yesterday in Valencia without extraordinary measures, already knows what it is like to live in the epicenter of a health alert and the players are trained in their day-to-day lives, while the Valencianists have undergone changes in their environment .

The club decided to remove them from the press by suspending press conferences and interviews, but also adopted measures in the Sports City to prevent contact with the players in formation of the Academy and even with employees. They moved to Vitoria last week from the private terminal of the Manises airport and even shuffled to isolate the staff of their families to avoid any possibility of contagion.

While the fans plan to accompany the team to the gates of the stadium, Celades continues to turn how to overcome a score that forces you to maximize successes without making the slightest mistake. He needs to score three goals , something he has not done since the local derby against Levante in December, and not fit any.

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