Not all Spanish tribes suffocate their prey like the constricting Catalans. A fierce and respected tribe to the South, Valencia, sits back and springs traps. The Valencians are led by the shifty spy Villa who lives in the enemy’s shadows, and they are a force to be reckoned with…

The ambush, like the entrapment of Barcelona, seeks to defeat prey while conserving energy. The ambush requires extensive planning, organization, and coordination. To successfully capture their prey, each and every part must move with precision and in sync. And, of course, the predator must deceive the prey.

While the Valencians do not gift elaborate wooden Trojan horses to opposition due to size constraints on the field (plus it probably wouldn’t work a second time), they do cede lots of possession. That is to say, they swindle the opposing team into playing with the ball in midfield, luring them out of their own half as a spider spins a barely visible web. Then, when the ball crosses the halfway line and reaches a wide winger, they pounce.

The Valencians attack with a swiftness of mind and collective understanding. Defenses tremble even in possession, knowing that David Silva, Juan Mata, and David Will can tear to threads the most organized of back lines. And although they play possum to deceive their prey, they do not cower before giants like Madrid and Barcelona.

The most famous ambush of antiquity if the Battle of the Trebia River, when Hannibal laid a trap that slaughtered thousands of Roman cavalry. With this victory in hand, Hannibal appeared posed for a famous and crushing defeat of the Romans. But…there was one problem. Despite the relative success of the ambush, scores of well disciplined Roman troops broke through the rear. After a few months, Hannibal found himself with depleting resources and isolated.

This underscores the risk of the ambush – if the prey does survive, you find yourself exposed and in close quarters. Valencia suffered the same fate in the Champions league final in successive years to start the decade, humiliated by Real Madrid and narrowly losing to Bayern Munich on penalties.

While the era of Angulo and Canizares has passed, the tactical principles of the ambush once again threaten to rise Valencia to new found heights. The incredibly shift David Villa continues to torment defenses in Iberia and abroad with the sketchiest of approaches: walking among them. That is to say, Villa rarely runs at a defender, instead standing shoulder-to-shoulder and even walking at times. To the untrained eye, he is flojo. But while his legs may not move, his mind never stops….

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