Valencia 2 - Anderlecht 0

Valencia: Cañizares; Curro Torres, David Navarro, Marchena, Carboni; Albelda (Sissoko 72'), Baraja; Rufete (Corradi 57'), Aimar (Fiore 76'), Vicente; Angulo. 4-2-3-1.
Anderlecht: Zitka; Deschacht, Traore, Kompany, Zewlakow (Lovre 80'); Wilhelmsson, Van den Borre, Baseggio, Hasi (Zetterberg 55'); Mpenza, Aruna Dindane. 4-4-2.

Goals:
1-0. 16. Vicente. Following up after Zitka could only push out Angulo's cross.
2-0. 45. Baraja. Took Vicente pass and held off challenge to shoot low into net.

Valencia celebrated their return to the Champions' League with a comfortable win against Anderlecht in the Mestalla stadium. Claudio Ranieri decided to leave out all his new signings and begin the match with a side similar to the one which won the league and the UEFA cup last spring, giving Aimar his first start of the new season and playing Angulo up front. Mista was left out of the squad though as he is currently in a dispute over a possible new contract.

The decision paid off when Vicente drilled home the opening goal after Zitka had failed to hold on to Rufete's cross with only a quarter of an hour gone, and Baraja made it two just before the break after collecting a pass in from Vicente and holding off a couple of defenders to score.

The Belgian side did their best to get back in the match after the break, with Aruna and Wilhelmsson both going close. The versatile Angulo switched position twice as Ranieri brought on substitutes, and thought he had scored only for his strike to be ruled out for a borderline offside. But Valencia had already done enough to wrap up the three points, and they share the top of the table with Inter Milan, who beat Valencia's next opponents Werder Bremen by the same score.