First Division - Day 24

Valencia 2 - Espanyol 1

Valencia: Diego Alves; Cancelo, Aderlan Santos, Abdennour (Rubén Vezo 07‘), Siqueira; Dani Parejo, Enzo Pérez; Feghouli, Rodrigo (Negredo 58‘), Cheryshev (Barragán 84‘); Paco Alcácer. 4-2-3-1.
Espanyol: Pau López; Javi López, Alvaro González, Oscar Duarte, Víctor Alvarez; Marco Asensio, Pape Diop, Abraham, Burgui (Enzo Roco 80‘); Caicedo (Víctor Sánchez 66‘), Mamadou Sylla (Gerard Moreno 12‘). 4-4-2.

Goals:
0-1. 52. Oscar Duarte. Got above Diego Alves to head corner in to net.
1-1. 71. Negredo. Latched on to Cancelo pass and shot past keeper.
2-1. 78. Cheryshev. Diving header past Pau López from Feghouli cross.

Yellow cards: Alvaro 13’, Enzo Pérez 33’, Diop 43’, Abraham 58’.

A nerve wracking match between Valencia and Espanyol on Saturday evening, both coaches on a knife edge after a string of poor results. Gary Neville opted to bring Diego Alves back in goal after a long injury lay-off, and he did well to keep out Caicedo early on. Pau López also had to save from Parejo and Aderlan at the other end, but some seven minutes in to the second half Oscar Duarte got in front of the local keeper to head the opener from Burgui’s corner, and only a couple of good stops by Alves prevented Diop and Moreno from extending the lead. However with twenty minutes to go Negredo levelled it with a shot which deflected in off Oscar Duarte, and just six minutes later Cheryshev flung himself forward to meet Feghouli’s cross and head home the winner. Neville had his first league victory at the thirteenth attempt, but Galca returned home empty handed, his side still only a point above the drop zone with teams below them still to play this weekend.