Valencia 3 Espanyol 2

By: Cesar | April 1st, 2007

It was a thoroughly entertaining affair at the Mestalla last night as both Valencia and Espanyol came out to attack … and that they did to the approval of the Valencian faithful … 3-2 and a sigh of relief for Los Che … but what’s up with their defense? Hasn’t it seemed a bit porous of late?

David Villa volleyed home Joaquin’s cross at 11 minutes to hand Valencia the lead, but the advantage was short-lived as a sublime pass from Ivan de la Pena sliced open the Che defense and Albert Riera tucked his shot beyond Santiago Canizares.

Vicente restored Valencia’s lead on 26 minutes and Miguel Angulo added a third on the hour. Espanyol refused to wilt and Riera seized on some sloppy defending to tee-up Luis Garcia on 63 minutes, but Valencia held on for the points.

Some random thoughts:
- So glad to see Vicente back. The oft-injured winger had a superb interplay with Villa which led to Vicente’s goal in the 26th minute. They click and it shows.
- Joaquin played another monster match. It’s starting to look like a smart buy. This guy’s been looking like the Joaquin of old as of late.
- Classy display by the Mestalla faithful in honoring old friend Rufete, who was very touched. ‘To come here and to have them treat you like this is very beautiful,’ Rufete said (pictured below, looking strange in an Espanyol kit). The Mestalla applauded and held banners up for the former Valencia winger who won 2 championships with Valencia. ‘I want to thank the fans. We lived through some good times and some bad times together, and this reception was very important to me.’ Very touching.
- Bit of a scare at the end of the match as Ayala was stretchered off. But he appeared to be ok after the game. How much will we miss this man come next season? He’s a true warrior.

The Liga standings look like this:
1 – Barcelona 56 points
2 – Sevilla 54 points (if they finished tied with Osasuna, which they’re playing now. 0-0 in the 2nd half.)
3 – Real Madrid 51 points (like a cockroach, they refuse to die.)
4 – Valencia 50 points (I feel we should be higher. Lots of wasted opportunites.)
5 – Zaragoza 47 points (they blew an opportunity to move up yesterday vs. Getafe. How’re they liking old friend Aimar?)

So the three points are ours and now we’re off to London, Wednesday and a date with the Blues, Jose Mourhino’s Chelsea. The Special One’s been especially quiet ahead of our match, but I’m sure the rhetoric will begin in earnest these coming days. I wish I could go to London and watch this match! I’ll have to do sitting at my desk at work, reading the results as they come in …