Alavés felt safe. He lacked one point in any of the five rounds ahead to slam the door on relegation and he didn’t wait a day. After four consecutive defeats away from Vitoria, Luis García’s team achieved victory in Mestalla against a Valencia that, in a remarkable season, when it seemed that it was entering the fight to return to Europe five years later, has deflated at the moment culminating and now has three consecutive defeats. Alavés, who knew how to control his rival during the 90 minutes, was able to win with a laboratory play.
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Jaume (Cristian Rivero, min. 34), Yarek Gasiorowski, Thierry Correia (Foulquier, min. 76), Vazquez Alcalde (Cenk Özkacar, min. 65), Cristhian Ibarguen, Javi Guerra, Pepelu, Diego López, Peter Federico (Yaremchuk, min. 76), Andre Almeida (Sergi Canos, min. 45) and Hugo Duro
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Sivera, Javi López, Abdel Abqar, Gorosabel (Rafa Marín, min. 53), Nahuel Tenaglia, Antonio Blanco (Ander Guevara, min. 71), Carlos Vicente (Luis Rioja, min. 89), Carlos Benavídez, Giuliano Simeone, Guridi (Alex Sola, min. 89) and Kike García (Samu Omorodion, min. 71)
Goals 0-1 min. 68: Javi López.
Referee Mario Melero López
Yellow cards Antonio Blanco (min. 11), Nahuel Tenaglia (min. 21) and Samu Omorodion (min. 77)
How hard is the job of goalkeeper! Always behind the magnifying glass. Without the right to make mistakes that other colleagues are allowed. Jaume Doménech knows it well, always hidden on the bench, seeing Mamardashvilli as a giant under the Valencia goal. The opportunity never came to him. Until last week, in Montjuïc, where he suddenly found himself on stage after the expulsion of his partner. In 45 minutes he came out crushed. Four goals and one defeat. Mestalla offered him revenge. Finally a starter in the League two years later. His fortune lasted 32 minutes, the time it took him to get injured, to feel the jinx fall on him with all his weight.
The bad fortune of Jaume, who left injured and tearful, unable to understand his bad fare, was the good Cristian Rivero, even deeper in the closet. He had been waiting for his moment for three years. To find his last game you have to go back to January 2021, in the Cup, against Sevilla. The void in the League. Until Jaume’s misfortune allowed him to make his debut in the League, and above him as captain – a matter of seniority -, at 26 years old and 16 seasons in the house.
The goalkeepers’ success was almost the most striking thing about a first half in which the two teams, too cautious, not daring to openly go for the goal, had a clear opportunity. First Diego López, who sent the ball into the stands when he had the goal wide open. Then, Kike García, who headed a measured cross from Carlos Vicente to the post, who spent the afternoon giving excellent passes.
Baraja opted for Canós at half-time. He removed Diego López from the band to place him as second striker, a trick that almost always ends with the young Asturian missing. Although Canós was about to enter in a big way: in the first minute, after a new dribble from the elusive Peter Federico, he finished off the post. A deception. Valencia fell into torpor again. In recent days it has become more vulgar. Guerra, so stunning in the first few days, seems like a different player. And his young people, so inspired for so many weeks, seem like that again, young promises to make.
Valencia, which misses too much the depth that Gayá gives it, failed to subdue an Alavés team that had the virtue of not being impatient, that knew that it had already accomplished this season and that knows how difficult it is to score against it – only three teams in the League they receive fewer goals – waited for the door to open just once. He found his moment in a rehearsed play. Carlos Vicente, who else, took a corner and put the ball on the backs of the tangle of players who had gathered in the area. There, invisible, Javi López appeared to cross the ball and beat the debutant Cristian Rivero.
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