Match background
Valencia and Roma eye top spot
Valencia CF and AS Roma go into their meeting at the Mestalla knowing victory would give either team an early stranglehold in Group D. Both recorded handsome wins on Matchday 1 and a second success here would leave the victors three points clear at the top of the section regardless of the result in Ukraine between FC Shakhtar Donetsk and Olympiacos CFP.

• After a year's absence from the UEFA Champions League, Valencia marked their return with a 4-2 triumph against Olympiacos in Greece on 12 September. Goals in the final five minutes from Raúl Albiol (85) and Fernando Morientes (90) secured a memorable night – notably for Morientes who left Athens celebrating a hat-trick following two earlier goals in the first half.

Emphatic success
• Roma, also returning to Europe's élite competition after a 12-month hiatus, enjoyed an even more emphatic success as they struck four second-half goals without reply against Shakhtar. It took 67 minutes to break through the visiting defence but once Taddei had opened the scoring, the goals flowed with Francesco Totti, Daniele De Rossi and David Pizarro all finding the net.

• Valencia coach Quique Flores was a player for the Spanish club when they first met Roma in a 1990/91 UEFA Cup second-round tie. After a 1-1 draw at the Mestalla, the Italian side won the return 2-1 thanks to goals from Giuseppe Giannini and Rudi Völler.

• The teams' next encounter came in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League second group stage. Valencia won 1-0 in Rome through a John Carew strike on 18 February 2003 but Roma gained revenge eight days later with a 3-0 success in Spain, achieved via first-half goals from Francesco Totti (2) and Emerson.

Totti still there
• Totti is the only survivor in the Roma squad from the side that won in Valencia three years ago. By contrast, the present Valencia squad features five players who were in action that night: David Albelda, Roberto Ayala, Rubén Baraja, Santiago Cañizares and Vicente Rodríguez.

• Overall Valencia's record against Italian opponents is poor. In 16 matches they have recorded four wins and nine losses – the most recent being a 5-1 home reverse by FC Internazionale Milano in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League.

• Roma's record is marginally better with six wins and nine losses from 18 encounters with Spanish sides.

• Luciano Spalletti's Roma also started their UEFA Cup campaign last term with a four-goal home win, defeating Aris Thessaloniki FC 5-1. They eventually reached the last 16 before losing to Middlesbrough FC.

• Valencia's Asier del Horno last faced Roma defender Matteo Ferrari in an English Premiership match between their former clubs Chelsea FC and Everton FC in November last year.

Yo apuesto por:

[align=center]Cañizares

Miguel - Ayala - Albiol - Moretti

Angulo - Albelda - Viana - Gavilán

Morientes - Villa[/align]


Aunque os riais

Valencia (3 pts) warmed up for their Group D showdown with Roma (3 pts) by earning an impressive point on Sunday at Camp Nou against Barcelona. Los Ches are tied with both Barca and Real Madrid on 10 points at the top of La Primera Liga , while in Serie A Roma enjoyed an emphatic 4-0 away win against Parma at the weekend. The Giallorossi are second in Italy, a point behind Inter, and despite an uninspiring away record in recent Champions League campaigns will surely travel to Spain with confidence, particularly after thrashing Shakhtar (0 pts) 4-0 at home on Matchday 1. Mind you, Valencia pulled off a superb 4-2 win in Piraeus against Olympiacos (0 pts) two weeks ago, so will also fancy their chances of building on that platform. Meanwhile the two sides vanquished on Matcday 1 meet in Ukraine, hoping to win and put pressure on whoever doesn't triumph in the other game. Given the woeful recent record of the Greek side in Champions League competition, Shakhtar, in Donetsk, appear favourites.

Valencia Wins! 2-1.

I didn't get a chance to watch the match, though I followed soccernets gamecast.

If any body caught the match, was it a good match? Villa's goal seems to have been a nice one no?

Valencia Ruin Totti’s Birthday

First half goals from Angulo and David Villa saw the Spanish side defeat the Giallorossi 2-1 at the Mestella. A Totti penaly split the two goals, but that was about all he would get as a birthday present.

Valencia virtually booked themselves a ticket to the knock-out stages of the Champions League, defeating their main rivals from Group D at the Mestalla.

The other match in the group, between Shakhtar Donetsk and Olympiakos, ended in a 2-2 draw, further facilitating Valencia's progress, while not doing Roma any harm either.

The home team deserved the win given their overall superiority, in a game which simply took off from the word go, with all the goals coming in the first half an hour.

The match developed wonderfully, but the Giallorossi could not find an equalizer despite playing some good football, particularly in the first half.

Angulo opened the scoring in the 12th minute when he smashed in from ten metres, a ball from Villa following a cross from Moretti.

The joy was short-lived for Los Ches, though, as seven minutes later Roma equalized thanks to a Francesco Totti penalty. Moretti held Cassetti inside the box to concede the spot-kick, and the Roma skipper made no mistake.

But Valencia were not to be undone so easily in their own backyard, and pressed hard to take back the lead, and went back in front in the 28th minute.

Once again, it was left-back Moretti who came up with the assist for Villa, only this time, the Spanish international took it upon himself to beat Doni to make it 2-1.

The rest of the first half was evenly balanced, with both sides having their chances, but Canizares and Doni displaying some fine skills between the posts.

In the second half, a more tactically disciplined Roma tried to push forward for the equalizer, but an equally disciplined Che rearguard managed to keep them at bay. Instead of increasing the pressure, however, the Galliorossi gradually faded, and Valencia had little trouble asserting themselves and turning it into a very well-deserved win.

Thanks to the win, Valencia consolidate their top spot with 6 points from 2 games, whilst Roma remain in second place with 3 points, ahead Shakhtar Donetsk and Olympiakos, both of whom picked up their first points in this evening's draw.

Valencia (4-4-2): Canizares - Miguel, Albiol, Ayala, Moretti - Angulo, Albelda, Edu, Vicente - Morientes, Villa
Roma (4-1-4-1): Doni - Panucci, Ferrari, Chivu, Tonetto - De Rossi - Cassetti, Perrotta, Pizarro, Aquilani - Totti
Goals: 12th Angulo (Valencia); 19th Totti penalty (Roma); 28th Villa (Valencia)
Yellow Cards: Ayala, Albelda (Valencia); Ferrari, De Rossi (Roma)
Referee: Fandel (Germany)

It has been great and vila is a star. A big one. A really good match, in defense, in the midfield and in atack. Great. We could score 3 or more goals to a good team like is Rome. In fact Rome started playing better than us but after angulo's goal we dominate everything.