Valencia Beat AtléticoThe Calderón game got underway with World Champion basketball star Garbajosa tapping the ball from the spot in homage to the recent Spanish win in Japan. Mista was showing that, despite saying that he’d nothing to prove to ex-Coach Quique, he was raring to score.
As expected, centre-back Pablo Ibáñez was treated to a host of sonorous boos and juicy insults that would have got Zidane’s wrecking ball into action; fans showing their displeasure with the player’s summer flirtation with arch-rivals Real Madrid.
Perhaps they should have saved their ire for after the match as Valencia went into an early lead thanks to Vicente leading a slashing counter-attack up the left flank, centring and finding a galloping
Villa (5 min) ready to slap in his first of the season. 0-1.
The same duo came close to repeating an identical move four minutes later but the Valencia hitman blasted the ball over the Colchonero bar. It took an awry Atlético almost fifteen minutes to try a reaction; Fernando Torres putting wide an Antonio López assist.
The Rojiblanco fans were pitiless with their sonic attacks on Pablo, adding to the discomfort that the team were showing in their home debut. Valencia were the team who seemed at home while Atlético tried and failed to string a good move together.
Atlético were almost put on track by a stroke of individual genius as ‘El Niño’ Torres put Santi Cañizares under pressure for the first time and earned a corner. Mista also tried to break the communal malaise with a solo move, his shot scraping paint off Cañizares’ left post.
This galvanised the locals and led to something other than boos and whistles from the fans. Petrov almost surprised Petrov the Valencia keeper and his badly-organised wall with a stinging free-kick. Miguel was forced to see yellow for a tactical foul on Torres and Petrov walloped a chance over as the first half ended with a glimmer of hope for Aguirre’s men.
Nevertheless Valencia seemed to have retaken the initiative as the second half unfolded. Aguirre reacted by bringing on the benched Galletti for Jurado and Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero made his Calderón debut as a downcast Mista came off without scoring against his ex-club.
The debuting Argentine got Albiol a yellow as Agüero made it to the Valencia goal line and showed his class with an excellent left flank move that defied his status as a sub. Costinha soon got his habitual card for a lumberjack tackle on Villa.
Things heated up as Moretti saw red for a sliding tackle from behind on Valera in the 65th minute – why players still try this on when it’s a sure-fire way of handicapping their own team is a mystery. Quique brought on Regueiro for Silva soon after.
Valera himself was also quick to leave after the incident, Aguirre bringing on Maxi Rodriguez to widespread applause as Colchonero fans smelled blood. Petrov almost nabbed the equaliser as he ripped up the wing with characteristic pace, snapping a pass that Maxi banged across, but Ayala blocked Agüero’s shot and the leftover was walloped unsuccessfully in by Luccin.
Edu caused Valencia fans to grind teeth and pull hair as he missed a virtually open goal after a Miguel build-up and assist seemed to have served the Chés their second of the night despite being down to ten men.
The self-infliction of tactical injury continued as Torres saw two needless yellows in quick succession with twelve minutes to go; the first for hassling Cañizares and the second for the pathetic protesting that reduces a lot of games to a pseudo-scrum of moaning and whining around the ref. El Niño true to the other meaning of his nickname with childish behaviour.
Atlético were down to ten men and the crowd were left gasping with disbelief as Galletti slapped across an excellent cross but not a single local player rose to the challenge in what could have been the equaliser. On the other side Quique took an exhausted Vicente off for Gavilán. That was about it as Aguirre’s men looked the footballing equivalent of headless chickens and the Chés head back to the coast with three points in their second win.
ATLÉTICO MADRID 0: 25 Leo Franco; 22 Pablo Ibáñez, 21 Perea, 3 Antonio López, 5 Luccin, 6 Costinha, 18 Valera (Maxi Rodriguez 69:04"), 15 Jurado (Galletti 45:00"); 17 Petrov, 23 Mista (Agüero 45:00") and 9 Fernando Torres
Coach: Javier Aguirre Onandia
VALENCIA 1: 1 Cañizares; 2 Miguel, 4 Ayala, 5 Marchena and 24 Moretti; 20 Raúl Albiol, 22 Edu, 10 Angulo and 21 David Silva (66:29" Regueiro) and 14 Vicente (Gavilán 81:19"); 7 Villa (Jorge Lopez 89:09");
Coach: Quique Sánchez Flores
This time we're glad to tell you that we can watch this game on TV here.
We better improve and do so quickly. But to be fair, Atleti used 2 defensive mids throughout the game so i felt that Costinha and Edu kind of cancelled eachother out. Both did very little.
Great Cañete!!
