Mallorca 3-2 Valencia Lineups, Stats
La Liga Results, Standings
Mallorca kept their UEFA Champions League dream alive with a well deserved win over third place Valencia at the Ono Stadi.
Gonzalo Castro fired the Balearic outfit into an early lead and they doubled their advantage midway through the half with Pierre Webo scoring with a fine diving header. Jordi Alba bagged an early second half goal to give Valencia hope but an own goal just after the hour mark from Manuel Fernandes, who saw red moments after Pablo Hernandez's late strike, proved enough for the hosts to take the three points.
The Balearic Islanders were the more impressive side from the off and refused to let los Che settle into any kind of rhythm forcing the visitors on the back foot from the early stages with Fernando Varela and Aritz Aduriz a constant threat early on.
Valencia's defenders were guilty of standing off Mallorca's players and the hosts took full advantage just seven minutes in when Gonzalo Castro took possession of Aduriz and raced at the centre of los Che's defence before smashing a drive at Cesar's goal. The Valencia 'keeper really should have done better but failed to get a firm hand on the strike as it crept inside the post to give Mallorca a deserved lead.
The hosts were rampant and could have found themselves two up inside 20 minutes but Varela was wasteful in front of goal after being played in by Pierre Webo, allowing los Che to recover and clear.
Alexis was having a torrid time on one wing as was Jordi Alba on the other as Castro and Varela continued to deliver Mallorca's greatest threat linking with Aduriz.
A minute later though Webo had them two goals in front stooping to fire a fine diving header goalwards from Castro's cross but again Cesar could have done better.
Varela unleashed a stunning drive which rebounded off the crossbar shortly before the half hour mark but 2-0 it remained at the break with Valencia beginning to show signs of life before the whistle.
Immediately after the break Valencia had Cesar to thank as he saved from Webo and the rebound went behind the advancing Aduriz as Mallorca seemed certain to score.
Instead of going three in front, Mallorca were pegged back one as Jordi Alba made no mistake from about 15 yards after Nikola Zigic's cross had evaded everyone inside the box.
That should have sparked some semblance of a revival from Valencia but the hosts continued to dominate with Webo leading the line in the counterattack. The Cameroonian forced another fine save out of Cesar and the veteran stopper had to be alert on a few more occasions as Borja Valero continued to arrow probing through balls over the Valencia rearguard.
The third goal came on the hour mark, as Castro raced down the left wing before drilling a low ball across Cesar's goal and stand-in centre half Manuel Fernandes smashed through his own goal before Aduriz got the chance to score.
Two goals in front once again the hosts seemed content to hit Valencia on the counterattack but in a scrappy final 20 minutes, it was Valencia who seemed more likely to score. Zigic brought a fine ave out of Dudu Aouate and proved a difficult entity for the Mallorca defence, eventually drawing three defenders to allow Pablo Hernandez to convert David Albelda's through ball with less than five minutes remaining to give Valencia hope of an unlikely and undeserved comeback.
Che's chance of a point was short-lived however as Fernandes saw red for a silly off the ball foul, crashing into the back of Aduriz.
The ten men did have one last ditch chance but substitute David Silva fired wide before Castro countered and brought another save out of Cesar.
The narrowest of victories in the end for Gregorio Manzano's men but the score line didn't do his side justice and in this performance Mallorca are surely worthy of a Champions League place.
No comments:
Post a Comment