Victory at Mestalla in a vibrant game
We took the three points on our visit to Mestalla against a good Valencia CF side.
The first half was to be hard fought, with both teams looking for a goal from the start. A few minutes into the game, Morata tried from the edge of the area with a powerful shot that ended up going in, although it was ruled offside. After 24 minutes Musah connected with a powerful shot 30 metres from goal and the ball went into the Red & White goal, but a previous foul on João Félix invalidated the goal after a VAR review.
Once again the video referee made his presence felt at the Mestalla and corrected, in the 39th minute, a straight red card for Thierry after he brought down Álvaro Morata as he ran towards goal after a clearance behind the back of the defence by Giménez. After his sending-off was corrected, he was shown a yellow card for the action.
The second half continued to show the same intensity as in the first 45 minutes. Five minutes later, in the 66th minute, Lemar intercepted a pass in the opposition half, broke forward, combined with Griezmann, who shot, the ball rebounded off a defender and ended up going into the goal to make it 0-1. Atleti continued to come close with danger while Valencia were fading. Cunha finished off a cross to score in the 84th minute, but again was flagged offside.
In the final stretch, in the 89th minute, Carrasco was given space to run on the run, he stepped into the box and looked to beat Mamardashvili, who saved his team with a great low hand. Less than a minute later Griezmann had another dangerous move on his feet but the opposition goalkeeper saved again. The last shot close to goal was a Cunha shot against the crossbar, again disallowed for an infringing position.
A good game for the team in Valencia, which ended in victory. We remain, in this way, unbeaten away from home. The next match will be at the Reale Arena on Saturday at 6:30 against Real Sociedad.
