| Valencia (1) | Espanyol (1) |
| Maxi Gomez 37′ | Raul De Tomas 45+2′ |
Masters of drawing. This is what Valencia has become this season with our 15th stalemate of the season.
Los Che were actually on course to snap their 7-game winless streak when they took the lead in the 37th-minute. With Maxi Gomez back in the starting line-up, it seemed that our sorely missed attacking prowess finally found its way back into the team.
Valencia had made the goal look easy – almost too easy. A plethora of beautiful passes culminated in a superb finish by Gomez, as he swiped the ball past Espanyol keeper Diego Lopez and into the net.
Though the Bats were ahead, every Valencia fan now knows to hold their breath and cross their fingers until the final whistle – such is our knack for throwing leads away.
The warning signs were there, beginning in the 43rd-minute when Espanyol’s Javi Puado fired the ball into the Valencian net. Thankfully, a quick VAR check for offside disallowed the goal, as the visitors looked set to enter the break with the lead. It seemed like the Bats were on course for all 3 points.
But three minutes into added time, Valencianistas’ heads were in their hands as Espanyol equalised. A brilliant defence splitting pass had found Espanyol number 11 Raul De Tomas, who clinically slotted the ball past Jasper Cillessen. With Valencia unable to find a response in the second half, this stretches our winless streak to 8 as we remain mired in 10th.
With 3 draws in our last 5 games, Valencia’s performances have been on a steady decline since our Copa heartbreak. Bordalas urgently needs the summer to come so that his players can recharge and shake off the recent malaise that has gripped us.
One LaLiga game left. Let’s just hope we can clinch those three points one last time for the season – it’s the least our fans deserve.
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