Author: Derek Wong

And now breathe. That’s 3 matches in a row now that this young Valencia side have induced gasps – and not always of pleasure – on Sunday 9pm. The team went from fumbling foreplay for most of the game against Deportivo Alaves to frenetic climax in the last half-hour, scoring two goals in quick succession to level the game before blowing a load of chances to win deep in. Sheer drama heated up the wintry night in Basque County.

Well, it had to happen. Dani Parejo, Valencia’s former long-serving captain, scoring the winning goal against Los Che to open his Villarreal account.

There were signs last week that Los Che have a weak spine running through the team. Saturday evening at the Balaidos Stadium confirmed it, as Celta Vigo toyed with the Valencia defence seemingly at will.

The 51st regional derby showed who was bona fide European contender and who were the pretenders, much like the cardboard cut-outs filling the stands.

Bruised, battered, beaten. If Los Che were a Roman gladiator, he would have crawled out of the Coliseum Alfonso Perez in a bloody mess.

Size matters. Maxi Gomez proved this as he comfortably shrugged off Eibar’s 1.72m right-back Alvaro Tejero for the game-winning header. A huge three points against La Liga’s smallest team, who hail from a Basque town of 27,000 – half the Mestalla’s capacity.

Valencia’s players were so drained after the mid-week Chelsea match they couldn’t speak, said boss Albert Celades ahead of the 50th regional derby.