Spain international striker Paco Alcacer and Dani Parejo scored twice each to lead Valencia to a commanding 5-1 victory at RC Celta de Vigo on Saturday that their beleaguered coach hoped would mark a turning point for his inconsistent La Liga side.
The scoring duo also combined for good passing moves against a third-placed Celta side who failed to convert a steady stream of scoring chances during the first hour.
Valencia’s first away win in the league in four outings came after a disappointing 1-0 loss at KAA Ghent in the UEFA Champions League. It should relieve some of the pressure on coach Nuno Espirito Santo, who has also been criticized by some fans for banishing star striker Alvaro Negredo from his squad.
Photo: AFP
“This was an important match before the international break,” Espirito Santo said. “The turning point we will see in two weeks. The loss in Belgium made us reflect.”
Elsewhere, Sociedad Deportiva Eibar continued their surprising season by remaining in sixth place, just above Valencia, with a 3-1 win over visiting Getafe.
Eibar forward Sergi Enrich scored twice, before provoking a penalty converted by Saul Berjon that left Getafe with 10 men when Damien Suarez was shown a red card in the 60th minute.
Rayo Vallecano de Madrid also got two early goals from Javi Guerra before defender Ze Castro earned his second booking in the 20th minute, but the hosts held on for a 2-1 win over strugglers Granada.
Real Betis Balompie rose into the upper half of the table by edging a toothless Malaga 1-0 thanks to Ruben Castro’s second-half goal.
Lucas Perez scored his seventh goal of the season for RC Deportivo de La Coruna, before Victor Camarasa salvaged a 1-1 draw for bottom side Levante UD with a free-kick.
Alcacer opened the scoring at the Balaidos in the 13th minute after he worked a one-two passing combination with Parejo.
Augusto Fernandez leveled for the hosts in the 24th minute, but Parejo dipped a free-kick over the wall and into the corner of the net just before halftime to restore Valencia’s advantage.
Alcacer added to the lead seconds after the restart when he poached Jonathan Castro’s poor pass, before he set up Parejo to score again in the 64th minute.
Shkodran Mustafi headed home Parejo’s cross in the 79th minute to cap the rout.
“We were all looking for a win like this one,” Parejo said. “You saw a Valencia with their pride stung and we brought it all out.”
Celta wasted a chance to pull level on points with the top two before leaders Real Madrid and second-placed Barcelona played yesterday. They remained three points behind the front-runners, and could have been overtaken by Atletico Madrid and Villarreal, who were also playing yesterday.
“We conceded goals that normally we don’t concede, but we have enough of a team to bounce back from this,” Celta defender Sergi Gomez said.
MEDVEDEV AWAITS: The world No. 1 Spainiard said that he is ‘finding the right shots’ as he pushed his record so far this year to 16 victories and no losses Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday extended his unbeaten season and got revenge over Cameron Norrie to reach the semi-finals at Indian Wells for a fifth straight year. The world No. 1 from Spain emerged from a see-saw battle with 29th-ranked Norrie with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. In the semis tomorrow, he faces Russian Daniil Medvedev, who pushed his own ATP winning streak to eight matches with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over defending champion Jack Draper. World No. 2 Jannik Sinner powered past Learner Tien 6-1, 6-2 to line up a semi-final with fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev, a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Arthur Fils. Alcaraz, 22, became
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
Thanks to Italy beating Mexico on Wednesday, the US get another chance in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). What looked like a potentially disastrous early exit for US manager Mark DeRosa and his team turned out to be nothing more than substantial worry and significant embarrassment for about 24 hours. It remains to be seen whether the US really want to win badly enough for the reprieve to matter, as if it is just a switch they can flick, but there is little reason for their fans to be optimistic. The team’s attitude and behavior have been all over the place when
Ollie Watkins’ second-half header on Thursday gave Aston Villa a 1-0 win over Lille OSC in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie. Just past the hour mark, Ezri Konsa sent a deep pass that Emi Buendia headed to Watkins in the home team’s box. The England forward noticed goalkeeper Berke Ozer was off his line before sending a looping header over him and into the net. Minutes later, Watkins wasted a chance to double the advantage when he failed to score in a one-on-one with the ’keeper. Nottingham Forest were stunned 1-0 by Danish club Midtjylland, with substitute Cho
RSS