Saturday, December 11, 2021 at 8:29 PM• Mart van Mourik • Last update: 20:32

Valencia secured the three points in LaLiga on Saturday evening. In the Mestalla, the team of coach José Bordalás was 2-1 too strong for Elche. Bordalás himself was not on the couch due to a positive corona test. Goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen played a leading role, as he made a number of excellent saves and provided the assist for Gonçalo Guedes’ 1-0. It was the sixth time in a row that loose Che went unbeaten in LaLiga. Thanks to the win, Valencia (25 points from 17 matches) will stay overnight over Barcelona (23 out of 15), which will play against Osasuna on Sunday.

Valencia started the meeting with los Franjiverdes, which were sent from the cupboard to the wall from the first whistle. After fifteen minutes of play, Hugo Duro, Carlos Soler and Guedes, among others, had already had some opportunities for the opening goal, but the sharpness in front of the goal was lacking in that phase. Cillessen had to come into action in the 22nd minute. Lucas Pérez launched himself and fired at the Valencian goal; the Dutch closing post, however, had a nice save. A minute later, Cillessen was worth gold again.

The the Dutch international kicked the ball towards Guedes. The attacker drew in from the left, then gave goalkeeper Édgar Badía a hard shot from the edge of the penalty area: 1-0. Cillessen got the assist behind his name. On the stroke of the halftime signal, Maximiliano Gómez got a good attempt to get his name on the scoreboard. His shot was touched on the way to goal, however, and went wide of the post. In the second company, Valencia continued to look for a new goal.

Although assistant coach Patricio Moreno’s team remained the dominant party, the victory seemed to slip through the fingers fifteen minutes before the end. After a corner from Pérez, Valencia did not have the cover in order at the back, so that Lucas Boyé was able to nod in freely: 1-1. Moments later, Cillessen again had an excellent save from Boyé’s new bet. Still, the home team recovered. Four minutes before the end of regular time, substitute Cristiano Piccini gave his team the 2-1 victory at the suggestion of Mouctar Diakhaby.