Last-Minute Llorente Penalty Sinks Valencia

Last-Minute Llorente Penalty Sinks Valencia

Athletic Bilbao 3-2 Valencia

Valencia travelled to San Mames tonight to face in-form Athletic Bilbao hoping to keep in touch with Sevilla and Real Madrid in the race for second place.

Realistically, with Barcelona’s fantastic form, second place is the best Los Che could hope for but it would be an incredible turnaround from the disaster of last season. Coach Unai Emery opted for Fernando Morientes to partner David Villa upfront.

Meanwhile, Bilbao are unbeaten in eight matches and coach Joaquin Caparros has been waxing lyrical, saying the rest of the league are running scared from his Basque side. Fernando Llorente one again started up front, looking to continue his excellent scoring run.

But it was the visitors that made all the early running and Valencia took the lead within two minutes, thanks once again to David Villa. The prolific forward ran onto a through pass from Mata and coolly slotted past Iraizoz to give his side a dream start.

However Bilbao’s current form has given them a belief that was missing at the start of the season, and they quickly drew level. David Lopez did brilliantly to get to the by-line and float a teasing cross into the area that was met by Gabilondo who confidently nodded home.

It was end to end stuff in the first half, and Valencia responded to going behind superbly, quickly regaining the lead. Once again David Villa was involved, sliding the ball across the goal to Fernando Morientes who had the simple task of tapping home. 2-1 to the away side.

But Bilbao just don’t accept defeat at the moment, and they once again levelled things up. Just before half-time, David Lopez swung in a dangerous delivery and this time Javi Martinez headed home, right on half-time.

After the thrilling first half, the second period was always going to have less incident, and despite the best efforts of both sides a winning appeared unlikely to come.

But in the last minute, Javier Martinez was brought down by Manuel Fernandes and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Fernandes was sent off, collecting his second yellow for the foul, and it had to be Fernando Llorente to step up and calmly score past Renan to give Bilbao yet another fantastic victory.

No defeat in nine now for the Basque side – from bottom in October to potential European challengers – its been quite a turnaround for Caparros’ side.

Goals:
Athletic Bilbao:
Gabilondo (17’), Javi Martinez (42’), Llorente (90’)

Valencia:
Villa (2’), Morientes (30’)

Teams:
Athletic: Iraizoz, Ocio, Del Campo, Iraola, Martinez,Orbaiz, Lopez, Ustaritz, Gabilondo, Velez, Llorente

Valencia: Renan, Maduro, Marchena, Moretti, Angulo, Albelda, Fernandes, Mata, Joaquin, Villa, Morientes

Valencia Categorically Deny Villa Will Leave

The 'will he? wont he?' David Villa transfer saga has been one of the longest-running stories in Spanish football in recent years. It was Real Madrid who circled in the summer to secure his services, and now in January it is big-spending Manchester City who want to land the Spanish international.

The player himself has vehemently denied that he would be moving to pastures new, and now the club have deemed it necessary to release a statement to re-assure supporters of Los Che that their prize asset will not be sold.

Speculation has been abound that Valencia's far from stable financial situation would lead to key players being sold to balance the books, but this morning the club first of all denied that both parties had reached an agreement to allow the player to leave, and secondly that they would allow any other club to enter into negotiations regarding a possible transfer.

Simply Not True

Valencia's vice president Fernando Gomez stated in a communication to the Spanish press that the club had already demonstrated in the summer that they have no intention to sell Villa, saying the player is 'valuable' and 'one whose performance can only increase.'

He continued by saying, "It is flatly untrue that the club has agreed anything with the player or his agent.

"David is happy at Valencia and we are extremely satisfied with his involvement and performance. It is irresponsible that this information would be released on the day of such an important game (against Atletico Madrid)"

Villa opened the scoring from the penalty spot in his sides 3-1 win over Atletico Madrid, a victory that moved Los Che into second position, albeit temporarily, in the Primera Division table.

Paul Macdonald

Pertahankan posisi puncakmu El Che !!!

Senin, 27/10/2008 | 02:11 WIB

Main Seri, Valencia Kembali ke Puncak

MADRID, MINGGU - Valencia kembali ke puncak klasemen Liga BBVA Spanyol setelah bermain imbang lawan tuan rumah Recreativo Huelva, Minggu (26/10). Striker David Villa kembali menjadi pahlawan bagi Los Che karena golnya menyamakan skor 1-1 di babak kedua.

Setelah bermain tanpa gol di babak pertama, Javier Camunas membawa Recreativo unggul pada menit ke-47. Tendangannya membelah pertahanan Valencia dan melesat ke gawang Renan.

Villa menyamakannya 15 menit kemudian. Tandukan Juan Mata ditepis kiper Asier Risego, tapi Villa menyambar bola dan menyelamatkan timnya dari kekalahan.

Dengan hasil ini, Valencia untuk sementara menjadi tim yang belum terkalahkan hingga pekan ke-8. Sevilla yang sebelumnya tidak pernah kalah justru menyerah di tangan tamunya Malaga. Gol Malaga diciptakan oleh Adriano Lopez pada menit ke-18. Adriano sebetulnya diusir wasit pada menit ke-66, tapi Sevilla gagal menyamakan skor.

Hingga berita ini diturunkan Villarreal yang juga belum kalah masih menjamu Atletico Madrid. Villarreal sementara unggul 3-2 setelah tertinggal 0-2 dari Atletico yang bermain dengan sepuluh pemain.

Susunan pemain:
Recreativo: 13-Asier Riesgo; 20-Poli, 4-César Arzo, 2-Nasief Morris, 5-Iago Bouzon; 24-Javi Fuego, 10-Antonio Jesus Vazquez, 21-Aitor Tornavaca, 8-Javier Camunas; 18-Marco Rubén, 23-Javi Guerrero
Valencia: 13-Renan; 20-Alexis, 4-Raul Albiol, 24-Emiliano Moretti, 23-Miguel; 18-Manuel Fernandes, 6-David Albelda, 16-Mata, 17-Joaquín; 7-David Villa, 10-Miguel Ángel Angulo (14-Vicente 56)