Valencia 2-2 Atletico Madrid - 7M sport

Valencia 2-2 Atletico Madrid

Posted Friday, April 02, 2010 by Goal.com

The La Liga clubs could not be separated after an end-to-end encounter...

Valencia had to rely on an 81st minute equaliser from David Villa to salvage a 2-2 draw versus Atletico Madrid, in what was a fantastic advert for the Europa League.

The Mestalla looked on in awe as the Primera sides could not be separated. The visitors led twice through Diego Forlan and Antonio Lopez, but were cancelled out by Manuel Fernandes and Villa's late response, and the tie is evenly poised for the second leg.

Unai Emery's home side were ravaged by injuries in defence, with a number of first-team stars out of action, and this was highlighted further by the inclusion of auxiliary defender Hedwiges Maduro and midfielder Jordi Alba in the back four.

The match started at a frenetic pace, and similar to proceedings last night at the Emirates, the opening exchanges saw numerous chances created at both ends of the pitch.

Los Che began the encounter in typical fashion, by taking the game to their opponents, looking for an early breakthrough. David Villa had an effort correctly disallowed for offside, while los Colchoneros shot stopper David de Gea looked sharp to deny Manuel Fernandes, diving down low to his right.

At the other end, Cesar made an excellent stop from an Tomas Ujfalusi header, before Simao curled a wonderful effort that clattered off the inside of the post and somehow stayed out.

The action was incessant, like two boxers sizing each other up at the beginning of a bout, and Valencia were next to attempt to land a punch. Pablo Hernandez beat the offside trap and rounded De Gea, but scuffed his effort with the goal gaping, and Dominguez got back to mop up the danger.

Meanwhile, Kun Aguero set about taking on the patched-up Valencia backline, almost single-handedly, skipping by challenge after challenge, but he went down theatrically, and the referee waved played on.

The chances continued to come at both ends of the pitch. Juan Mata blazed over as the ball broke kindly into his path, while Dealbert came within a whisker of heading past his own goalkeeper, but the ball drifted inches past the post.

On the verge of half-time, Jose Jurado went on the run of the match, leaving Bruno for dead, but his effort trickled through the legs of Moya but agonisingly across goal to safety.

But after all the sparring, the deadlock was finally broken at the start of the second half, and it was Atletico Madrid was grabbed a critical away goal.

Valencia were on the attack but were left brutally exposed at the back. Jordi Alba's attempted tackle rebounded off of Aguero, who suddenly was clean through on goal. He rolled the ball across the goal to Diego Forlan, who had the simplest of tasks to tap the ball into the net.

The home side were undeterred, though, and initiated an almost instant response. Manuel Fernandes collected the ball at the edge of the area, and unleashed a wicked, dipping strike that landed perfectly into the corner of the net, leaving De Gea helpless.

At that point, the match was evenly poised but Atletico then hit what could be a killer blow in the tie. Simao's corner was nodded across goal by Dominguez, and the diminutive Antonio Lopez nodded the ball into the corner, leaving Cesar with no chance at all. The tie had swung again in the favour of the men from the capital.

But Valencia at home in Europe this season have mounted numerous comebacks, and this match proved to be no different. Coach Unai Emery introduced Vicente for the final 15 minutes, and his impact was immediate.

The former Spanish international managed to reach the byline, and laid the ball perfectly into the path of that man David Villa, who rammed the ball home with his left foot, and this absorbing clash was once again all square.

Emery pushed his side forward for a winner, knowing that Atletico's away goals gave them the distinct advantage, but the scoring had ceased, and those in attendance were given a chance to catch their breath.

After the exhibition in London last night, these two Spanish sides offered up a scintillating contest that shows that the Europa League is still capable of numerous thrills and spills.



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