Valencia are back into fourth place

A single goal was the difference as Valencia CF beat RCD Espanyol and took three points that move into fourth place following Sevilla FC’s defeat. The visitors’ goals came in the second half and were scored by Pablo Piatti and Dani Parejo.

During the first half, both sides had periods of dominance. The visitors had more possession, however the first clear chance belonged to Espanyol. Following some great individual play in the box, Felipe Caicedo, was left one-on-one with Diego Alves who prevented his side from going 1-0 down.

In the first few minutes following the restart, play centred around the midfield area. Neither of the sides wanted to take too many risks and showed good defensive play. The speed of Valencia down the left wing led to them going 0-1 up. The goal came following a link-up move between Rodrigo Moreno and José Luis Gayà, the reserve player crossed into the area and Pablo Piatti netted.

Espanyol had a great chance to go level through Cristian Stuani, however Gayà appeared to send the ball out for a corner. Sergio González’ side were spurred on by their fans and went in search of a goal. That created space for Valencia to go on dangerous counter-attacks. That is how the 0-2 came. The home side stopped a Valencia counterattack with a foul, Dani Parejo took charge and increased the lead. Despite the two goal lead, Espanyol did not give up and Serio García shortened the margin in the 88th minute to leave the score line at 1-2.