Valencia go level with Barca atop La Liga
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>'Clasico' preview
A solitary goal from David Villa was enough to send Valencia joint top with Barcelona ahead of this evening's 'Clasico'. Osasuna put up a brave fight in the closing stages but it wasn't enough as the home side held on to win 1-0.
Valencia got off to a great start as they took on Osasuna at la Mestalla knowing that a win would put them level on points with Barcelona before the champions play Real Madrid in the first 'clasico' of the season.
Joaquin in particular was on sparkling form in the early stages and he played a part in a terrific move that saw David Villa open the scoring.
David Albelda picked out the winger with a fantastic cross field ball, Joaquin then found Hugo Viana, and the Portuguese midfielder sent a pin point pass on to the head of Fernando Morientes.
The former Real Madrid and Liverpool striker knocked it down perfectly for Villa who made no mistake blasting home from 12 yards out.
Osasuna had one decent opportunity when a Ludovic Delporte corner dropped to Pierre Webo, but the Cameroon striker's snapshot went just past the post.
For the most part the visitors' struggles in front of goal continued, with Webo often looking isolated up front.
The second half started much as the first finished with Valencia looking dominant.
Albelda was then forced off as Valencia's injury problems grew, and from that point on Osasuna began to get more into the game.
Another substitution just after the hour mark also impacted proceeding as on loan Real Madrid striker Roberto Soldado came off the bench to replace Webo.
Valdo spurned one good opportunity on 65 minutes when his weak header drifted wide, but it would be Valdo who caused many problems for Valencia as the game neared its conclusion.
Joaquin struck the bar for Valencia with 15 minutes to play from a free kick but from that point on it was all Osasuna as the visitors pressed and pressed.
First it was Valdo with a super jinking dribble and shot from the edge of the box that drew a terrific save from Santiago Canizares, then from the resulting corner Carlos Cuellar's header was cleared off the line by Hugo Viana.
Valencia looked like they had done enough as the clock ticked deep into injury time, but it was nearly levelled up when again Valdo came close for the away side. His snapshot hit the post with Canizares rooted to the spot.
There was still time for Jorge Lopez to be shown a second yellow card in the 94th minute, but Valencia scraped home to go joint top of La Liga.
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villa - morientes, trenutno najbolji napadački tandem u primeri...
baš nemaju sreće sa povredama...
