Matt Miazga’s first taste of La Liga action was a bitter one in a loss to Yunus Musah and Valencia, while Sergiño Dest and Barcelona’s win over Getafe kept them unbeaten on the season.
FC Valencia 3 – 0 Deportivo Alavés
Matt Miazga’s debut with Alavés was a rough one, as the team was handily defeated in a shut-out loss to Yunus Musah and Valencia on Friday. Musah saw limited action in the final five minutes for his first appearance of the new season.
One week after joining the Spanish team on-loan from his parent club Chelsea, Miazga was quickly inserted into the team’s back line against a quality Valencia team.
The hosts were quick to stamp their authority on the game, taking the 1-0 lead barely two minutes after the opening whistle when Denis Cheryshev fired a cross from the left of the penalty area towards goal out of Miazga’s reach, where Daniel Wass was waiting for the easy finish to the near post.
Alavés attacker John Guidetti came close to evening the score in spectacular fashion when his attempted bicycle kick in the 24th minute was scooped up by Giorgi Mamardashvili, however Valenca would have the last laugh before the break.
Goncalo Guedes controlled a long, cross-field pass from left flank at the edge of the six-yard box, and lightly tapped a pass to Carlos Soler, who astutely back-heeled the waist-height ball into the net in the second minute of added time.
Miazga nearly headed his way onto the scoreboard in the 56th minute when he connected on a free kick from halftime substitute Luis Rioja, forcing Mamardashvili into a diving save.
Guedes, however, put the game out of reach with a goal of his own seconds before the hour mark, being the beneficiary when Maxi Gomez pulled down a long pass from the midfield, and held play up just long enough to set up his teammate for an uncontested shot.
Alavés was little threat over the last half-hour, allowing Valencia to hold on for their second win out of the first three of the season.
Having not been selected to participate in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, Miazga will have several weeks with his teammates as they try to improve upon their current last-place standing.
Musah will also spend the international break with his Valencia teammates before they return to action with a visit to Osasuna.
FC Barcelona 2 – 1 FC Getafe
Barcelona defender Sergiño Dest saw time as a second-half substitute as Barcelona continued their unbeaten run to begin the season, with a low-key victory over Getafe on Sunday.
Dest was dropped from the starting lineup in favor of recent loan returnee Emerson, however with the Brazilian heavily rumored to be departing for Tottenham before the end of the transfer window, this was potentially little more than a temporary break.
The Blaugrana started the game off in strong form, with Jordi Alba setting up Sergi Roberto for a simple tap-in from close range.
Getafe equalized in the 18th minute when an impressive team display of one-touch passing in tight space culminated with Sandro nailing an off-balance strike from 17 yards out.
The hosts soon retook the advantage at the half-hour mark, this time with summer arrival Memphis Depay making fools of several Getafe defenders, who could not hinder his formidable footwork from opening up space on the left side for a perfectly-angled shot to the near post.
With Emerson having some struggles on the right side of the defense, Dest was brought on by head coach Ronald Koeman in the 63rd minute, and helped the team lock up the back to secure the eventual 2-1 win.
With the victory, Barcelona join the six-way logjam of teams each on seven points atop the league. Dest will spend the next few days with his American international teammates for World Cup qualifying, then return to Spain to continue the busy domestic and European schedule with their first Champions League group-stage game against FC Bayern on Sept. 14.
Notes
Shaq Moore was not in Tenerife’s gameday squad on Saturday when they held hosts Real Oviedo to a scoreless draw.
