Yunus Musah and Shaq Moore were the only Yanks in action in Spain this weekend, with both putting in solid substitute performances for their teams, however with mixed outcomes.
Espanyol 1 – 1 Valencia
Yunus Musah played most of the second half for Valencia, adding some firepower to the team in their unsuccessful attempt to break the deadlock in their draw at Espanyol on Saturday.
With little other than pride to play for this season, Valencia did manage to jump ahead after 37 minutes, with Thierry Correia streaking up the right before centering it to Maxi Gomez for a sweeping shot from just beyond the penalty spot.
Espanyol’s Javier Puado looked to have equalized just before the half after he was sprung free by a through-ball from Sergi Gómez, however a VAR review negated the goal for an offside infraction.
However, they did pull even on the stroke of half when Rubén Sánchez split the defense with an off-balance pass to send Raul de Tomas into the area, where he beat Valencia keeper Jasper Cillessen with a low shot to the left.
Musah was brought into the game after 66 minutes for Eray Cömert after the central defender took a blow to the side of his neck, also allowing the team to shift from a five-man backline to a more attack-minded 4-4-2 for the final phase.
While Musah did respectably in the midfield, completing nine of ten passes and beating his opponents on one of three dribble attempts, however neither he nor the rest of the Valencia front-six were able to break down their hosts.
The draw drops Valencia to 11th place. They close their season on Sunday at home against Celta Vigo, and could rise as high as ninth with a win.
Tenerife 0 – 2 Malaga
Shaq Moore put in a strong half-hour substitute appearance for Tenerife on Sunday evening, however it wan’t enough to help them come back from a two-goal deficit in a tough home loss to Malaga.
Samuel Shashoua is still out for Tenerife with an injury.
The visitors opened the scoring early when Álvaro Vadillo headed in a cross by Ismael Casas in the eighth minute, then made it 2-0 three minutes into the half when Aleix Febas cleaned up after a shot from Luis Muñoz was initially blocked by Tenerife keeper Dani Hernandez.
Moore entered three minutes before the hour in place of right back Jeremy Mellot, and immediately helped Tenerife continue their ultimately unsuccessful push to cut into their visitors’ lead.
Overall, he had 24 total touches, completed all ten of his passing attempts, took one shot while setting up two other chances, was on-target with three of four crosses and won just over half of his five duels.
Three minutes after coming onto the field, Moore fired a cross towards the left of the area, however Nahuel Leiva’s shot missed wide left.
Moore’s own attempt from distance with 15 minutes left was blocked, then his cross to Enric Gallego in the 83rd minute forced Malaga keeper Dani Martin into a save.
Tenerife are still relatively secure in their position to reach the post-season promotion playoff despite the loss, however the result does mathematically eliminate their already-slim chance of automatic promotion with two games remaining.
They next visit second-place Eibar on Sunday before closing out the regular season the following weekend at home against Cartagena.
Notes
Matthew Hoppe didn’t make it off of Mallorca’s bench for their 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano. The result pulls them out of the relegation zone, narrowly ahead of Cadiz by way of head-to-head record, with their final decider at Osasuna on Sunday.
Sergiño Dest is still injured and was not in uniform for Barcelona’s scoreless draw at Getafe. Having secured second place, they will end their season at home against Villarreal on Sunday.
Matt Miazga watched from the Alaves bench as their 3-1 road loss at Levante secured their relegation to La Liga 2. With nothing left to play for, they will still play a role in the final relegation race in their finale as they host Cadiz on Sunday.
