Yunus Musah had possibly his best La Liga performance for Valencia in their huge win over Getafe, while Luca de la Torre returned to the field for Celta Vigo as a late sub in their Friday-night victory.
Celta Vigo 3 – 0 FC Cadiz
Luca de la Torre found his way onto the field on Friday night for the final minutes of Celta Vigo’s thrashing of Cadiz.
After a largely stale first half, Celta Vigo head coach Eduardo Coudet brought on Gabriel Veiga and Jørgen Strand Larsen in a double halftime switch, and the gambit paid off as his new additions set up the first two of the team’s three second-half goals.
In the 56th minute, Veiga intercepted a pass in his team’s half of the field then immediately found Iago Aspas across the midfield stripe. Aspas advanced deep into Cadiz territory before whipping a low, 25-yard shot to the lower left corner for the lead.
Larsen then triggered his team’s second goal in the 62nd, finishing a fine teams goal by back-heeling a short pass to Oscar Rodriguez for a 12-yarder.
Aspas then finished his brace with 15 minutes left, again unleashing a distance strike to beat Cadiz keeper Jeremias Ledesma.
The American entered for central midfielder Fran Beltrán in the 83rd minute to help close out the game. In his seven minutes of play plus added time, de la Torre had eight touches, completed five of six passes, won his only tackle attempt and one of his two duels, while committing one foul.
The Sky Blues’ second straight league win lifts them to the upper half of the standings, with seven points through four games. They face a tough trip to Atletico Madrid in their next outing on Saturday.
Highlights of the game can be seen here.
FC Valencia 5 – 1 FC Getafe
Yunus Musah notched a pair of assists for Valencia and had a generally spectacular game for his team, as they blew past Getafe by a four-goal margin on Sunday night.
As arguably the team’s top performer, the American set up Valencia’s second and fifth goals, overall created three chances, took a pair of shots, completed 25 of 29 passes amidst his 45 touches over 90 minutes, and drew three fouls.
Valencia started the game quickly, jumping to the lead in the seventh minute when Toni Lato received a cross from Hugo Guillamon in the left flank, worked his way to the top left corner of the 18-yard box and angled his shot just inside the far upper corner of the goal.
Only seven minutes later, Musah triggered their second, chipping the ball over the Getafe defense to Samuel Dias Lino, who made easy work of his sweeping one-timed shot from five yards out.
The hosts needed only two further minutes for their third, with Samuel Castillejo intercepting a poor pass from Getafe keeper David Soria on the right side, and striking it with his first touch to send it back into Soria’s goal for the 3-0 lead.
Then in the 65th minute, they added a fourth in standard fashion, albeit with a bit of unintentional help from the disastrous Soria. Hugo Guillamon fired in a corner from the right which Nico González headed towards goal. Soria got both hands on what should have been a fairly straightforward save, however the ball popped up, and eventually rolled over the line.
Then three minutes later, Valencia took advantage of their opponents’ state of shock, with Musah again working his magic. This time, he did fine footwork in the midfield to hold possession under close pressure from two defenders, make a turn and fire a through ball to Hugo Duro. The 22 year-old forward broke free on the right, evaded his closing defenders, and struck his low shot past Soria for the 5-0 lead.
Getafe did save some face with a consolation goal by Gaston Álvarez in the 78th minute, a one-timed shot that caught the Valencia defense sleeping, however it did little to dampen the hosts’ mood.
The final minutes did see a pair of unfortunate ejections; the first when Valencia substitute Ilaix Moriba received a second yellow in the 88th, then Getafe midfielder Mauro Arambarri was given his marching orders in the 95th, leaving both teams to finish the final seconds with ten men.
The victory lifts Valencia to tenth place after four games played. They return to action on Saturday with a visit to Rayo Vallecano.
Notes
Luca Koleosho wasn’t in uniform for Espanyol on Sunday for their 1-0 road win over Athletic Bilbao.
Samuel Shashoua wasn’t called into action by Tenerife head coach on Saturday night Luis Ramis for their 1-0 home win over Racing Santander in La Liga 2 action.
Armando Shashoua didn’t make the UD Ibiza squad on Sunday evening during their 3-0 loss at SD Huesca.
Jonathan Gomez was not in uniform for Real Sociedad’s 1-1 home draw against Atletico Madrid on Saturday evening. He is currently earning time with Sociedad’s second team in the Spanish third division.