The Mestalla is once again becoming the fortress it was in the past as Valencia football club finally start to find some form and head rapidly northwards up the La Liga table. Two home wins coupled with a strong victory away at their city neighbours Levante recently, the club have taken nine league points out of a possible twelve. They now hover only five points off seventh position and a potential European place at the end of the season.

Stretching away from the relegation spots in such a tight league has been helped heavily with two back- to-back wins on home soil.

First came the match with Osasuna which Valencia won by the solitary goal. The Pamplona-based club have European aspirations of their own and in Ante Budimir they have one of the best strikers in the league. With a multitude of injuries for Valencia, especially in defence, it was left to Eray Cömert (who has come out of the cold and been recalled from Real Valladolid) to help thwart the threat of the Croatian attacker.

The fruition of the partnership of Umar Sadiq and Largie Ramazani has been instrumental in Valencia’s progress in recent weeks. The pair were together at Almeria a few seasons ago, where they fine-tuned their on field relationship, and they are re-inventing it again for Corberán and the fans after struggling individually to hit the standards required at Real Sociedad and Leeds United respectively.

Ramazani has also brought a confidence to the penalty taking, after Pepelu had missed two and Danjuma one earlier in the season. The Belgian international uses the technique favoured by Carlos Soler, by waiting for the keeper to make a movement, before casually stroking the ball into the other side of the goal. The converted spot kick halfway through the second half proved decisive in securing the three points for Los Che, as they held on valiantly for the precious victory.

A week later, Valencia entertained CD Alavés in a very exciting game of football that the home side edged in dramatic fashion.

The hosts had the worst possible start when the visitors were awarded and converted a penalty inside the first minute! The controversial decision seemed harsh but protests and a VAR review did not change the initial call by the referee, and Lucas Boye latched the spot kick home convincingly.

Valencia came back strong but failed to strike before the break. However, immediately after the restart the hosts gained parity. Firstly, in a Valencia attack Sadiq remained calm inside the opponents’ six-yard box, and opted against shooting himself, instead preferring to pass to Javi Guerra who was placed in a better position just in front of the penalty spot. The Gilet-born midfielder then took his time, ensuring his shot evaded the covering defenders and goalkeeper in front of him to pass the ball into the back of the net.

The goal gave the hosts more impetus and several good chances went begging. It then appeared that all the good work on the day would prove fruitless as, against the run of play, Alavés took the lead with twenty minutes to go. Boye headed in his second goal of the game from a corner kick.

Valencia plugged away gamely and, with one minute remaining, levelled through the resurgent Comert. Then, deep in injury time Valencia received a soft penalty courtesy of an Alavés defender being adjudged to have prevented substitute Hugo Duro from having a clear header on goal.

With the now established penalty taker Ramazani already substituted, Duro was left with the responsibility of gaining Valencia the three points. He did so confidently to give Valencia a deserved victory at the last gasp.

Two away fixtures come next at Oviedo and Sevilla followed by a match hosting Celta Vigo. On current form, all three games will be winnable and a chunk of points in these three matches would mean a distinct possibility of European football next term. A mediocre exchange resulting in a few additions to the Valencia total will undoubtedly end any possibility of achieving that goal.

Levante UD meanwhile are totally focused on staving off relegation. Four consecutive losses at the start of February put Los Granotas on the back foot and the back-to-back losses to their ‘comunidad’ neighbours Valencia and Villarreal would have been particular painful for the Levante faithful.

A loss in the Nou Camp to Barcelona was not a surprise, but a miraculous double save from Mat Ryan was the main talking point of the match when it was over. A full stretched parry to palm a header onto the bar was matched immediately after by an instinctive block from point-blank range that denied a certain Barcelona goal on two occasions.

However, the last two home matches have helped Levante’s cause, the first was a much needed two zero win over Alavés who have had a dreadful two weeks in the city. The next was a match up against Girona. The hosts looked like grabbing all three points when Carlos Espi put the hosts into the lead just after the break. but a turning point came when Olasagasti got his marching orders just before the hour mark.

Girona looked to take advantage of the extra man and probed deeper and deeper for an equaliser. Well into stoppage time, the Catalan side achieved that goal. This was thanks to a deflected shot from one of their substitutes Joel Roca, which evaded a wrong-footed Mat Ryan.

The effort from outside the box was originally chalked out for offside, but an eternal delay that led to a VAR review showed that the deflection was not in the eyeline of the Girona forward or restricting the vision of the Levante goalkeeper.

It was a heartbreaking result for the hosts but four points from the last two games have inched Levante closer to teams just outside the relegation zone.

Report by John Howden

Article copyright ‘24/7 Valencia’

Valencia CF

Real Oviedo away Saturday 14 March 18.30h

Sevilla away Saturday 21 March 21.00h

Celta Vigo home weekend 4th/5th April to be confirmed.

Levante UD

Rayo Vallecano away Monday 16 March 21.00h

Oviedo home Saturday 21 March 18.30h

Real Sociedad away weekend 4th/5th April to be confirmed.