The Mestalla let out a sigh of relief on Wednesday as Valencia managed to hold onto a one all draw against a dynamic and relentless Chelsea. Andre Villas Boas has reignited the London club since arriving in June, and this was shown in abondence this week in the Champions League.
However, despite Chelsea's superior physicality and use of the ball Valencia fought till the end and finished with a vital point to keep the fight for qualifying past the group stage alive. Admittedly, the manner in which the currently ranked seventh team in Spain equalised can be seen as fortunate, coming from the bizarre decision from, recently brought on, Salomon Kalou to blatantly handle the ball in his own box and concede a penalty in the 87 minute.
It was the Valencian captain, and recently touted replacement number 9 for "la seleccion", Roberto Soldado who had no hesitation converting the ensuing spot kick and saving his side from blushes. But, without doubt Valencia's hero of the night was the irrepressible Diego Alves between the sticks. The Brazilian frustrated the Chelsea front line on several occasions, stopping five clear-cut changes.
That's not to say that the Spanish outfit didn't create anything during the game. The Chelsea back line was caught out on a few occasions and Cech's shorts would have definitely required a scrubbing after the final whistle, having had to dive on more than one occasion.
Nonetheless, the salvaged point came as a surprise to everyone watching the game and was evident from the joyous celebrations from the home supporter at full time. The English club took the initiative from the second minute, pounching on a sloppy pass from within the oppositions half which ended with Fernando Torres, about to line up a routine side kick into the far corner of the onrushing Alves, being clumsily bowled over by the backtracking Adil Rami. The Italian referee, Nicola Rizzoli, decided against rewarding what surely should have been a penalty so early on.
But Chelsea showed no signs of being disheartened and continued to dominate the game and put a halt to any Valencia attempts to catch them on the back foot, as they did so effectively against Barcelona in La Liga a week ago. Ever the stickler for tactical finesse, Villa Boas planned this encounter to perfection, causing Emery's side to play the ball back time and time again, as a result of finding nothing to play into but a sea of blue shirts. Mathieu, on the right, had nothing to play with and was made to hit long and hopefully a number times during the first half. Obi Mikel and, the returning, Frank Lampard were a hand full in the middle of the park, forcing the usually creative, Sergio Canales to drop deep and dig out a hassled David Banega.
The second half began with Alves being called on to make a series saves from close-range, some of which seemed destined to test the Mestalla groundsman's ability to hang nets as required by the UFEA directives. A bullet of a header from Torres, a volley from Ramires and a dangerous deflection from Victor Ruiz couldn't pass the Brazilian. However, the one man show was interrupted when Lampard scored, after some fantastic play from Maloude on the right.
Valencia eventually found some form with Emery deciding to mix things up and bring on Jonas, Piatti and Feghouli to sit behind Soldado and offer more dynamism up front.
Canales showed his class late on in the middle, making a number of sublime passes. Soldado was given a chance to level from the on loan Real Madrid player, when a lofted ball from the right was placed to within a millimetre of the on-running number 9 at the far post, but a tight angle meant John Terry easily cleared it to safety. This was quickly followed by Piatti controling the ball beautifully with his chest and firing over with only Cech to beat, after a Xavi-esque pass from Canales split the Premiership side. The 20 year old again showed his class, this time cheekily pulling the ball back on his left and, in the same move, passing to Jonas on the edge of the Chelsea box, who shot well, only to be denied by a fully stretched Cech, who knocked the ball wide for a corner.
This was the decisive corner which saw Kalou gift the home side with an opportunity to equalise. Valencia graciously accepted the Ivorian's generosity and can go into this Saturday's league match against Granada with their heads held high. Obviously though, performances like Alves' can not be relied on in every match, and Emery will have to work on ways of dealing with teams inevitably defending deep against them.
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