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The gloves of goalkeepers David Soria and Giorgi Mamardashvili saved two teams from the cold in the Coliseum, locked in the descent chiller, sad shadows of a brighter past. Getafe and Valencia, bottom two, entered fearfully, battling the same spirits and sharing in their brief handling of the ball. Nobody wanted to lose. Both settled for one point. Fear prevailed until Borja Mayoral pulled Getafe out of relegation after a set piece in the 81st minute, entangling Valencia in a barbed wire fence. Quique’s XI surpasses Baraja’s in the table and takes a leap toward salvation.
1
David Soria, Omar Alderete, Gastón Álvarez (Fabricio Angileri, min. 78), Domingos Duarte, Djene, Arambarri, Gonzalo Villar (Maksimovic, min. 45), Portu (Mata, min. 91), Munir (Jaime Seoane, min. 77), Enes Ünal and Mayoral (Damián Suárez, min. 91)
0
Mamardashvili, Foulquier, Gayá (Lato, min. 57), Gabriel Paulista, Mouctar Diakhaby, Yunus Musah (Hugo Guillamón, min. 69), Andre Almeida (Marcos André, min. 83), Moriba Kourouma, Justin Kluivert, Samuel Lino ( Francisco Martinez, Min. 68) and Hugo Duro
Goals 1-0 min. 81: Foreman.
referee Mario Melero Lopez
Yellow cards Djene (min. 20), Gonzalo Villar (min. 29), Sánchez Flores (min. 58), Gastón Álvarez (min. 72), Omar Alderete (min. 75), Mayoral (min. 82), Portu ( min. 87) and Hugo Duro (min. 89)
Local victory after two consecutive draws. Quique’s team hadn’t won since December 30th. The win unties the knot from the tie of his coach Quique Sánchez Flores, who was questioned on the bench. In Valencia, the debut of Rubén Baraja and his debut in the first division, Mestalla’s remain eight consecutive games without a win since LaLiga’s return from the World Cup with six consecutive defeats.
The goalkeeper sent to the goal. At Geta, Soria shooed Samu Lino away when the game had barely started. In the 9th minute, Foulquier crossed, let Kluivert through and the Brazilian, on loan from Atlético, shot in the goalkeeper’s body. Again, Lino faced the Azulón keeper in the 35 minute but shot with Djené stuck to his shadow and Soria cleared.
Then it was Mamardashvili’s turn, who made four saves, three practically in a row, to deflect as many headers from Munir, Duarte and Borja Mayoral. Previously, Duarte, also upside down, had already compromised “Mama”. Defending set pieces, Valencia was a tear throughout the game. Its anti-aircraft battery ran out of ammunition, and the blue fighters would attack the Georgian giant whenever they had a cross ball. Every ball sent from the sky shook the entire black and white defense. In one of those, Valencia would lose the game.
Act two started with a street runner and in an offensive switch Kluivert fired quickly and without thinking at David Soria after a good pass from Hugo Duro. Once again, the Azulón goalkeeper, a hero at Getafense Coliseum, made his mark among the three sticks, extending his hand on the tee to salvage the tie.
In the opposite arc, the Georgian couldn’t avoid the local winning goal when it hurts the most and there is hardly any time to react. In another set piece, Maksimovic extended a cross to the far post that the keeper couldn’t block. Surrounded by Toni Lato, Borja Mayoral slotted the ball into the center of the goal to push Getafe out of the relegation zone and put Valencia in trouble. Baraja’s premiere was sour. Fran Pérez scored as soon as he entered the field but his goal, which Baraja celebrated furiously, was disallowed. Pipo Baraja’s sour debut in the first division.
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