Los Che faithful saw their chances of continental honours fade away as Unai Emery’s men suffered the ignominy of a 2-1 away defeat to Dutch side, AZ Alkmaar.
Valencia’s wastefulness in front of the goal was their folly against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roberto-Soldado-c31367 and Co’s inability to hit the back of the net, as both of their goals were scored against the run of play.
Despite being bossed by their Spanish rivals, AZ twice rallied back into the match. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Maarten-Martens-c22997 scored the winner with 11 minutes remaining in normal. Mehmet
Topal’s 52nd minute strike was sandwiched in between the goals scored by AZ.
Valencia’s first team regular, Jeremy Mathieu, reflected on his team’s latest setback after the match. Mathieu talked about the great performance which Los Che managed to put during the less fancied storied competition, placing it in the same bracket
as earning the third position in La Liga.
The versatile defender admitted that after dominating the proceedings, the defeat was an unjust result but found refuge in the away goal his side managed to return with.
"Winning the Europa League is just as high a priority for us as finishing third in the Liga, so we'll be doing everything we can to progress," Mathieu said while talking to reporters in the post match press conference.
"It's never good to get beaten but we did manage to score an away goal which could count double, and in the return match we'll definitely be going for victory.”
"It wasn't any more difficult than we expected. The tie is not finished and we will be more attack-minded at Mestalla. It will be a different match from Thursday evening."
Over the weekend, the Valencian outfit return their attention to La Liga fixtures as they are involved in a derby match with highflying Levante.
Both teams are comfortably placed in European places with 9 Primera Division matches remaining until the end of the Spanish top flight domestic campaign.
Unai Emery’s men welcome La Granotas to the Mestalla, as they look to register their fourth league victory since the turn of 2012 calendar year.
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