Adil Rami’s brace and a goal each from Jordi Alba and Pablo Hernandez secured a convincing victory over Gertjan Verbeek, as the La Liga outfit booked its spot in the semi-final with a 5-2 aggregate win.
After losing the first-leg of UEFA Europa League quarter-final 2-1 against AZ in Alkmaar, Valencia needed to put a decent performance in the return leg at Mestalla Stadium if they were to make progression to the semi-final.
Despite struggling to achieve good results in La Liga, Los Che stunned everyone with an emphatic 4-0 win over the Eredivisie outfit on Thursday, April 5, and progressed through to the next phase of the Europe’s second tier competition.
Los Che commenced proceedings at home brightly and pressurised the visiting side’s back-line right from the start. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roberto-c31294 Soldado’s effort in the 12th minute
was parried away by the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Esteban-Alvarado-c12908.
Three minutes later, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sofiane-Feghouli-c33740 corner. And just two minutes later, the home side were ahead on aggregate following Rami’s clinical finish from close range.
The momentum was with Spanish team, as they continued to outclass the Dutch side. Soldado could have put the match to bed in the 20th minute with a stunning effort. However, his shot went inches wide of the target,
much to the dismay of the hosts’ head coach, Unai Emery.
AZ somehow managed to come out of the shock and came close to pulling a goal back in the 24th minute. However, Valencia goalkeeper, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Diego-Alves-c11071, made a brilliant diving save to tip Adam Maher’s long range effort over
the crossbar.
Soldado and Mehmet Topal both failed to hit the target, as the hosts yet again gained control of the match.
AZ had to wait until the 40th minute for another opportunity, but http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Brett-Holman-c8047 fired over the crossbar, much to the dismay of the visiting side boss, Gertjan Verbeek.
Moments later, Alvarado made another brilliant save to deny Soldado’s effort, as Los Che failed to further extend its lead in the opening half.
After the half-time break, the home side resumed action with the same momentum. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jordi-Alba-c19111 tapped in Soldado’s pass to make it 3-0 in the 56th minute.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Valencia-c40863, however, put the match to bed with ten minutes remaining on the clock through Pablo Hernandez.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Valencia-CF-c40864 will next face Atletico Madrid in the semi-final of the competition.
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