This Tuesday, Valencia CF achieved its first victory of the season against Deportivo Alavés (0-1), with Óscar Sánchez as interim coach after the dismissal of Carlos Corberán, in a sixth day of LaLiga EA Sports in which Rayo Vallecano beat RCD Espanyol (2-1) in its last home game at the Ontime Butarque Stadium.
In the first match of the ‘post-Corberán era’, the ‘che’ team started strongly in Mendizorrotza, pressing high and even finding the net after 18 minutes in an action with a screwed shot by Arnaut Danjuma, later annulled by a millimeter of offside from the Dutch winger. Little by little, the Basque team gained weight in the match, although their best chance did not wait until five minutes before the intermission, in a deflected shot by Toni Martínez.
Already in the second half, Ville Koski appeared to avoid a dangerous shot by Javi Guerra that found the reply in Toni Martínez, who failed to find a goal after winning one on one against Justin de Haas. In the exchange of blows, the Valencians emerged victorious.
It was in the 78th minute when Javi Guerra created a magnificent individual play that he completed by assisting Luis Rioja, who slipped between the center backs to score the ball before the departure of Antonio Sivera. After the goal, the former Alava player between 2019 and 2024 left the field injured.
In this way, Valencia puts an end to a streak of four consecutive defeats and achieves its first victory of the season to add four points that allow it to leave the relegation positions. Alavés, meanwhile, falls for the second consecutive game, although it remains fourth with ten points.
In Tuesday’s first clash, Rayo said goodbye to their ‘exile’ of Butarque before returning to Vallecas with their second victory of the season. Beñat San José’s team opened the scoring as soon as it began, after an error in the ball’s release by the Spanish team. Álvaro García played a filtered pass for Sergio Camello and he delayed the ball for the arrival of Pedro Díaz, who shot on goal; Omar El Hilali blocked the shot and the rebound fell to Álvaro, who scored the first of the afternoon (min.3).
Just before the first hydration break, the Madrid team increased the lead again with Álvaro García as the protagonist, filtering a ball for Adrià Pedrosa who was in charge of resolving it with a cross shot against Marko Dmitrovic (min.26). They were still able to increase the difference before the break, but Camello found the crossbar.
Trying to reverse the situation, Manolo González made three changes to start the second half and one of them, Bryan Zaragoza, warned early with a shot deflected by the defense. Just three minutes later, Roberto Fernández took advantage of a ball into space from Javi Hernández to beat Emil Audero (min.54).
The blue and white team went all out in search of an equalizer, but the expulsion of El Hilali already in stoppage time for cutting a ball with his hand ended their hopes. With this result, Rayo adds its second victory, both in Leganés, and reaches seven points, the same as Espanyol that breaks a streak of two consecutive scoring days.