Valencia were unable to find the nerves of an Osasuna side that was toasting the draw. Rubén Baraja’s team, at least, managed to get through a second consecutive game without losing or conceding a goal and have four points that allow them to breathe after their disastrous start to the League.
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Giorgi Mamardashvili, César Tárrega, Cristhian Mosquera, Thierry Correia (Dimitri Foulquier, min. 73), Jesús Vázquez, Enzo Barrenechea (Javi Guerra, min. 61), Diego López (Hugo Duro, min. 73), Pepelu, Luis Rioja, Dani Gómez (Sergi Canós, min. 84) and André Almeida (Fran Pérez, min. 61)
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Sergio Herrera, Jesús Areso, Enzo Boyomo, Jorge Herrando, Abel Bretones, Lucas Torró, Aimar Oroz (Rubén García, min. 62), Jon Moncayola (Pablo Ibáñez, min. 45), Moi Gómez, Raúl García (Ante Budimir, min. . 62) and Rubén Peña (Bryan Zaragoza, min. 76)
Referee Miguel Angel Ortiz Arias
Cristhian Ibarguen (min. 46), Lucas Torró (min. 53), Vazquez Alcalde (min. 67), Jorge Herrando (min. 69), Ante Budimir (min. 89)
The black and white team has a problem in attack. It has been solved in the back with two spendthrifts, Tárrega (22 years old and 1.94m) and Mosquera (20 years old and 1.91m), who have already accumulated five games in the trench that Baraja digs every day ahead of Mamardashvili. But up front, without Hugo Duro or Rafa Mir – who was left out of the squad again – the team is lost with a Dani Gómez without finishing or playing off the ball. Valencia is too weak offensively and, in addition, without that unbalancing pass that can compensate for the lack of sharpness.
He had one, just one, in the first 45 minutes, thanks to Luis Rioja, the winger who is establishing himself on the left wing. The Murcian is an imaginative and vertical player who in the final stretch of the first half made a long foray that he finished with a great pass that Almeida then wasted. That was all the danger there was between two teams incapable of finding the way to the area.
Baraja has found a formula that further strengthens his defence. The introduction of Barrenechea, at the expense of Hugo Guillamón, to watch Pepelu’s back has been good for stopping the defensive bleeding, but it doesn’t work in terms of creation, despite Valencia having a few minutes of patience in which they knew how to find space. They moved the ball well, but they failed to find the outcome. Or simply, they didn’t have the outcome.
Osasuna, a team built by Braulio Vázquez, its sporting director and father of Jesús Vázquez, Valencia’s left-back, began to show signs in the second half that it was not bothered by a draw. In its two previous outings this season it returned with zero points and seven goals conceded. Baraja saw that it needed something more and upped its attacking bet with Javi Guerra and Fran Pérez. Just before the substitution, Dani Gómez was inches away from pulling off a surprise.
Mestalla, once again with its 40,000 faithful, roared when Hugo Duro came on. Their top scorer, a striker who only took 16 days to recover from a calf injury, was welcomed like a hero, although he also failed to test Sergio Herrera. They were two harmless teams incapable of harming each other.
