Valencia beat Rayo 2-1

Valencia keep themselves in the title race with a solid victory over newly promoted Rayo Vallecano. The game was another tale of two halves for Valencia, a common theme for the squad this season. Two first half goals from Jonas and Tino Costa gave Valencia the win, but a second half goal from Raul Tamudo will certainly have the Valencia management wondering what they need to do to keep the team motivated for an entire match. Once again Valencia dominated the first half and took their foot off the gas in the second, and while it did cost them a goal, it didn’t cost them the victory, this time.

 Another event of note this match was the third straight start for Brazilian international, Diego Alves. The international goalkeeper is normally only a starter for the Champions League and played against Genk earlier in the week. However, Alves started ahead of Vicente Guiata for the second time in the league, having been given the starting position against Real Madrid, possibly costing Valencia the draw in that game with a mistake that allowed Cristiano Ronaldo to score.

 The rumor that Guaita had not fully recovered from a wrist injury match helped get Alves his latest, albeit surprising, league start against Madrid.  Alves played well making Guaita wonder if he has been relegated to back up keeper. Alves hopes to get as much playing time as possible, keeping Guaita benched from here on out. In addition to Alves being handed a starting spot, Angel Dealbert was given his first start of the season in defense. He had an average game, but it did appear as though some lax defending on his part allowed Tamudo to score his goal in the second half.

Rayo Vallecano: David Cobeño; Tito Román , Jordi Figueras, Alejandro Arribas, José Casado; Javi Fuego; Lass Bangoura, José Movilla (Roberto Trashorras, 71st minute), Michu Pérez, Piti Medina (Pedro Botelho, 65th minute); Andrija Delibasic (Raúl Tamudo, 56th minute).

Valencia CF: Diego Alves; Antonio Barragán, Adil Rami, Ángel Dealbert, Jordi Alba; David Albelda, Tino Costa; Sofiane Feghouli (Pablo Piatti, 78th minute), Jonas Gonçalves (Pablo Hernández, 69th minute), Jérémy Mathieu; Roberto Soldado (Aritz Aduriz, 60th mintue).

Goals: 0-1 Jonas Gonçalves (21st minute), 0-2 Tino Costa (57th minute), 1-2 Raúl Tamudo (84th minute).

By: David Wall 
Edited: Matt Tobin