Real Madrid’s brief renaissance under returning manager Zinedine Zidane came to a screeching halt with a 2-1 defeat to Valencia on Wednesday night at the Estadio Mestalla in Valencia.
Gonzalo Guedes earned the home side a lead toward the end of the first half before Ezequiel Garay polished off Los Che’s fine performance with a late header for the three points.
Real conjured up very little in attack and were rendered ineffective by a stout Valencia defence until the final seconds when Karim Benzema headed in a consolation goal.
Of note was the performance of Dani Parejo. Simply put, the Valencia midfielder and captain was outstanding. The former Real Madrid man was in the middle of just about every Valencia chance in attack, while also working tirelessly in defence, making an endless number of challenges and seemingly clearing at will.
After starting over the weekend in the home win against Huesca, it was back to the bench for Gareth Bale and Isco, while Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio got the nods in Zidane’s attack.
While Real were pinging the ball around nicely in the Valencia half, it did not yield much in the way of chances. Los Che were getting their best looks via the counter, and one such surge toward the end of the first half resulted in the game’s opening goal through Gonzalo Guedes.
A corner kick was initially cleared by Real goalkeeper Keylor Navas, but the ball fell to Guedes, who played a one-two combination with Carlos Soler that saw Guedes curl in a right-footer to make it 1-0 to the hosts.
Valencia were flying and could have easily had a second score via a trio of chances from Kevin Gameiro, Geoffrey Kondogbia and Rodrigo.
Los Blancos looked to reassert control in the second half and pull level, but it was Valencia getting the first scoring chance of the second stanza off a counter-attack that forced Navas into a block on Soler. That was followed by another chance in transition in which Rodrigo missed just wide after collecting an inch-perfect pass from Parejo.
Zidane needed to change things up, so Bale and Isco were brought on for Toni Kroos and Asensio, respectively. The two provided a big boost and soon enough Real were playing their best football of the night. However, they were still vulnerable on the break and Valencia spoiled a golden opportunity when Gameiro’s backheel did not connect with Soler right in front of goal.
Real could only withstand so many let-offs from Valencia, and when Garay headed in Parejo’s corner kick in the final stages of the contest to extend the lead to 2-0, the fate of Zidane’s men was sealed.
Only a Karim Benzema header in the waning seconds prevented the clean sheet, but it was still a night to forget for Real, who will look to pick up the pieces on Saturday at home against Eibar.
Match Sheet:
2.- Valencia: Neto; Wass, Garay, Diakhaby, Gaya; Carlos Soler (Ferran, min. 80), Parejo, Kondogbia, Guedes (Cheryshev, min. 73); Rodrigo, Gameiro (Santi Mina, min. 83).
1.- Real Madrid: Keylor; Odriozola, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos (Isco, min. 64); Lucas (Mariano, min. 78), Benzema, Asensio (Bale, min. 64)
Goals: 1-0, min. 35: Guedes; 2-0, min. 84: Garay; 2-1, min. 93: Benzema
Referee: Jaime Latre (Aragon). Yellow Cards: Wass (Min. 5) for Valencia, Odriozola (Min. 64) for Real Madrid, Parejo (Min. 65) for Valencia, Marcelo (Min. 76) for Real Madrid
Red cards: None
Stadium: Mestalla
Attendance: 50.000
