Valencia 6 - 2 Cigüeñas (377961583)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Nou Mestalla saw a crowd turnout of 2355. Damien Cohen was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Mattias Gunnarsson and Anders Nilsson. Valencia decided to use a 2-5-3 set up. Starters: Brotzmann - Löfman, Esko - Delgado, Yotov, Stafford, Wilson, Aquino - Fasselli, Nedersjö, Sadler.

Cigüeñas had chosen a strategic 5-4-1 formation. The following players had been chosen: Temperán - Fompedriña, Valdés, Caponis, Montafia, Lamarain - Coruxeira, Garcia, Idola, Marchante - Pinillos.

For their match strategy, Cigüeñas had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. Valencia's M. Delgado was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the opposition's box - A. Fasselli managed to volley one of them into the net to make it 1 - 0 after 2 minutes. After 31 minutes, the visitors tied it up at 1 - 1 when a fantastic pass from the left was finished off by D. Marchante. Valencia fans held their breath as O. Löfman scampered down the left side. He successfully avoided all challenges and cracked home the shot for 2 - 1! After 43 minutes Cigüeñas tried to exploit their counterattacking skills, unfortunately, N. Coruxeira's shot sailed wide after his break down the right. Halftime score was 2 - 1. Valencia had most of the ball, with 73 percent of possession.

Maybe due to the uphill battle the team was facing, the Cigüeñas manager looked to change things around. After 60 minutes, D. Marchante and X. Fompedriña swapped positions on the field. L. Pinillos was in the clear after breaking the offside trap following a Cigüeñas counterattack from the left after 61 minutes. His neat finish made the score 2 - 2. Valencia broke through on the left 72 minutes into the game, with A. Fasselli firing in from an acute angle to give the home side a 3 - 2 lead. A well-executed free kick by A. Nedersjö after 80 minutes made it 4 - 2 for Valencia. Cheers filled the stadium as V. Wilson broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 5 - 2 to Valencia. M. Delgado of Valencia displayed some of his fantastic technical abilities when he brought the ball down neatly using his instep before nutmegging the bewildered S. Garcia and smashing an unstoppable shot past the goalkeeper to make it 6 - 2. Confident in their lead, Valencia's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. When G. Idola left the game because of a back injury after 85 minutes, Cigüeñas had to continue a man short due to there being no available replacements. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Valencia, with 77 percent of the ball.

R. Sadler performed admirably for Valencia. M. Delgado was a disappointment, however. Cigüeñas's best player was L. Lamarain. On the other hand, N. Coruxeira's play was disheartening. The match ends 6 - 2.