The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 30680 had shown up at
Mestalla for the match.
Björn Ångsten was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Linus Wymann and
Faustinus Aufinger.
A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Valencia.
They fielded: Zanjani - Nanev, Radev, Pistono - Mãrculescu, Damian, Wojciechowski, Dubajić, Karakul - Hradovský, Viitama.
FCBlueAngels tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination.
Lineup: Dimitrov - Grigorescu, Ben-Baruch, Botto - Pander, Brito Pinto, Sensale, Dunbar - Idiolo, Joniņš, Koynarski.
FCBlueAngels seemed to prefer attacking in the middle.
After 5 minutes, Valencia's
G. Mãrculescu swiftly ran past
F. Brito Pinto and nutmegged the keeper! 1 - 0.
With 15 minutes played, Valencia's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to
D. Damian he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 2 - 0.
After 17 minutes,
Ł. Wojciechowski put Valencia ahead 3 - 0 when he rose to head in a cross from the right wing.
FCBlueAngels certainly deserved a goal after some stunning play down the left, but
V. Joniņš just wasn't able to finish.
3 - 0 was the halftime score.
Valencia claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 57 percent.
Valencia's
Ł. Wojciechowski increased the lead to 4 - 0, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 52 minutes.
The Valencia free kick 54 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But was this actually a plan? The ball landed at the feet of
B. Hradovský, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 5 - 0!
Confident in their lead, Valencia's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it.
After 69 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by
B. Hradovský might have resulted in another goal for Valencia. However,
V. Dimitrov made a spectacular save.
Valencia's
B. Hradovský was shown a yellow card after 74 minutes for slicing down an opponent.
Ł. Wojciechowski increased the lead for Valencia to 6 - 0, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it!
At that,
Ł. Wojciechowski was noted down for a hat trick!
There was concern in the stands when, at the 80 minute mark, FCBlueAngels's
G. Sensale hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch.
B. Hradovský hit the corner kick straight to the keeper, but it was mishandled, giving Valencia's
D. Nanev an easy chance to knock it in for 7 - 0.
FCBlueAngels had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle attacks.
82 minutes in,
J. Idiolo made an incredible run up the middle and nearly reduced the home side's lead, but
B. Zanjani refused to let the ball slip by him.
With 83 minutes showing on the scoreboard clock, FCBlueAngels showed some good skill and were able to reduce the score to 7 - 1 when
J. Idiolo got past the home side's central defenders right in front of the goal.
Valencia enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 56 percent of possession.
Valencia's top performer was clearly
G. Mãrculescu.
B. Zanjani turned in a dismal performance, however.
F. Brito Pinto performed admirably for FCBlueAngels.
However,
J. Dunbar made a disastrous appearance.
The match ends 7 - 1.