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On Saturday, three matches of the 15th round of the Spanish championship were played. An unexpected result was recorded in La Coruña, where the local team "Deportivo" lost 0-2 to Bilbao "Athletic", meanwhile "Valencia" won the central match of Saturday, defeating "Zaragoza" with a minimal score in an away game.
For the Basque team, who recently replaced their head coach, this was already the second consecutive victory, but only the third in this season. This victory allowed the team led by Spaniard Mane to climb from the bottom of the standings.
Both goals were scored by Javi Martinez, who headed the visitors in front in the 9th minute of the game and secured the victory in extra time. "Deportivo", who lost 4-0 to "Valencia" last week, ended the match with ten players as Juanma received a red card in the 84th minute.
In other matches between neighbors in the standings, "Mallorca" and Santander's "Racing" celebrated victory. Although "Mallorca" took the lead after a goal by Bosko Jankovic in the 17th minute, Ruben, a former Real Madrid player, equalized the score in the middle of the second half, and then another Real Madrid academy graduate, Javier Balboa, scored the winning goal a few minutes before the final whistle.
The last match of Saturday took place in Zaragoza, where the fourth-placed team in the Spanish championship, "Zaragoza", hosted "Valencia", who had a successful start to the season but later experienced an injury crisis. However, in this match, Portugal's national team right-back Miguel returned to the field after injury, although in goal, the young Frenchman Ludovic Butelle stood in for the injured veteran Santiago Cañizares.
However, as it turned out later, the backup Valencia goalkeeper did his job brilliantly, repelling several opponent shots, including chances for former Valencia players Pablo Aimar, Diego Milito, Oscar, and Ewerthon in the Zaragoza team.
"Valencia", who previously had David Navarro score, surged ahead at the end of the first half when the Spaniard Miguel Ángel Angulo scored a fantastic goal from a distance of more than 30 meters.
Although "Zaragoza" had territorial advantage (56-44), they failed to convert it into goals, and "Valencia" even doubled the score in extra time, although the referee did not count Rubén Baraja's goal.
After this victory, "Valencia" temporarily rose to sixth place in the standings, while "Zaragoza" remained in fourth place, but could still be overtaken by Madrid's "Atletico".
Statistics:
La Coruña "Deportivo" 0 - 2 "Athletic Bilbao" 9` [0 - 1] Javi Martinez 90` [0 - 2] Javi Martinez 84` Juanma sent off ("Deportivo") "Mallorca" 1 - 2 "Racing Santander" 17` [1 - 0] Bosko Jankovic 63` [1 - 1] Ruben 88` [1 - 2] Javier Balboa "Zaragoza" 0 - 1 "Valencia" 42` [0 - 1] Miguel Angel Angulo
