Zaza strikes again as Valencia triumph

MADRID: Simone Zaza added to his scoring streak with a late goal that gave unbeaten Valencia a 3-2 win at Real Sociedad in a thrilling La Liga match on Sunday.

Zaza’s fourth goal in his last two games came with a left-footed shot from the middle of the area in the 85th minute at Anoeta Stadium, sealing the victory after Valencia had twice relinquished the lead whilst both sides were also reduced to 10 men in the second-half.

The Italian forward was coming off a hat trick in the 5-0 rout of Malaga on Tuesday.

Valencia’s second consecutive victory moved them to fourth place, six points behind leaders Barcelona, who defeated Girona 3-0 Saturday to stay with a perfect record after six matches.

Rodrigo’s early tap in was cancelled out by Aritz Elustondo’s header before half-time. Nacho Vidal put Valencia back in front but Sociedad, who have now lost three games in a week, battled back through Mikel Oyarzabal’s fine finish.

Sociedad’s Igor Zubeldia and Valencia’s Geoffrey Kondogbia both then saw red for second bookable offences to set up a grandstand finish.

“It was a spectacular match, both teams took risks and went for the victory,” Valencia coach Marcelino said.

“It’s not easy to come to San Sebastian and win, Valencia hadn’t done it in seven years.”

Marcelino pulled a thigh muscle while celebrating Zaza’s winner and finished the match limping.

“I’m older, I need to control myself in certain situations,” the 52-year-old Marcelino said. “When it’s the coach getting injured, it’s not a problem.”

In total 20 goals were scored in five La Liga games on Sunday as Espanyol, Getafe and Celta Vigo also celebrated big wins.

Deportivo la Coruna boss Pepe Mel faced calls to resign as the Galicians lost 4-1 at Espanyol to slip into the relegation zone.

Villarreal’s disappointing start to the season also continued as they were blown away after the break in losing 4-0 at Getafe.

Celta thrashed Eibar 4-0 to ease the pressure of former Barcelona assistant coach Eusebio Unzue.

And Leganes are up to sixth thanks to a 2-0 win at Las Palmas.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2017