VALENCIA CUP | A practical Valencia and another round

Valencia played in Mallorca against Atlético Baleares and against itself, against illusion and against anxiety. He won both. The game had the trap of the big one in the boy’s house and with the addition of the schedule. But Bordalás taught his team well. The goal that gave him the victory came after 40 seconds and that means that the black and white entered the game plugged in. Marcos Andre He was the protagonist and opportunist, converting the doubts of the Balearic defense into a goal in a divided ball. The Brazilian believed in that action and his quality did the rest.

Atlético Baleares recovered from the blow received. In the end, he had nothing to lose. But Bordalás had worked the game well. The strengths of Xavier Calm’s team are in the mid lane and the second plays influence these unequal duels a priori. That is why Bordalás accumulated people in the middle. It was a practical Valencia, who played with three central defenders (Mosquera, Diakhaby and Alderete) and two lanes (Gayà and Yunus Musah). Purists will rightly say that Valencia should offer more when they have the ball at their feet. But in that window they should not look for Bordalás. At least not while scoring goals as there are hoaxes on social networks and less in a game in which only one thing mattered: getting through the round.

Xavi Calm’s men kept the faith until the end. The result, short, invited them to it. But Jaume, in truth, had more tension than danger. The black and white defense only conceded one corner in 90 minutes and the side crosses of the locals were counted on the fingers of one hand. The best Balearic occasion was Vinicius Tanque in the 75th minute and he didn’t even finish off the goal. Valencia, yes, was an empty team in attack in the second half.

But between fouls (34) and few passing errors, Valencia had the ‘giant killer’ relatively under control of this Cup. His elimination does not detract one iota from his good work in this edition, in which he eliminated Celta and Getafe. Bordalás, who was agile with the changes, adding skill to his team with Foulquier, quality with Guedes and freshness with Lato and Guerra, put Valencia in the quarterfinals, one more reason to reinforce the squad. Over there, for the Cup, Europe is four games away. Still very far, but closer than the League.