VALENCIA VILLARREAL | Guedes 'silences' the VAR

Football is capricious and the Mestalla derby will make people talk. What the VAR had given Villarreal in the form of a penalty, the VAR took away with the same punishment. And in the last gasp of the derby, Gonçalo Guedes, whom Gracia had pardoned minutes before, finished off the yellows. Valencia won the victory basically because of the faith that their team had until the end, thanks to the goals Carlos Soler (86 ’) and the Portuguese (91’). Now they are moving away from the descent. Valencia's third consecutive victory at home. Quite the opposite of Villarreal, who added his fifth defeat in the league and have gone eight games without winning. The Champions League has already left him and now he also sees the Europa League in danger.

It seemed that for this Valencia what could go wrong, would come out worse, which had the fate of the unfortunate. Because those of Gracia had the derby relatively under control, certainly more than those of Unai. With Álex Blanco and Wass prevailing over Foyth and Estupiñán and without news from Gerard Moreno and even less from Alcácer. The only buts that could put the ches on their evening were the cards that Racic and Soler saw at the first foul they committed, which conditioned them in their confrontation with Parejo and Capoue and that will leave them out of the derby against Levante. Even those yellows could be interpreted as a symptom of momentum, that which he lacked in Getafe, a wanting to bite Villarreal even though in those actions they went under braking.

But suddenly Racic was lying down. The Serbian felt dizzy and as he recently suffered from vertigo, he stayed a while in the band to see if he improved. It was barely a minute and a little. But what a minute and little. Gerard Moreno, a smart guy, opened his left wing because he sensed, as it was, that Wass without Racic would have gone to cover the center and his side would be free. That's how it went. This is where a center arrived that became a double occasion, with Gayà and Gabriel Paulista avoiding the goal under the sticks. Racic returned to the pitch, Valencia seemed to be breathing again … but from the VAR room, Gil Manzano, whose appointment had curiously generated suspicion for Vila-real, asked for the time. At the beginning of the occasion, in a first shot by Gerard Moreno with a header, the ball hit Gayà's arm, who was on his back. Estrada Fernández went to see the play on the screen and it ended with Gerard Moreno's 15th goal. With the regulations in hand, a modern football penalty (although the images seen on the broadcast do not make it clear where Gayà gave the ball the ball on his arm); for the health of football as always, that they review certain rules.

Valencia came to rest from behind on the scoreboard. Without deserving it, yes; but also even thanking that his disadvantage was only one goal, because Alcácer was close to the second in the last gasp of the first half. But Emery, evidently, knew that beyond the goal, his Villarreal was not prevailing. So during the passage through the changing rooms he made two changes. Trigueros and Pedraza entered the scene and with them went from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3. Grace took a little longer to shake her tree, although it is true that less than usual. In his case, pardoning Guedes, who had not played since Real Madrid (that day is not that he did either), and entering Gameiro for Kang-in Lee, going on to play with two forwards.

Al Valencia, unlike other times, the emotional blow of the 0-1 did not take him out of the game. Those of Gracia continued to believe in their options. They did it to the end. But Villarreal no longer felt so much siege. With Trigueros, his outings were more fluid and in fact Cillessen ended up being more decisive than Asenjo, who was in real danger until Carlos Soler's penalty goal only felt it in a shot from Wass to the crossbar and in another from Gayà that was touching the stick. The Dutchman, meanwhile, took out shots from Gerard, Trigueros and Bacca under the sticks.

Villarreal already counted the minutes to leave their clean sheet again, they had just over five more to the game plus the added one, and thus take 56 days later a victory at the serve. But Moi miscalculated, Maxi was rogue and Gil Manzano asked again for the time. Estrada went to review the play again and it ended with Carlos Soler's seventh goal. And when it seemed that this is how the derby would end, with a distribution of points and controversies from the VAR, Guedes appeared, who demonstrated that class that he has and that is so rarely seen.