Valencia Vs. Malaga: 4-3 Full Time, Unai Emery’s Subs Pay Off

In a wild, back and forth match, Malaga almost managed an incredible away draw against Valencia before Aritz Aduriz snatched it away from them, despite having two men sent off and playing with at least a one man disadvantage for more than 75 minutes of the game. The final goal from Aduriz, a tap in from the center of the box, was a heartbreaker for a Malaga side that fought hard enough to earn a point.

Malaga opened the scoring in the first half with a Rondon goal, but they quickly gave away that lead when Martin Demichelis gave away a penalty and got sent off. Juan Mata converted the spot kick to make the score 1-1. Valencia looked well on their way to three points, but Rondon added a second goal before halftime to make the score 2-1, assisted by Apono on a brilliant free kick.

Unai Emery brought on Ever Banega and Roberto Soldado at halftime, and those substitutes paid off. Soldado found the equalizer in the 53rd minute and Banega found the go-ahead goal in the 67th minute, making it 3-2 to Valencia.

Banega’s goal came two minutes after Helder Rosario was sent off for Malaga, taking them down to nine men. Recent signing Julio Baptista was unwilling to accept defeat at this point, though, and scored to tie the score at 3-3. His equalizer was scored on a brilliant individual effort on the 79th minute, assisted by substitute Recio.

The result was not to stand, though, as Aduriz broke Malaga’s hearts in the dying minutes, tapping in a goal from close range to make the score 4-3. Manuel Pellegrini will be left wondering what he can possibly do, as his tactics were spot on before Demichelis was sent off and he had his team in the match all the way, despite their disadvantage.