Valencia player ratings: effort goes unrewarded at Mestalla | OneFootball

Valencia’s spirited display at Mestalla ultimately brought no reward against Real Sociedad, though several individual performances stood out.

As reported by AS, Dimitrievski was shaky early but made two first-half stops, later he might have done more for Real Sociedad’s third. Maffeo was busy yet out of sync with Ugrinic, improving once Otorbi provided cover. De Haas impressed on his Mestalla return, cutting out danger and offering threat in attack.

Pepelu continued to grow as a centre-back, handling a difficult assignment. Gayà initially struggled against Ochieng on his flank, then excelled defensively and departed to warm applause. Guido Rodríguez set the tempo, shoring up the side despite a fitness concern, and got through 70 minutes.

Mayol went from quiet to commanding, smashing in an equaliser and later creating Valencia’s second. Javi Guerra floated behind the striker, tried his luck from range without precision and conceded the penalty on Herrera that Carlos Soler converted. Danjuma carried much of the attacking load but chose poorly too often, while Hugo Duro worked hard without a clear sight of goal.

Introduced at half-time, Otorbi changed the game’s rhythm and came close to scoring. Aimar arrived late yet proved decisive, sparking the move for Valencia’s second and nearly equalising with a stoppage-time header. Elliott lacked sharpness, while Jesús Vázquez and Rioja had too little time to influence proceedings.

Source: AS

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”