Valencia 2-1 Girona: Primera Division Match Report

Valencia 2-1 Girona was goalless at half-time and produced all three of its goals in the second period, which finished 2-1 to the home side. A single-goal win between two clubs a point apart, in the part of the La Liga table where a point apart was the difference between two very different summers.

Girona were 13th on 38 points from 32 matches with a goal difference of -13; Valencia were 14th on 36 with -12. Beneath them, Elche and Mallorca were on 35, Sevilla on 34, Alavés on 33, Levante on 32 and Real Oviedo on 28. Seven clubs inside ten points with six rounds to play, three of them going down and none of them yet safe.

Valencia arrived with one win in five — 2-0 at Sevilla — alongside 0-1 at Real Oviedo, 2-3 at home to Celta, 0-1 at Elche and 1-1 at Mallorca. Two of those defeats had come against sides below them. Girona's five were better on paper: 3-0 over Athletic, 1-0 against Villarreal, 1-1 at Real Madrid, with a 0-1 at Osasuna and a 2-3 at home to Betis. They had also won the reverse fixture 2-1 in October, which this exactly reversed.

Valencia moved to 39 points and a goal difference of -11, jumping above Girona and opening a six-point gap on the relegation places rather than the three they had held. In a cluster this tight, beating the team directly above you is worth more than any other three points available, because it moves both ends of the comparison at once.

Girona stayed on 38 with the difference falling to -14 — among the worst in that group, which in a division that separates level teams on the head-to-head and then on goal difference is a genuine liability. A second consecutive defeat by a single goal, and a five-point cushion over the drop that had been comfortable in March and was not now.

Our pre-match call was Valencia Win or Draw at 1.50. It came in, and the double chance was the right instrument for a fixture between clubs a point apart. A straight Valencia win would have paid considerably more and carried real risk — they had lost twice to sides below them in the previous five and had won once. Taking the draw as insurance in a relegation six-pointer, where the home side needs a result and the visitors are protecting a narrow advantage, is the conservative play and it was correctly conservative here. Verdict: won