Valencia scrape past Sociedad

At Mestalla, Valencia put in a hard-working performance to defeat third place Real Sociedad, now just a point ahead of Atletico. Igor Zubeldia's own goal split the teams, the defender turning into his own net as he tried to cut out a Samuel Lino cross five minutes before the break.

Valencia were awarded a penalty early in the second half when Hugo Duro went down but it was cancelled after VAR intervention showed no foul was committed. Real Sociedad piled on the pressure but Valencia came closest to scoring when Lino hit the woodwork. Baraja's side scrapped their way to the full-time whistle and only a sixth win from 23 league games.

It was Valencia's first victory in nine league games, with their bad form seeing coach Gennaro Gattuso sacked at the end of January. Voro took over for the sixth time in Peter Lim's reign as owner but was replaced by former Valencia great Baraja, who secured a win in his second game in charge, after a defeat by Getafe last weekend.

Cadiz earned a 1-0 win over sixth-place Rayo Vallecano to climb into mid-table, while Martin Braithwaite netted twice for Espanyol to beat Real Mallorca 2-1.

February 25, 2023