Thanks for your company. To recap, Valencia went a goal down through Szymanowski but fought back through Nani, controversially, and Suarez. Szymanowski then missed a penalty – or rather, Alves saved – but Valencia were a much slicker proposition after their equaliser. Two wins in a row now for Los Che. The fightback gathers pace! Enjoy the rest of your day.
Full-time: Leganes 1-2 Valencia
That’s it! I think they deserved it, eventually.
90+4 min: Parejo has a chance to make it three, now, but his shot is blocked really well. Kone then breaks, and his cross is knocked down for Luciano ... but it’s cleared from ahead of him. Bakkali will now come on for Valencia in Nani’s stead, and then I fancy that’ll be it.
90+1 min: Leganes apply some pressure with a couple of long throws. Mantovani beats Mangala to flick one in the direction of goal, but it’s smuggled away after a mild panic for Valencia. Three added minutes here. Alberto Martin is booked now. Eight in total, not really been an especially dirty game though.
89 min: Can Leganes conjure one last chance? They’re at arm’s length at the moment. Looks to me as if that penalty miss and that controversial first Valencia goal will be the two moments that tipped the scales here. Nani tries to add some gloss as I speak, drilling just wide.
87 min: Defensive change for Valencia. The big centre-back Aymen Abdennour replaces Rodrigo. No bones about that, they’re shutting this down.
86 min: Serantes claims a Parejo free-kick really well and looks to set his team away. They attack, but Parejo is back outside his own area to dispossess Kone.
84 min: Leganes introduce the Venezuelan forward Machis in place of Marin. Last throw of the dice.
83 min: Kone has a chance there – Leganes aren’t dead yet. Great delivery from the right and the sub flicks it just over ... I think if he was an inch taller he’d have got the right purchase on that. At the other end, Rodrigo forces a fairly regulation save from Serantes with an angled strike.
81 min: Nani earns himself a yellow card – the game’s sixth and Valencia’s fourth – for quite needlessly clipping Ramos, who was going towards his own goal-line, down by the corner flag.
79 min: Medjani wins a header from a free-kick but a Leganes player is caught offside. Mangala, by the way, just entered the shot and I have to say he’s had a pretty convincing game so far.
77 min: Leganes are looking a bit leggy. Leganes. Leggy. But they are, and it’s hard to see them forcing an equaliser at the moment unless Valencia make another mistake.
75 min: Staggering Diego Alves stat just reached my ears. He has saved 49% of penalties he has faced. The new Paul Cooper.
73 min: Then Nani blasts over from 20 yards. Wouldn’t bet against another goal here.
Updated
72 min: Another Alves punch results in a chance. This time he made some purchase, to be fair, but straight to Luciano on the edge of the area and he drills *just* wide of the post.
71 min: Kone can’t keep a reasonable ball in for Leganes, who will soon start to find they are running out of time.
69 min: And another chance, as Gaya flashes the ball across the face of goal when he should probably have hit the target. Valencia now make a chance, bringing Munir on for Cancelo.
68 min: Chance for Valencia on the counter! It’s Parejo, arriving late on edge of the box, who looks to place his shot above Serantes but the ‘keeper flips it over. A corner results, but that’s cleared.
67 min: Luciano and Alves have both been booked after a stand-off at a Valencia free kick.
65 min: Well, perhaps that was Leganes’ big chance. But it also, arguably, told us something about the jitteriness at the heart of Valencia. Leganes look to expose that again by making a change up front – Kone on for Guerrero.
Updated
Saved by Alves!
Justice done? Either way – Alves saves brilliantly and makes amends, diving to his right to fingertip Szymanowski’s spot kick away! That was an excellent save, there wasn’t too much wrong with the kick itself.
Penalty to Leganes!
Well! Szymanowski crosses from the left, it’s headed up into the air, Alves misses his punch and then is adjudged to have dragged Martin down. Looked soft...
Updated
59 min: The home side make a sub – off comes Unai Lopez and in his stead arrives the Brazilian Luciano.
57 min: Leganes have woken up; they’d become passive and Suarez’s goal has been a big jolt in a game they were well in control of until the equaliser. What are Valencia like at hanging onto a lead? They’ve shown some good character here so far and don’t look like a relegation side.
54 min: How does Szymanowski not equalise there? It’s a carbon-copy of the goal he scored ... except it’s not a goal. He steals in again at the far post and it’s actually an easier chance – Montoya is nowhere and there’s no challenge. But he puts his free header high and wide. It really should have been 2-2 immediately.
Updated
Goal! Leganes 1-2 Valencia (Suarez 52)
And Valencia take the lead! Nani takes a corner short and receives it back. He cuts inside, fizzes a low cross in and Suarez, poking out a leg, diverts the ball into the net. What a big goal that could be! Since equalising, they’ve deserved it.
Updated
52 min: Mantovani, who has his hair died in Leganes’ blue and white – think Marc Bircham – is involved in something of a “discussion” with Perez before a home free-kick, which is floated in from deep and cleated.
50 min: And now Nani is down so the ball has been kicked out. Bit of a knock to the face, possibly, as he grapped for a cross but it doesn’t seem to have been much. Like Perez, he’ll be OK.
48 min: Perez is – again – down after being clipped by Timor, with whom he has had running battle at times. He’ll be OK.
47 min: Sweeping early move from Valencia, which results in a Nani cross being cleared by Adrian. I wondered if he might have been better cutting the ball back for an onrushing team-mate there.
Peeeeep! Second half underway!
Can Valencia build on that bit of pre-break momentum?
Half-time: Leganes 1-1 Valencia
And it’s the home side who are probably quite glad to hear the whistle. Valencia, behind to a very good Szymanowski goal, equalised in controversial fashion through Nani and finished the first period well on top. I’ll see you right here again in 15.
44 min: Plenty of replays of the goal going around. And on the super slow-mo I’m inclined to stick with the conclusion that it was a foul by Rodrigo. It’s Rodrigo, now, who nods a right-sided cross down to the penalty spot but without a team-mate on hand.
42 min: A strong Montoya run wins a corner for Valencia. They have dominated since the equaliser. But the cross is very poor and Szymanowski clears.
41 min: Decent delivery from the left by Nani, invigorated now, but just beyond Rodrigo.
39 min: I said “game on”, but of course it might be that we see chess, which is what we largely saw before the goals, from now on. The tempo is certainly up though and Perez, really in the wars today, is fouled by Guerrero – who is yellow carded.
37 min: The backpass was I think from Ramos. Not sure if it was meant for one of the centre-backs or Serantes ... but it put Leganes in a world of difficulty.
Goal! Leganes 1-1 Valencia (Nani 34)
We’ve seen Nani now. Well, that was controversial and the home crowd are not at all happy. But this was avoidable. A poor backpass from midfield – didn’t see who, I’m afraid – sells goalkeeper Serantes short and Rodrigo contests the ball with him. I think Serantes gets there first, although he’d have been penalised for handling a backpass, but the ball squirms loose from Rodrigo’s challenge and breaks for Nani, who takes a touch and calmly beats the defender on the line. I think Valencia may have got a touch lucky there – but maybe, in their position, you need that kind of fortune. Game on!
32 min: Valencia have livened up slightly, it’s fair to say. They’ll have to. Might need to see an attacking change earlier rather than later though – Bakkali and Munir are two good bench options.
29 min: Close there for Valencia, though. Cancelo frees Montoya down the right with a cute ball and the ensuing delivery is not bad either. It’s knocked across from the back stick and both Nani and Rodrigo are close to converting – but Leganes scramble the ball away. They counter and Guerrero shoots straight at Alves from range.
27 min: Szymanowski’s sister Marianela, by the way, plays for Valencia’s women’s team.
25 min: Now Valencia do get their feet on the ball a little bit. But let’s be honest, that little glimmer for Rodrigo apart, they’ve offered nothing going forward yet. Nani, for one, has been invisible.
24 min: Do Valencia have the minerals to come back? The home side’s tails are up, they’re spreading the ball around a bit now and the crowd in this compact stadium are in good voice.
Goal! Leganes 1-0 Valencia (Szymanowski 21)
And what a good goal! Play restarts and, with Mangala still off the pitch, Valencia are caught cold. Ramos checks in from the right and curls in a quite delicious, swirling cross to the back post where Szymanowski, stealing in from the left, heads home emphatically across Alves and into the far corner. Really well-worked – and can Valencia dust themselves down from here?
20 min: Meanwhile, Mangala takes an absolute rap in the face from his own goalkeeper, Alves, who came out to clear. He is down and will definitely need some attention.
19 min: Big thanks to Kari Tulinius for emailing in some information about Voro –
“Voro’s a fascinating figure. This is his fourth stint as Valencia’s caretaker, during which he’s amassed a 77% win percentage without losing a single game, and taken the team to the Copa del Rey title. Admittedly, these four terms as manager only amount to ten games in charge (including today’s), but that’s still a hell of a record for a guy who seems to have absolutely no desire to be a full-time manager. I doubt there are many caretaker managers with more impressive records.”
18 min: It’s cleared by Mario Suarez. A few more signs of life here in the last few minutes though.
17 min: That left side looks the hosts’ favoured outlet and Timor does very well to squeeze a cross back from the byline when the ball seemed to be heading out, but can’t get enough on it. Then Montoya concedes a dangerous free-kick on that same side. He’s booked.
15 min: The first bit of vaguely interesting play, really, as the hosts’ Szymanowski gets away down the left and centres neatly for Guerrero, who stumbles just when you think he might get a shot away. Play goes down the other end and Parejo puts a fine ball in for Rodrigo, who can’t quite judge the ball’s bounce. The visitors win a corner but Gaya’s delivery is poor.
13 min: Leganes try and take a quick throw down the line but it runs out for a goal kick. This is very much early kick-off fare so far.
12 min: Perez, sinned against earlier, now sins by leaving one in on Timor – wonder if there was a reason for that, eh? – and is booked for that act of retribution.
10 min: Now late from Montoya on the home side’s Villarreal loanee, Adrian Marin. Leganes seem quite a high-intensity outfit who are doing their best to disrupt any attempts from Valencia to dominate the ball. Reasonably direct stuff from them so far.
8 min: Full house in the home stadium, I gather, of just under 11,000. Are Leganes the Bournemouth of La Liga. No, really, are they?
Updated
7 min: Perez, after receiving some treatment, has jogged back on. It’s pretty much all that has happened here so far. The atmosphere is mellow.
5 min: Late from Timor, there, on Enzo Perez. He’s down holding his face – it was quite some show as they contested an aerial ball.
4 min: Eliaquim Mangala is playing at the back for Valencia, but I don’t think that’s why they’re doing so badly. He’s just recovered well enough to stop the home forward Guerrero getting the run on him.
2 min: I can squintily tell you that Valencia are enjoying most of the early possession. Send any emails you like during proceedings today, by the way, and I’ll engage. Help a brother out.
Peeeeeep! Away we go!
Valencia in black and orange, the home side in blue and white stripes.
The teams are out! And I’m watching this on a very, very tiny screen – so apologies in advance for any mishaps. It looks like a cracking day in the Madrid outskirts; let’s hope for a game to match. Can Valencia dig themselves a little further out of this almighty mess? Voro has gone slightly defensive in this lineup, it seems to me. Would he be happy with a point?
Buenos días, a estas horas a falta de porras buenos son unos pepinos. Bienvenidos @valenciacf!! #LeganésValencia pic.twitter.com/wOcoUi0U11
— C.D. Leganés (@CDLeganes) September 25, 2016
Legumes from Leganes...
The teams
Leganes: Serantes; Marin, Mantovani, Diaz, Medjani; Omar, Timor, Martin, Szymanowski, Lopez; Guerrero. Subs: Brignoli, Insua, Diego Rico, Sastre, Machis, Kone, Luciano.
Valencia: Alves; Mangala, Montoya, Santos, Cancalo, Gaya; Suarez, Nani, Perez, Parejo; Rodrigo. Subs: Domenech, Siqueira, Abdennour, Medran, Soler, Bakkali, Munir.
Hello
Crisis? What crisis? The tiniest bit of pressure was lifted from the Valencia panic when they squeezed past Alaves – the score 2-1 – on Thursday night. Those were the first points of the season for Los Che after a run that accounted swiftly enough for their latest manager, Pako Ayesteran, with caretaker Voro now holding the rains. It’s almost as if something is systemically terribly wrong with such a huge club.
Another win today would perk things up, although it won’t be easy. Leganes, in their first-ever top-flight season, have started perkily and won 2-1 at Deportivo in midweek. They were hammered by Barcelona in their last home game, but have held Atletico Madrid here and will be confident of bloodying another big-name nose in the lunchtime game today. Can they do it? Come this way...
Nick will be here shortly.
