First Division - Day 22

Valencia 0 - Sporting Gijón 1

Valencia: Mat Ryan; Barragán, Mustafi, Abdennour, Gayà; Danilo Barbosa (Dani Parejo 51‘), Enzo Pérez (Rodrigo 72‘), André Gomes; Feghouli, Negredo, Piatti (Bakkali 51’). 4-3-3.
Sporting: Cuéllar; Vranjes, Luis Hernández, Jorge Meré, Isma López; Rachid, Sergio Alvarez; Carmona, Dani Ndi (Halilovic 77’), Jony (Alex Menéndez 87‘); Sanabria (Omar Mascarell 84‘). 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
0-1. 50. Sanabria (penalty). After Danilo tripped Jony inside the area.

Yellow cards: Luis Hernández 58’, Vranjes 70’.

Sporting Gijón are out of the bottom three after they won 0-1 against Valencia in the Mestalla stadium. Gary Neville’s side had not won in ten league games, but they had at least qualified for the cup-semi-finals, and they had all the play in a one-sided first half. However Negredo brought a couple of good saves out of Cuéllar, and Feghouli, Piatti and Abdennour also failed to convert opportunities before the break. Up to then Sporting’s only effort was a long shot wide by Isma López, but some five minutes in to the second half Sanabria put them ahead from the penalty spot after Danilo tripped Jony in the area. After that the Ches tried their best, Negredo in particular heading against the post and then missing three or four clear chances, but it was just not his night. A first home defeat for the locals since November 2014, and Neville had no words to explain what had happened.