Real Madrid’s run of 22 straight victories came to an end on Sunday as Valencia emerged with a famous 2-1 win at Mestalla.
Sergio Ramos was a doubt heading into the encounter at Mestalla, but he kept his place at centre-back, despite playing through the pain barrier in last month’s Club World Cup final. Elsewhere, Isco was preferred to Asier Illarramendi in central midfield, while the ‘BBC’ of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo all started in attack. Valencia, meanwhile, handed a debut to €25m new boy Enzo Perez.
Purists were in store for a heated affair after just 10 minutes, when Pablo Orban scythed Gareth Bale down to the ground. The defender was then a repeat offender, this time handballing in the box to gift Ronaldo the opportunity to send Diego Alves the wrong way from 12 yards out.
Yellow cards became the name of the game directly after Ronaldo’s spotkick, with Ramos fortunate to stay on the pitch. First, the defender deliberately touched a loose ball with his hand, before escaping with a mere talking-to from the referee after a heavy knee into the side of Alvaro Negredo.
Valencia then incurred three more bookings, the first of which came in acrimonious circumstances. Pablo Piatti was forced off with a suspected pulled hamstring, leaving Jose Gaya to come on as his replacement without permission, despite the fourth official displaying the full-back’s number.
Jesus Gil was in frequent action, with further yellows showed to Enzo Perez and Paco Alcacer. Nonetheless, Los Che squandered a great opportunity to equalise through Antonio Barragan, who ventured into the box and curled a shot goalbound, were it not for an important block from Pepe.
The hosts continued to plug away, and deep in first-half injury time, shortly after an initial saved attempt, Andre Gomes tried his luck for a second time from distance, and a huge deflection took the midfielder's effort onto the post, with Iker Casillas stranded in no-man's land.
The Portuguese clearly had his shooting boots on as he prepared himself for another attempt at goal, this time hitting the ball on the half-volley just wide of the post from the edge of the box, but Valencia’s dominance was promptly rewarded.
Gaya’s surge in-field from the left-hand side allowed him to pick out Antonio Barragan, who saw his low strike bounce off Pepe’s foot and fly past a wrong-footed Iker Casillas. However, the right-back then fluffed a golden opportunity to put his team out of sight just minutes later.
For all of Madrid’s attacking prowess, the BBC were surprisingly subdued. Bale came closest out of the trio, dashing in behind the Valencia defence from a quick free kick, but Nicolas Otamendi made a last-gasp intervention to deny the Welshman from pulling the trigger in the box.
The Argentine then confirmed his status as Los Che’s hero not long later, jumping highest to meet Dani Parejo’s corner and guide the ball past Casillas to leave Madrid’s record-breaking streak in jeopardy. Diego Alves soon followed up with a fine stop to tip over Ramos’ header.
Madrid predictably threw the kitchen sink at Valencia in the closing stages, Otamendi continuing to break the visitors’ hearts with a goalline clearance on Isco’s back-post header, but it wasn’t enough as the final whistle sent Mestalla into raptures.
Valencia 2-1 Real Madrid
Ronaldo pen 14 (R), Barragan 52, Otamendi 66 (V)
Valencia: Alves; Barragan (Feghouli 73), Mustafi, Otamendi, Orban, Piatti (Gaya, 23); Parejo, Gomes, Perez; Negredo (Rodrigo 80), Alcacer
Real Madrid: Casillas; Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo; Kroos, Isco, James (Khedira 71); Bale (Jese 71), Benzema (Chicharito 80), Ronaldo
Referee: Jesus Gil
