Munir El Haddadi’s header five minutes from time salvaged a point for Valencia and denied Sporting Gijon a valuable three points at Mestalla.
Duje Cop had given the Asturians the lead on the hour mark, five minutes after Dani Parejo saw his spot kick saved by Ivan Cuellar and it looked like that would be enough for Sporting to earn a surprise win, but the former Barcelona man headed in from Joao Cancelo’s cross to level proceedings.
Cop had given the visitors the advantage after finishing decisively from a well-worked counter-attack to set up a final half hour of Los Che dominance, which finally paid off.
Valencia stay 13th while Sporting missed the chance to leapfrog Granada into 18th, and are now seven points from safety with eleven fixtures remaining.
