valencia cf winger joaquín sánchez underlined the importance of the group c showdown with rangers fc as he urged his out-of-sorts team-mates to recapture their lost spark.
tuesday's uefa champions league encounter between valencia cf and rangers fc will "be like a final" for the spanish liga side, according to winger joaquín.
although they are separated by just one point in group c, the teams go into the game in contrasting form. with 12 wins and three draws, rangers are unbeaten this season while valencia – defeated at home by manchester united fc on matchday 2 – have won just twice in their last six games, including saturday's 1-1 home draw with real zaragoza.
it was only a few weeks ago, however, that valencia topped the liga table, so the 29-year-old joaquín is calling on his team-mates "to get back to how we were playing and to get the joy back in our game". it should help that the no7 is available again after spending most of october sidelined with an ankle injury, missing the last two uefa champions league fixtures.
the former real betis balompié and spain winger said: "we must show maturity as a team and start doing the things we know we can. you could say we've lost a little bit of bite from our game – we've got a lot of young players and maybe we're committing too many errors right now."
another concern for unai emery's side are the visitors from scotland – who will be accompanied by 3,000 supporters – especially given the threat they faced in the clubs' meeting in glasgow on 20 october. "we have to be careful in every aspect of the game," joaquín warned. "at ibrox they showed that they are a hard-working team who are well-organised defensively yet also very dangerous on the break. this game is exceptionally important for us and we really cannot afford any slip-ups."
ominously, valencia have failed to win their last three home matches in european competition – against manchester united this season and twice in the uefa europa league last term. hence the need to get the mestalla crowd back on side with a clinical display against the scottish titleholders. "we're only thinking about winning, that's the only mentality we have at the moment," joaquín said. "we know that by getting all three points our fans will leave the stadium happy."
roberto soldado struck a goal in either half with either foot as the spanish side leapfrogged their opponents into second place in group c.
two goals from roberto soldado set valencia cf on course for a 3-0 victory over rangers fc as the spanish side leapfrogged their opponents into second place in group c.
the striker took his tally to three uefa champions league strikes this season with an effort in either half, scoring with both feet. only the brilliance of rangers goalkeeper allan mcgregor kept the visitors in touch at times, though steven naismith was twice denied by the upright. substitute tino costa wrapped up the win in added time to send valencia two points above rangers.
the scottish side varied between 4-1-4-1 and 5-4-1 yet their play was attacking enough that, added to the hosts' patent intentions to flood forward incessantly, the game opened with thrills and never dulled. juan mata's early volley at the back post gave a sign of things to come as mcgregor saved well.
it was imperative that naismith augmented his harrying in midfield with support for lone striker kenny miller, and in the eighth minute he did just that. turning david navarro on the left touchline he sprinted forty metres, cut inside david albelda and crashed a shot which, but for a fingertip from césar sánchez, could have hit the net rather than the far post.
yet valencia were dominant. joaquín slid a pass for aritz aduriz to reach the byline, cut the ball back for mata only for mcgregor save brilliantly. it was all smooth, silky stuff; in contrast to the coarse action that pre-empted soldado's opener on 33 minutes. mcgregor came to punch a corner, met a tangle of players and as the ball scuffed off madjid bougherra's back the striker squeezed the ball in with his left foot.
rangers clawed their way back into the match in the second period – more through valencia's pursuit of a second goal than any greater endeavour from walter smith's team. it brought more thrilling stuff from mcgregor and mata headed wide, while at the other end the indefatigable naismith stole possession to give miller a firm shot on goal which césar dealt with.
then, with 19 minutes remaining, soldado sealed it. nipping past saša papac on the right, he played a precise one-two with mata and powered his right foot shot under mcgregor's dive. naismith's late header off the post only hinted at what might have been for rangers before costa volleyed home.
yardımcı hakemler: thorsten schiffner (ger), mark borsch (ger)
4. hakem: günter perl (ger)
çizgi hakemleri: peter sippel (ger), marc seemann (ger)
valencia: césar sánchez (gk), david navarro (c), david albelda, joaquín (dk. 85 pablo hernández), roberto soldado (dk. 78 manuel fernandes), juan mata, aritz aduriz, ricardo costa, éver banega (dk. 70 tino costa), jérémy mathieu, miguel
yedekler: miguel ángel moyà (gk), bruno saltor, mehmet topal, jordi alba
teknik direktör: unai emery (esp)
rangers: allan mcgregor (gk), david weir (c), kirk broadfoot, saša papac, lee mcculloch, maurice edu (dk. 84 kyle lafferty), steven davis, kenny miller, steven naismith, steven whittaker, madjid bougherra
yedekler: neil alexander (gk), john fleck, richard foster, andrew little, gregg wylde, kyle hutton
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