Valencia CF goes to the Copa del Rey final after beating Athletic Bilbal 1-0 at home and will await the result between Real Betis and Rayo Vallecano to see who is the second finalist. Real Betis has an advantage leading up to the match and they are the favorites to go to the final, they are also realistically the stronger team so Valencia CF is cheering that Rayo Vallecano manages to surprise Betis.
We saw Jose Bordalas start with pretty much the same formation from the previous match in the league, with the difference being Jose Luis Gaya starting the match, but as is often the case we force these early recoveries and we end up getting the players injured for worse and longer. Even Lato was available for selection and he was the fitter of the two, but Bordalas risked it and played Gaya, only for it to backfire as Gaya got injured in the 33rd minute and was replaced by Toni Lato.
The other change for the match was Goncalo Guedes for Maxi Gomez and he was the one who scored the only goal in this match, leading to Valencia's victory. Gabriel Paulista was also in the lineup and we have another clean sheet with him in the squad in back to back games!
Valencia CF was contesting the match much more in the first half and trying to get something going, fighting for midfield control and having few chances created on goal. This would pay off in the 43rd minute when Goncalo Guedes scored a goal from a long range effort and gave Valencia CF the lead.
The second half would have Athletic Bilbao controlling the match for long periods of time with Valencia CF mostly sitting back and defending and occasionally hitting on the counter attack. They had several long range efforts, but we were fortunate enough to not concede.
Ultimately its a mixed bag game, some positives, some negatives, Valencia CF falling into their standard play to sit back and defend in the second half, but we were lucky enough to win this time. So yeah, a good result, but there is a lot of work needed to be done.