Zaza strikes again in Valencia victory

Sep 24, 2017 - 11:43 PM Simone Zaza added to his scoring streak with a late goal that gave unbeaten Valencia a 3-2 win at Real Sociedad in a thrilling Spanish league match.

Zaza's fourth goal in his last two games came with a left-footed shot from the middle of the area in the 85th minute at Anoeta Stadium on Sunday, sealing the victory after Valencia had twice relinquished the lead.

The Italian forward was coming off a hat trick in the 5-0 rout of Malaga last round.

Valencia's second consecutive victory moved them to fourth place, six points behind leader Barcelona, which defeated Girona 3-0 Saturday to stay with a perfect record after six matches.

Barcelona has a four-point advantage over Atletico Madrid, which defeated Sevilla 2-0 Saturday for its third straight victory. Sevilla stayed third, five points back, despite having its four-game winning streak halted.

Real Madrid rebounded from a home loss to Real Betis with a 2-1 win at last-place Alaves. Madrd is fifth, seven points behind Barcelona.

Real Sociedad won its first four league games but lost its last two, dropping to eighth.

Sociedad equalized with Aritz Elustondo's goal seven minutes after Valencia took the lead through Rodrigo in the first half. The hosts evened the match again with Mikel Oyarzabal scoring four minutes after Nacho Vidal had put Valencia ahead in the second half.

Both teams ended with 10 men because of red cards - Real Sociedad's Igor Zubeldia in the 69th and Valencia's Geoffrey Kondogbia in the 80th.

"It was a spectacular match, both teams took risks and went for the victory," Valencia coach Marcelino said.

"It's not easy to come to San Sebastian and win, Valencia hadn't done it in seven years."

Marcelino pulled a thigh muscle while celebrating Zaza's winner and finished the match limping.

"I'm older, I need to control myself in certain situations," the 52-year-old Marcelino said.

In other matches, Espanyol beat Deportivo La Coruna 4-1 for its second win in the Spanish league after a poor start to the season.

Leganes won 2-0 at Las Palmas to halt a three-game winless run and move closer to the top.

Getafe scored three goals early in the second half to rout Villarreal 4-0 and win its first home game of the season.

Celta Vigo scored twice in each half to earn a comfortable 4-0 win at Eibar, snapping a two-game winless streak and moving further away from the bottom of the table.

It was the fourth defeat for Eibar, which was coming off a 6-1 rout to Barcelona.

Source: AAP