Valencia 2-0 Atletico Madrid: A chaotic night at La Mestalla sees Atletico fall from the top spot

In a game that saw as main antagonists, the referee’s poor calls, Valencia obtained an important 2-0 victory over Atletico Madrid.
Roberto Soldado steps on the striker of the moment’s forehead, seconds later Soldado asks Radamel Falcao for forgiveness as the Colombian drips in blood. Two minutes later Soldado unleashes a brilliant goal, giving Valencia the early lead.
The almost 48.000 crowd gathered in Mestalla witnessed a midfield battle. The game during the first half was played in the centre half.
Adrian and Arda Turan were unable to provide deadly crosses to Falcao, while Feghouli and Andres Guardado hardly surprised Juanfran and Felipe Luis to give legitimate options to Jonas and the Real Madrid Castilla product.
Soldado’s amazing goal came after a Rami long pass from the defence side. The Spanish international waited and let the ball land on his right foot, which did the rest, leaving Courtouis perplexed.
The latter part of the first half saw Teixeira sending Mauricio Pellegrino, while Diego Simeone asked the referee why he was making that baffling decision.
In the second half, Valencia solidified its 4-4-2 formation, while Atletico de Madrid started to create repetitive approaches on Diego Alves’ goal.
In minute 56, Cholo decided to substitute Emre for Cristian “Cebolla” Rodriguez, who had as task to bother Joao Pereira’s defensive zone.
Arda played behind Falcao, while Adrian carried to the right wing.
Atletico looked for the tie nonstop, and Valencia’s permissiveness almost caused them to lose a victory.
Valencia relied on the counterattack, while Falcao and Cebolla tried to bring down Valencia’s defence. Rami suffered a back injury and was replaced by Victor Ruiz, who got a yellow card in the first 20 seconds he was on the pitch.
Pellegrino’s assistant coach, Carlos Compagnucci, decided to take out Jonas and Soldado for Ever Banega and Nelson Haedo Valdez.
After minute 87, Teixeira took over as he sent off Ricardo Costa after getting his second yellow card, thanks to a minor almost invisible shove on an Atletico player.
Campanucci’s followed Pellegrino and was also sent off by a referee who lost complete control of a match and provoked a yellow card concert.
With a disconcerted Atletico side, Valencia managed a final 2-0, after sensational positioning and predatory instincts from Paraguayan international, Nelson Haedo Valdez.
Atletico de Madrid had a bad game, unable to create set plays and quick one-twos, of which had given the Cholo side a so far superb season. Valencia won an important match but did not convince. Pellegrino’s team needs to define who should compose its centre midfield, while Simeone needs that killer Adriano version to resuscitate now rather than later.