Madrid, Dec 2: A deflected shot gave Valencia a 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano in La Liga.
The visitor started the night a point above the relegation zone and ended it one point and one place better off thanks to a second half strike from Diego López.
His strike through a packed penalty box appeared to take a deflection off Nobel Mendy and wrong-foot Rayo keeper Augusto Batalla.
It was an unfortunate moment for Mendy, who had been one of the home side’s top performers in the first half.
The Senegalese defender put Rayo 1-0 up in the 37th minute when his perfectly placed header rounded off a short corner routine.
Rayo dominated much of the game but could not capitalize on its pressure. The point lifted it into ninth, one clear of a four-team pack.
Valencia was 15th but only six points separate Rayo in ninth and Girona in 18th.
In the end, the match closed with a sense of restless tension rather than resolution, a reminder of just how congested and unpredictable this La Liga campaign has become. Rayo Vallecano, sharper for long stretches and seemingly in control after Nobel Mendy’s beautifully guided header, will feel they let two points slip through their fingers. Their movement, their energy, their territorial dominance — all of it suggested a side ready to pull away from the mid-table traffic. Yet football often turns on the slightest deflection, and Valencia’s equaliser, skimming off Mendy and spinning past the helpless Augusto Batalla, proved exactly that. For Valencia, the draw may not have been sculpted from fluid attacking patterns or overwhelming momentum, but it was carved from perseverance. (AP)
