Valencia managed to break their drought at home and stay alive in the fight for permanence after achieving a comfortable victory in their visit to Elche, chronic bottom of the competition, which accelerates its fall towards the Second Division.
Rubén Baraja's team needed very little to completely undress the bottom team, who signed one of the worst collective performances of the course and who his new coach, the Argentine Sebastián Beccacece, has not managed to straighten out.
Elche had a better staging than its rival, too stressed by its critical situation in the table.
The bottom club took the initiative and bottled up Valencia with strong pressure and several lateral crosses, although the visitor's response could not have been more forceful on the first occasion in which he was able to shake off control.
Nico, after a corner kick, headed the ball to the crossbar and Diakhaby was unable to turn the rebound into a goal after a good save by Badía.
After a few minutes of low tension, caused by the injury of Pere Bigas, who left the field on a stretcher after an action with Musah, Valencia found the goal in the simplest possible way.
A ball hit the center of the field was prolonged by Cavani's head so that Lino, without opposition from the defense, faced Badía through the center to beat him on his way out.
Seconds later, Musah again exposed the Elche defense with an action from the baseline, but his back pass found no teammate to push the ball into the net.
The goal reassured Valencia, who needed very little to show all the bottom team's defensive shortcomings.
Elche assumed command of the game against a retracted Valencia, who again touched the goal after a shot from Cenk that the Elche team's goalkeeper kicked out.
The local team was proud to try to level the game, but shortly before the break, Valencia doubled their advantage after a cross from Gayá that Gonzalo Verdú, in his attempt to get ahead of Cavani, sent into the net.
The second goal definitively sank Elche and unleashed the indignation of the Elche fans, who for the first time in months scolded their players for the game they displayed on their way to the locker room.
The local team tried to improve their image in the first minutes of the second half, in which they approached the Valencian area, although without generating a single dangerous opportunity.
Baraja's team, withdrawn, appealed to tactical rigor so as not to get into trouble against an opponent without game or heart that Beccacece tried to awaken without much success with the changes.
The game was consumed without anything interesting happening near the areas due to the sheer impotence of Elche and the conformism of Valencia, full of homegrown players in the last minutes, who managed to save a critical situation and recover their self-esteem while waiting for more battles. demanding.
0 - Elche: Edgar Badia; Gonzalo Verdú (Roco, min. 46), Mascarell, Bigas (Lautaro Blanco, min. 17); Tete Morente (Josan, min. 78), John, Guti (Collado, min. 64), Fidel, Clerc; Pere Milla (Nico Fernández, min. 64) and Lucas Boyé.
2 - Valencia: Mamardashvili; Paulista, Diakhaby (Comert, min. 90), Cenk; Foulquier, Nico (Javi Guerra, min. 46), Musah (Diego López, min. 79), Almeida, Gayá; Lino (Lato, min. 76) and Cavani (Marí, min. 76).
Referee: Cuadra Fernández (Madrileño). He admonished Musha for Valencia and John, Roco and Clerc for Elche.
Goals: 0-1, min. 18: Linen. 0-2 min. 42: Gonzalo Verdú, own goal.
Incidents: Match corresponding to the thirtieth day of the Santander League played at the Martínez Valero de Elche stadium before 22,129 spectators. In the run-up to the match, a minute's silence was observed for the death of José Sepulcre Fuentes, former president of Elche and father of the former president, José Sepulcre Coves.
Check here the classification and all the results of the day of the Santander League
