Valencia 4 – 2 Deportivo La Coruna

Valencia maintained their spot at the top of the table with another good performance against Depor this week. Things started off a little strangely, when Pablo Alvarez chased a ball down to the endline and sent an innocuous looking cross back, only to see Moretti deflect it past Valencia keeper Renan in the 11th minute. Valencia were able to equalize before the half was out when Mata got on the end of a cross from Joaquin in the 35th minute. It was all Valencia after that, with two goals from Villa (could he be any hotter right now?) and another from Joaquin, except for a bizarre consolation goal by Deportivo five minutes from time. The referee’s assistant raised his flag for offside, but the ref (correctly, it turned out) signaled for play to go on. Unfortunately for Los Che, a number of them had stopped playing at the apparent offside call, resulting in a cakewalk goal for Lafita with everyone around him frozen in place. Of course there was much complaining following the call or lack thereof, with Albelda receiving a yellow card, but it was the right decision despite the awkward way it played out. Never stop playing till the whistle, I guess. No biggie for Valencia, though, as they sit atop the table on goal differential, tied with Villarreal for top honors in La Liga.