Valencia 3 : 1 Bayer Leverkusen - Quickfire Jonas guides Valencia to victory

Posted Tuesday, November 01, 2011 by PA

Jonas scored the second fastest goal in Champions League history as he set Valencia on their way to a vital 3-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen.

The Brazilian struck a little over 10 seconds into the game, with only Roy Makaay quicker with his goal for Bayern Munich against Real Madrid in March 2007.

While Leverkusen were initially rocked by such a setback they regrouped and levelled through Stefan Kiessling.

However, the hosts scored two unanswered second-half goals through Roberto Soldado and Adil Rami to claim a vital win in Group E, which sees them still in third but just one point behind the Bundesliga side and two behind leaders Chelsea.

Valencia made an ideal start as Jonas took full advantage of an error by Bernd Leno.

The Leverkusen goalkeeper kicked the ball straight at the Brazilian who slotted home his second Champions League goal.

It was a stunning start and Valencia came forward relentlessly.

It took the Bundesliga side a quarter of an hour to launch a meaningful attack, forcing a corner from which Diego Alves beat out Omer Toprak's header from the six-yard box.

Leverkusen started to come more into the game and their hosts were forced into a change midway through the half when Ever Banega was carried off on a stretcher to be replaced by Tino Costa after a challenge by Michael Ballack.

Sidney Sam's shot was parried by Alves before Leverkusen's pressure paid off when they drew level after 31 minutes through Kiessling.

Ballack, who had shortly before been booked as he tried to win a penalty, sent in a left-wing cross which Kiessling guided past Alves.

Andre Schurrle then unleashed a shot from 25 yards which Alves tipped over as the German side ended the first half in the ascendancy with Ballack influential.

The game restarted with the same attacking intent from both sides, Soldado shooting over before Schurrle went past his marker in the area but shot wide.

And it was Soldado who scored as Los Che regained the lead midway through the second half. Jeremy Mathieu provided the assist for the striker, who flicked the ball past Leno from close range.

Soon after Schurrle thought he had equalised after he slotted home but he was ruled offside and minutes later Valencia took a 3-1 lead.

Costa sent in a corner which the defender Rami headed home for his first Champions League goal.