Valencia 2 - 4 Las Palmas: Las Palmas punish ragged Valencia defence
Posted Tuesday, August 23, 2016 by PA
Las Palmas snatched a shock 4-2 win over Valencia at the Mestalla as they punished their hosts on the break.
Santi Mina struck first for Valencia but Las Palmas stunned their hosts with three goals in the space of quarter of an hour as Marko Livaja, Jonathan Viera and debutant Kevin-Prince Boateng silenced the home fans.
Mina pulled a goal back before half-time but they could not find an equaliser as an often scrappy second half ended with Livaja bagging a second against the run of play.
Valencia coach Pako Ayestaran chose to leave Arsenal target Shkodran Mustafi on the bench but brought him on at half-time after seeing his defence opened up too many times.
Things had begun well enough when Mina capitalised on poor defending from the visitors to head home a sixth-minute corner at the near post.
But Livaja's stooping header in the 16th minute opened the floodgates. Moments later, Joao Cancelo felled Daniel Castellano in the area and Viera made no mistake from the spot - and a superb header from new signing Boateng, finding the top left corner of the net from the penalty spot, made it 3-1 in the 31st minute.
The Las Palmas defence conspired to let Valencia get back into it as Mina scored from a scrappy corner three minutes later, but although they dominated possession their frustrations only grew in the second half, with the game disrupted a number of times as tempers flared.
Nine minutes into the second half, Javi Varas denied Mina a hat-trick when the striker was through on goal, while Paco Alcacer's curling effort from the edge of the area found the top of the crossbar.
But as Valencia piled forward, Las Palmas picked them off in the 88th minute as they poured forward in numbers and Livaja slotted a low shot into the bottom corner of the net.
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