Girona sees out season at home with 1-0 loss

A goal by Luciano Vietto in the 61st minute decided the clash between Valencia and home team Girona at Montilivi Municipal Stadium, which marked the end of First Division soccer here for this historic season, the local club's first among the elite of Spanish soccer.

With the idea of taking advantage of the visit of a prestigious rival, which next season will compete in the Champions League, and spurred by its fans, Pablo Machin's team leaped on the field and decided to go on the offensive on Saturday, reports Efe.

And so they did in the first stage of the duel until Valencia commenced its comeback spearheaded by Goncalo Guedes, Carlos Soler and the young Ferran Torres, the most active of Marcelino Garcia Toral's players, and the two squads began to alternate possession of the ball and penetration each other's areas.

The best chance in the first half came at minute 37 when neither the skillful Borja Garcia nor Cristhian Stuani, the top scorer on the Girona side, were able to get anything past Valencia keeper Jaume Domenech, despite the many opportunities in their favour.

The only score came one hour and one minute into the game. After Carlos Soler and Goncalo Guedes got the Moroccan keeper on his toes with two shots from outside the area, Luciano Vietto wrapped it all up by driving in from midfield for a fine full frontal shot to put the 1-0 score on Montilivi's electronic scoreboard.

Despite the blow, Pablo Machin's team, which has only scored five of the last 27 points in the games it has played and has suffered five consecutive defeats, made a quick and promising comeback and forced Jaume Domenech to make a couple of brilliant saves to keep Cristhian Stuani and Juanpe from tying up the match.

And so it ended, 1-0 in favor of the visitors from Valencia.

--IANS

kk/mr