Valencia miss chance to close gap with Barcelona

Bengaluru, December 4: Valencia suffered the first defeat of the Spanish La Liga season after going down 0-1 at 10-man Getafe as they wasted the chance to close the gap with leaders Barcelona.

Valencia squandered the opportunity to profit from Barcelona's 2-2 draw at home to Celta Vigo. They remain in second place, five points behind the La Liga leaders, who have 36 after 14 games.

Marcelino's side are only one point ahead of Atletico Madrid in third and three above Real Madrid, who were held goalless by Athletic Club, and Sevilla who are fourth and fifth respectively.

Las Palmas' much-needed win sees them move to within two points of safety! ⬆️💪#LaLigaSantander pic.twitter.com/c5ukjDKts8

— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) December 3, 2017

Getafe, who played more than 65 minutes with just 10 men, had a goal correctly ruled out for offside in the first half when Mauro Arambarri's distance shot was turned in by team mate Amath Ndiaye.

Moments later the home fans' frustration grew when midfielder Arambarri was shown a second yellow card and dismissed in the 25th minute.

This weekend's #LaLigaSantander action gave us thrills, spills and shocks! 💥 pic.twitter.com/nfeFofOcRQ

— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) December 3, 2017

Getafe went ahead in the 66th minute through a distance shot from midfielder Markel Bergara which took a big deflection off former Arsenal defender Gabriel Paulista and sailed over goalkeeper Neto and into the net.

Match stats

Valencia, who were missing decisive winger Goncalo Guedes and defenders Ezequiel Garay and Jeison Murillo through injury and whose coach Marcelino was serving a touchline ban, struggled to create chances.

Their best efforts came from a series of free kicks from captain Dani Parejo, who struck the post and was three times denied by former Valencia goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.

Getafe's goalkeeper made one final save to thwart his old side in repelling a shot from winger Carlos Soler deep in injury time.

.@GetafeCF do what no other team could and hand Valencia their first #LaLiga defeat of the season! 💪#GetafeValencia 1-0 pic.twitter.com/Oyr5k9Veet

— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) December 3, 2017

Valencia midfielder Parejo criticised the poor playing surface at Getafe's Coliseum Alfonso Perez stadium after his side's first defeat under Marcelino.

"They took the three points but if you want to see great football then you can't play on a pitch like this," said Parejo.