Alcacer denies Getafe another fightback win

Pedro Leon leads by example

Valencia CF were on top in the opening minutes, but the Getafe CF captain took it upon himself to carry his team on his shoulders and started to threaten down the right flank. On 15 minutes the experienced midfielder let fly from outside the box and was unlucky to see his screamer, which had Diego Alves beaten hands down, cannon down off the crossbar. This signalled a shift in the balance of play, as Getafe increasingly assumed the initiative and began to create more chances. Alvaro Vazquez had the clearest opening – in fact, he had two bites at the cherry in a flash, with Alves stopping his first attempt and the second hitting the side netting.

Parejo showcases free-kick prowess again

The half-time break cut short a spell of Getafe dominance and the restart brought a kick in the teeth for Juan Eduardo Esnaider's charges. Dani Parejo gave Valencia the lead against his old club with a sensational free-kick that curled into the top corner of Dani Guaita's goal.

Getafe's spirited response

After falling behind, the hosts displayed all their fighting spirit and were soon pushing for an equaliser. Alves saved his side once more by foiling Pablo Sarabia from point-blank range, before Leon bafflingly failed to find the target when perfectly placed to make it 1-1. However, the visitors' resistance was not to last. A quarter of an hour into the second half, Alves again exhibited great reflexes to parry a shot, but Alvaro Medran was on the spot to fire in on the rebound and restore parity.

2-2 | 85'I Goal @AlvaroNegredo_7 steals the ball and sets a square pass to @paco_alcacer who drills the net! pic.twitter.com/5vcKchqcH0

— Valencia CF English (@valenciacf_en) April 24, 2016

Pressing pays off

The goal spurred Getafe on and they immediately set about in search of another one, looking to replicate the comeback victory that they had produced three days earlier against Real Sociedad. Esnaider's troops swarmed over their opponents like bees and, lo and behold, the fruits of their labour arrived. Stefan Scepovic, freshly introduced off the bench, got to the ball ahead of Aymen Abdennour in the middle of the park, raced into the box and drove a low finish past Alves, sending a near-capacity Coliseum Alfonso Perez crowd into raptures.

Alcacer and Alves break hosts' hearts

Getafe's intensity dropped after they went ahead and Valencia capitalised. Pako Ayestaran's men began to lay siege to Guaita's goal and the visitors hauled themselves back on terms with six minutes left on the clock. Following some fine work by Alvaro Negredo, Paco Alcacer – another former Getafe man – made it 2-2 with a well-taken volley. There was still time for the home team to squander a double-chance to snatch a winner. Alves once more came up trumps to keep out Santiago Vergini's close-range effort in the dying seconds and then Karim Yoda was guilty of a lack of composure on the follow-up.