Valencia Edge Madrid In Supercopa Thriller

Valencia 3-2 Real Madrid

A half-empty stadium witnessed an absolute cracker of a second half as Valencia fought back to secure a vital victory ahead of next week's Bernabéu clash.

Both coaches put out strong sides for the occasion, Unai Emery making his competitive Valencia managerial debut with David Albelda back in the line-up and Silva joining David Villa up front. Madrid boss Bernd Schuster left Arjen Robben on the bench as Robinho started, while the midfield was completed by Diarrà, de la Red and van der Vaart.

First Half

Within just five minutes Valencia had seemingly followed Emery's instructions of playing fearlessly as Casillas was called into action. Joaquín's cross from the right found Villa unmarked at the near post, but his fellow Spanish international pulled off a great save.

Gradually Madrid came into the game, particularly through van der Vaart and van Nistelrooy. In fact the latter Dutchman was to open the scoring 13 minutes in after a fine ball from Rubén de la Red enabled him to beat Mildebrand at Hildebrand's far post.

Alexis should have equalised as the half reached its midway point, and that seemed to embolden a Valencia side who looked very active through David Villa.

Silva, playing just off the striker, then had arguably Valencia's best chance of the half. Combining well with Mata, the erstwhile winger played a cross-cum-shot that very nearly went in; instead it clipped the post as Javi García and Mahamadou Diarrà struggled to clear.

Second Half

Valencia, having closed strongly, opened well, and ten minutes after the break it was 1-1. Silva's great cross from the left found Mata, who punished his own side with a neat finish, albeit one that Casillas may feel now that he could have kept out.

Three minutes later Los Che were in front. Once again Silva was at the thick of it: playing Mata through, the ball eventually reached Villa, who used all of his expertise to fox the helpless Casillas and make it 2-1.

This lead was not to last long: a further ten minutes later Robben made an immediate impact after coming on for Robinho by setting up the equaliser. A tremendous run forward eventually saw him free Ruud van Nistelrooy, whose predatory instincts sealed his second goal.

The game began to break down somewhat as substitutes took their toll, but there was more action still to come.

Miguel Torres had to be at his absolute best to stop Villa from striding through to face goal after he'd overcome Sergio Ramos, but he couldn't prevent the winning strike. Substitute Vicente weaved past Heinze to meet Silva's assist and place the ball into the back of the net to make it 3-2, and thus it ended.

VALENCIA CF 3-2 REAL MADRID CF

0-1 van Nistelrooy 13'
1-1 Mata 55'
2-1 Villa 58'
2-2 van Nistelrooy 67'
3-2 Vicente 80'

Valencia (Emery): Hildebrand; Miguel, Albiol, Alexis, Moretti; Albelda, Baraja, Joaquín, Silva, Mata; Villa.

Real Madrid (Schuster): Casillas; Michel Salgado, Javi García, Heinze, Miguel Torres; Van der Vaart, Diarrà, De la Red, Robinho; Raúl, Van Nistelrooy.