Betting Analysis
Looking at the 1×2 market first, where strong favourite Valencia was a huge let-down @ 1.62. The home side did not give their backers any hope at all of a win once behind. Cadiz was a shock winner in this market @ 5.75.
Moving onto the Asian handicap market for this contest where once more, Valencia was a massive underachiever. The home side didn’t come close to creating clear chances and with hindsight, the Valencia -1 handicap looks flattering for them. On the other side of the coin, Cadiz -1 was underrated so their backers @ 1.91 have reason to feel smart. It was an extremely smooth ride for anyone that followed Cadiz in this market.
Looking at The Under/Over goal market last of all. The betting lines opened at 2.5 but punters were, despite the early goal, right to expect it tight. Under 2.25 was the line pre-kickoff and was the way to go @ 1.85.
Match Summary
An extremely hard-working Cádiz got shocked and frustrated the Mestalla to edge a narrow but fully deserved 0-1 victory.
Thanks to an early Rubén Alcaraz goal on one of the numerous dangerous counterattacks from the visitor, an average-looking Valencia slumped to a hugely disappointing defeat in front of their fiercely angry support.
A derby defeat to Valencian rivals Villarreal meant the home side had big pressure on them to beat relegation candidates Cadiz, who struggled badly on the road. However, Cádiz burst ahead on the scoreboard in under 10 minutes. An excellent break down the right from Rubén Sobrino set up Rubén Alcaraz who finished brilliantly into the corner of the net.
Despite picking themselves up from the poor start, Gattuso’s men struggled to break down a supremely well-organised and hardworking opponent. The home side ended up playing direct into Cavani who despite winning his fair share of headers from speculative crosses, never came close to scoring.
Cadiz sat very deep but did pose much more threat on the counter-attack and during the first half, 0-2 was more probable than 1-1. Only poor finishing meant it stayed 0-1 at the break.
Valencia improved in some areas of the second half and to be fair, did put Cadiz under increased pressure.
Cadiz faced a barrage of attacks the longer the game went on but once more, their organisation and commitment to winning individual battles meant that Valencia couldn’t engineer scoring opportunities.
The closest Valencia came was Gaya’s long shot from a classy volley from the second play on a corner. Keeper Jeremias Ledesma pulled off an equally brilliant save to keep his side ahead.
Despite being the league’s third-best scorer at home after Barcelona and Real Madrid, Valencia was not good enough to break down Cadiz. The host lacked ideas and quality and was booed off by their support. 0-1 is a perfectly fair result.
