For the second time in two weeks, both Valencia and Deportivo La Coruna drew, this time it was 1-1 at La Mestalla. Lucas Pérez opened up the scoring in the 39th minute with Alvaro Negredo finding the back of the net on the stroke of halftime.
There was a bit of a feeling out process to start the match, despite a couple of half-chances from either sides in the beginning. First, it was Luis Alberto in the fourth minute as his header flashed just wide of the goal. Then, Jose Gaya had floated a dangerous cross towards the middle of the area but German Lux was able to catch it to cut out the danger.
After those opportunities, the play really dwindled in ferocity. The two clubs tried to open up the field as the midfield was really congested in the middle, with both sides turning the ball over quite a few times in the opening 20 minutes of the match. On exactly 20 minutes, Rodrigo De Paul played a ball back towards the middle of the penalty area where Alvaro Negredo was waiting. He just could not get a clean shot away as Deportivo defended the pass to the best of their abilities.
Off of a corner, in the 29th minute, Deportivo La Coruna's Sidney fired a rebound just wide of the target, but this was a better sign from the visitors as it showed that they do have the ability to go up the pitch and produce some dangerous attacks.
The goals finally come
And with five minutes remaining until halftime, Lucas Pérez opened up the scoring. He received the ball on the right side of the pitch, worked his way towards the top of the boxed and unleashed a curling shot that beat Mat Ryan even though the goal keeper was at full stretch.
Shortly before the halftime interval, Valencia found an equalizer through Alvaro Negredo. Young Santi Mina, and former Celta de Vigo footballer, headed the ball inside the area and found an unmarked Negredo right in front of goal. He proceeded to redirect the ball into the back of the net on the stroke of halftime.
HT: Valencia 1-1 Deportivo La Coruna
The first half took a little while to get going, with little chances being created by either club. This was perhaps the correct scoreline headed into the halftime interval as neither looked to really grab the match by the throat.
Shkodran Mustafi got the action started in the second half as he unleashed a sensational volley in the 54th minute that screamed past the left post. For a center defender, it was not a bad effort at all, following the corner, the direction of the shot was just a little bit off the mark. Four mintues later, it was Rodrigo's turn to go from distance, and his shot misses inches wide.
21-year-old Rodrigo de Paul took control of the match for a couple of minutes just after the hour mark. The Argentinian made some nice tackles to win back possession and got a shot off that looked like it was heading towards the back of the net. However, Lux positioned himself very well to be able to catch the ball easily.
Other than these chances by the hosts, there was not much action in a dull second half, as Deportivo looked comfortable sitting back a little and absorbing the pressure for the remaining of the match.
That is exactly what they did and were rewarded with a very hard-fought draw in a tough environment. This result is huge for the side as Depor hope to improve on last season's poor finish. On the other hand, Valencia need to turn things around. Nuno's side has not won a match yet this campaign despite an easier fixture set of fixtures to begin the year.