Madrid left Mestalla with only one point after one of its worst first parts of the season in which nothing worked for it in a Mestalla that was a cauldron in memory of what happened the previous year with all the scuffles with Vinícius de protagonist, incidents still in court for an accusation of racism. In the second he played much better and it was enough for him to tie with a double from Vinícius. He did not win because the referee annulled a Bellingham goal in 98 when Gil Manzano understood that time had expired. The Englishman protested and saw the red.

This time it was a simple soccer game, played under tremendous emotional tension. Valencia did their thing, which was considered to be an aggressive team at the limit of the regulations and very theatrical so that the load of animosity from the stands did not decrease, especially towards Vinícius, who was chanted insults such as a fool and a fool when he touched the ball. . Already in the first thirty seconds there were fouls on Rodrygo and Vinícius and immediately, in the fourth minute, Yaremchuk received a yellow card that could have been something more for a very ugly and untimely tackle from behind on Tchouaméni.

The first half hour was a demonstration that having the ball a lot, if you don’t have depth, is of no use. In Madrid, the classic eleven of this season returned with the recovery of Bellingham, but the team lacked ideas, was very imprecise in its passes and was not capable of creating any danger.

Suddenly, Madrid collapsed in three minutes. Valencia found themselves with two goals almost without having looked for them. The first came in the 27th minute after a fantastic recovery from Javi Guerra, a cool center from Fran Pérez and a skillful header from Hugo Duro to which Lunin could not react.

The night became darker for Madrid three minutes later with a delayed pass from Carvajal that was an unbeatable goal assist for Yaremchuk, who dribbled past his compatriot and took advantage of the gift.

With a quarter of an hour left, Madrid went up, with as few ideas as before. Valencia retreated looking for the counterattack. The whites began to arrive with a bit of danger and Mamardashvili had to work hard on a placed shot by Valverde.

Gil Manzano would give five minutes of added time and in the last Vinícius would make it 2-1 in the only defensive failure of the locals, a cross from Carvajal that brushed against Javi Guerra, confused the Georgian goalkeeper and reached Vinícius, who pushed on the stripe.

At half-time he started playing and the second half began under a heavy downpour and a lot of wind, which made it difficult to control the ball.

The match resumed with tremendous harassment from Madrid on the Valencia goal. In the 54th minute Bellingham missed a one-on-one against Mamardashvili, a formidable goalkeeper who always shines against the whites.

Valencia then had a very good counterattack that ended in a point-blank shot by Diego López on Lunin that was saved by the Whites’ Ukrainian goalkeeper when Mestalla was already scoring 3-1.

At 62, Ancelotti moved the tree and replaced Brahim with Rodrygo, missing again, and Modric with Kroos, more or less common changes. The Croatian had been the savior of the previous match, against Sevilla at the Bernabéu.

Vinícius got a fair yellow for a kick on Guillamón and there was another double change in the whites: Joselu for Camavinga and Fran García for Mendy, all to seek more depth and greater finishing power in the aerial centers.

In the 75th minute, Madrid tied with a cross from Brahim and a header from Vinícius validated by the VAR after several minutes due to a foot from Mosquera.

There was a quarter of an hour left in added time and the game seemed to have turned to Madrid, with Valencia very nervous. But Madrid also remained imprecise and did not generate much either. Nacho came on for Valverde, proof that Ancelotti did not trust a possible final push by the locals either. Diakhaby suffered a serious injury when he was hit by a stumbling Tchouaméni.

The referee gave seven minutes and in the first minute he went to the VAR monitor and annulled a penalty that Nacho had called on Duro. In the 98th minute, after a corner kick, a cross from Brahim ended in a header from Bellingham that was a goal. The referee annulled it because he understood that it was already out of time. He only allowed a corner kick and his shot and not the subsequent play. In the protests Bellingham was expelled. Madrid left enraged, with a period anger.