La Liga strugglers dominate Europa League Team of the Week
The penny looks to have finally dropped for Gary Neville at Valencia. Having gone nine league games without a win as Los Che head coach, Neville has now secured back-to-back wins in all competitions for Valencia for the first time since October.
While Valencia were more than fortunate to beat fellow La Liga strugglers Espanyol at the weekend, there was no doubting the result on Thursday, as they raced to a 5-0 lead over Rapid Wien in 35 minutes. In fact, their first half flurry was as many goals as they had scored in their previous seven matches combined.
They would only go on to score once more, but the result was never in doubt and Neville can already count himself in the next round for Uefa’s second-tier competition.
Santi Mina was the particular star of the night. The 20-year-old is now joint fourth for most goals contributed in the Europa League this season; despite his entire contribution (5) coming in the 6-0 win over Wien. Mina scored twice and registered three assists in the rout over the Austrian outfit.
Mina is joined in the Europa League Team of the Week by three Valencia teammates, including Andre Gomes who put in an almost complete performance. As well as scoring one and setting up another, he also completed three interceptions, won three aerial duels and completed 84% of his passes.
