Valencia 3 - 1 Real Zaragoza

Villa inspires Valencia win

Updated: November 8, 2009, 9:21 PM UK

David Villa returned to the Valencia line-up following his European suspension to help down his former club Real Zaragoza 3-1 and continue Los Che's fine start to the season.

Villa was banned for Thursday's Europa League trip to Slavia Prague and without their star striker Valencia were left with egg on their faces after being held to a 2-2 draw despite leading 2-0 and seeing their struggling Czech opponents reduced to 10 men just after half-time.

There was no such repeat as captain Villa scored one and set up another for Pablo Hernandez as fourth-placed Valencia kept on the coat-tails of big two Barcelona and Real Madrid.

They also extended their impressive record to 10 wins in 17 games in all competitions this season, whilst losing just once.

Villa and Pablo's goals came in rapid succession just before the break as Valencia built a 3-0 half-time advantage, with Unai Emery's side having earlier taken a controversial 17th-minute lead through in-form Juan Mata.

Zaragoza were far from happy about that goal, but they paid a heavy cost for not playing to the whistle.

The linesman put his flag up as David Silva's through-ball looked to be directed towards Villa, who had clearly drifted offside, and the Zaragoza defence stopped in expectation of a free-kick.

However, the referee waved played on after the ball had flicked off Villa, and Mata charged through from an onside position to slot home past Javier Lopez Vallejo in the visiting net.

Zaragoza had no-one to blame but themselves for Valencia's next two goals though, as their attempted offside trap was twice sprung by the home side, who were subsequently able to pretty much kill the game off before the break.

In the 40th minute, a through-ball from inside the Valencia half put Pablo clear on the right and his low cross was slotted in by Villa against the club where he spent two successful seasons before moving to Los Che in 2005.

And then a minute later, the Zaragoza defence stepped up again but were opened up by another through-ball, which this time saw Villa break down the left and return the favour for Pablo by rolling the ball across the goal for the winger to tap in.

At that point Zaragoza must have feared a repeat of their last away match when they were thumped 6-1 by Barcelona, but Marcelino Garcia Toral's men showed good determination after the break and they pulled a goal back in the 65th minute through Angel Lafita.

Valencia goalkeeper Cesar Sanchez could only parry Marko Babic's 25-yard effort and Lafita nipped in to rifle in a low shot past the veteran custodian for his second goal in a week, having also netted in last Sunday's 2-1 win over Almeria.

Battling Zaragoza continued to cause their high-flying hosts problems, and they looked to have set the cat amongst the pigeons in the 87th minute when Babic slammed the ball in the roof of the net following a scramble.

However, that effort was ruled out for offside and Zaragoza could make no further inroads into Valencia's lead despite pushing hard in the closing stages.