Valencia 2 - 2 Mallorca: Last-gasp Gayà rescues point for Bats

Valencia salvaged a late point as José Gayà struck in the eighth minute of injury-time to secure a dramatic 2-2 draw with Real Mallorca. Although the result now marks six games since the hosts’ last win in La Liga. 

Valencia were creative in the early stages, with the first opportunity of the game falling to Maxi Gómez as he latched onto Daniel Wass’ free-kick into the box, but he dawdled on the ball before Uroš Račić fired a follow-up shot over the bar. 

Former Valencia midfielder Kang-In Lee engineered Mallorca’s first chance with an enticing cross that was pushed away by Jasper Cillessen into the path of Pablo Maffeo, but the Dutchman was on hand to thwart the defender. 

Lee was proving to be a constant threat, and the South Korean showed a sublime piece of skill on the right to tee up Ángel, who gave Mallorca the lead with a clinical close-range strike in the 32nd minute. That lead was doubled seven minutes later thanks to Diakhaby’s own goal, as Dani Rodríguez’s angled strike took a deflection off the unfortunate Frenchman as HT approached.

However, Luis García Plaza’s side were dealt a huge blow when Lee was shown a second yellow just 11 minutes into the second half for a studs-up challenge on Wass. He became the first Mallorca player to assist a goal and be sent off in the same La Liga game since Enrique Corrales against Deportivo de La Coruña in February 2009. 

Valencia pushed and came within inches of halving the deficit after Hélder Costa’s cross was headed onto the bar and cleared off the line by Franco Russo.

Until the 90th minute, Valencia still hadn't registered a shot on target, however, Guedes gave the hosts hope of a late comeback when his speculative long-range strike took a big deflection off Russo and flew past Manolo Reina in the third minute of added-time. Then Gayà scored beyond the seven minutes of added time that were initially given to deny  ‘Los Piratas’ a first win at the Mestalla in 11 years.