Genoa missed out on a place in the last 32 of the Europa League as Valencia made sure of top spot in Group B with a hard-fought victory at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
With Lille beating Slavia Prague, the Grifoni needed to win to progress and the writing was on the wall when Bruno put the Spanish side ahead on the stroke of half-time.
Hernan Crespo levelled six minutes after the restart to give the home fans hope, but David Villa snatched a winner in stoppage time, moments after missing a penalty.
Villa could have had two in the opening 10 minutes, first seeing a close-range effort turned around the post by Alessio Scarpi, before the Genoa goalkeeper fisted away the Spain striker's left-footed 20-yarder.
At the other end, Marco Rossi drove a long-range effort over before, midway through the half, Rodrigo Palacio saw his strike blocked by Carlos Marchena after he got on the end of Alberto Zapater's free-kick.
Crespo could not get a clean contact four minutes before the break when he attempted to head Rossi's cross goalwards, before the Argentinian's lob drifted wide of the left-hand post.
But it was Valencia who took the lead in the final minute of the half after Giuseppe Sculli fouled Ever Banega.
Joaquin Sanchez took the free-kick, finding Bruno to convert with a header from deep.
The Primera Division side almost had a second in stoppage time when Villa's free-kick, after he was fouled by Rossi, was parried by Scarpi.
It took less than six minutes of the second half for Genoa to equalise.
Following Zapater's free-kick, Crespo latched onto Ivan Juric's header to convert from the edge of the box.
That spurred Valencia back into life, with both David Albelda and Banega missing the target from distance.
Palacio was off target at the other end after 65 minutes, before crossing for Crespo, whose header was held by Miguel Moya.
The chances continued to come for Genoa as they searched for a winner with Lille ahead in France, with Rossi's shot blocked by Bruno and Sculli heading wide.
Four minutes from time, Valencia had the perfect opportunity to banish any doubts of qualifying after Salvatore Bocchetti fouled Joaquin in the box, picking up a booking for his troubles.
Villa sent the spot-kick wide of the left-hand post, but he made up for it deep in stoppage time with a close-range finish to seal the win.
No comments:
Post a Comment