Valencia eased to a 2-0 triumph over Inter in the opening game of the Emirates Cup.
First half goals from Jaime Gavilan and David Villa were enough to give Valencia a morale-boosting win.
Valencia looked the livelier side throughout and it was no surprise when they had taken the lead after 13 minutes with Gavilan volleying Ruben Baraja's pass past Francesco Toldo from an acute angle.
Inter went close to equalising on 37 minutes when Maxwell smashed a shot against the post with Santiago Canizares well beaten.
Valencia doubled their lead 2 minutes later when Villa curled home a free kick from the edge of the box.
Inter enhanced in the 2nd half and Canizares was called into the action to save from Cruz and substitute David Suazo.
Valencia will face Paris St. Germain in their 2nd game of the tournament Sunday, whilst Inter will take on hosts Arsenal.
22 06 2007
David Silva, supposedly a target for Chelsea, signed a new contract at Valencia.
Silva signed an extension to his contract that will keep him at the Mestalla until 2014, an improvement of 2 years on his current deal.
Spanish daily AS also reports that the buy out clause in his contract was increased from 60 million Euros to 90 million Euros, a little more than £60 million.
The Spanish winger joined Valencia in 2004 however failed to establish himself in the side until last season.
However, he proved to be one of the key members of Quique Sanchez Flores' side that finished 4th in the Primera Liga, behind Sevilla, FC Barcelona and champions Real Madrid.
Valencia have also tied midfielder Ruben Baraja down to a new contract, with the former Atletico Madrid man also extending his current deal by 2 years, to 2010.
22 06 2007
Spain international Javier Arizmendi will be presented as a Valencia player later Friday.
The 23 year old Madrid born forward, who made his full Spain debut against England in February, spent the last 18 months at Deportivo La Coruna, even though his registration was held by Atletico Madrid after the capital club exercised a clause in his contract.
Arizmendi, who agreed a 6 year deal with Los Che several weeks ago, will link up with a number of other Spain internationals such as David Villa, Fernando Morientes, David Silva and Ruben Baraja at the Mestalla.
10 06 2007
David Beckham requires one more triumph to sign off at Real Madrid with a Spanish league title after a dramatic penultimate round of matches.
The L.A. Galaxy-bound former England captain played 90 minutes of his side's amazing 2-2 Primera Liga draw at Real Zaragoza.
Trailing twice and with title rivals FC Barcelona winning against Espanyol, Real's title expects looked to be all however extinguished.
But ex Man Utd forward Ruud van Nistelrooy's double and a late equaliser for Espanyol at the Nou Camp ensured Real go into the final round of games next Sunday top of the table.
Level on points with Barca, a home triumph against Real Mallorca will guarantee Beckham a title winner's medal.
Sevilla are not out of the title race, though, inspite of only managing a goalless draw with Real Mallorca.
Juande Ramos' men were a long way from their best at Son Moix however they dug in inspite of the dismissal of Serbia defender Ivica Dragutinovic with 17 minutes to go.
The results leave Sevilla still 2 points adrift of the top 2 heading into the final weekend of the season.
At the other end Levante ensured they will be playing Primera Liga football next season after defeating local rivals Valencia 4-2 in an incident-packed derby that saw 6 goals and 4 sendings-off.
Levante only needed a point to be sure of avoiding the drop, however they finished up saying that all 3 thanks to a brace from Mustapha Riga and further strikes from Salva Ballesta and Laurent Courtois.
Valencia, who had already guaranteed themselves a Champions League spot before the game and had no chance of winning the league, responded with strikes from Spain internationals Joaquin Sanchez and Ruben Baraja, however they were 2-0 and 4-1 down at the time of those goals.
Valencia were always facing an uphill battle after losing goalie Santiago Canizares to a red card in the 9th minute, whilst the visitors were then reduced to 8 men in the 2nd period following the dismissals of defensive duo Roberto Ayala and Carlos Marchena before the hour-mark.
Levante also had to play a large part of the match with less than their maximum quota after Olivier Kapo saw red a minute after half time.
Real Sociedad are on the brink of relegation after missing a penalty and failing to utilise a 2 man advantage to draw 0-0 against Racing Santander on Saturday.
It seemed their expects of staying in the top flight were in the end looking up when, having dominated the preceding 86 minutes, Santander's Victor Vitolo and Felipe Melo were shown red cards and Real were given a potentially season saving penalty.
But, with the stakes piled high, Mikel Alonso struck tamely at Juan Calatayud and Real finished with a point when they should have had three.
Fernando Baiano scored twice to keep Celta Vigo's expectations of avoiding relegation from the Primera Liga alive as they beat Atletico Madrid 3-2 at the Vicente Calderon.
Atletico's Argentinian forward Maxi Rodriguez scored a well-worked opener in the 28th minute, however Celta levelled 3 minutes later with a Baiano penalty.
Yao Yago put Celta ahead only after half time and Baiano extended their lead in the 70th minute after Atletico had had midfielder Peter Luccin sent off.
Maxi quickly pulled one back for Atletico, however their dreams of reaching the UEFA Cup slipped out of their own hands.
Athletic Bilbao's survival expects were dealt a major blow after losing 3-1 to European-chasing Villarreal at the Estadio El Madrigal.
A brace from Uruguayan hitman Diego Forlan, the 2nd from the penalty spot, and an own goal from Ustaritz helped the home team fight back after conceding the lead to Andoni Iraola's strike.
The 3 points for Manuel Pellegrini's men, coupled with Atletico Madrid's 3-2 defeat to Celta Vigo, mean they now climb above their rivals into 6th, the last UEFA Cup qualifying spot.
Defeat for Athletic, meanwhile, has punched a massive hole in their survival hopes, with the Basque team staying in 17th however with the 4 point gap held over the bottom 3 at the start of the penultimate round now cut to only one.
Real Betis will head into the final match of the season still sweating on their Primera Liga future after a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Osasuna.
Miguel Flano, Pierre Webo, Valmiro Valdo and a brace from substitute Ion Echaide Sola did the damage to leave the Seville club only one point above the bottom 3 following Celta Vigo's win over Atletico Madrid.
Betis, who were also beaten 5-1 by Osasuna earlier in the campaign, must now get something from their finale at Racing Santander next week to be certain of top flight football next season.
