Zigic the Man for Valencia
Nikola Zigic climbed off the bench to earn Valencia their first league win in four matches on Sunday night with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Racing Santander.
Zigic had only been on the pitch for three minutes when he pounced on a terrible attempted back-pass by Racing defender Pablo Pinillos before rounding Antonio Tono and slotting into an empty net for the game's only goal.
It was a bitter-sweet moment for Valencia though, as Zigic had only been sent into the action because star striker David Villa had limped off after suffering what appeared to be a hamstring strain.
It remains to be seen how serious the injury is, but it seems doubtful the prolific hitman will be able to represent already-qualified Spain in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Armenia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
If he is sidelined for any longer than the next fortnight then it could spell bad news for Valencia, who face champions Barcelona in their next match and then host Slavia Prague in the Europa League.
The good news for Los Che is they go into the international break on a winning note, having taken just two points from a possible nine in their previous three games against Sporting Gijon, Getafe and Atletico Madrid.
Unai Emery's side started tonight's encounter at El Sardinero on the front foot and Villa and Ever Banega both tried their luck early on without any success.
Villa was also denied by a good block by Tono just prior to the interval, but despite those efforts it was Racing who came closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half.
Pedro Munitis was the man with the opportunity, picking up Gonzalo Colsa's lay-back inside the area before rifling in a right-footed shot that Cesar Sanchez did superbly to tip behind for a corner.
That was one of a host of fine saves Cesar made during the match to help Valencia claim the win, with most of them coming late on as Racing tried to get back on level terms following Zigic's goal.
Valencia must have feared the worst when Villa left the pitch holding his upper leg after picking up an injury whilst attempting to beat Tono after breaking through on goal.
But that turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Zigic, who scored Valencia's second goal in their 3-2 Europa League win over Genoa in midweek, turned out to be their hero.
Pinillos was the villain of the piece for Racing though, with his terrible back-header leaving Tono stranded as the giant Zigic stole possession, beat the home custodian and rolled his shot into the gaping goal.
That was a huge setback to a Racing side who had lost both their previous home matches this season whilst conceding eight goals, but to give credit to the Cantabrian side they did all they could do get back on level terms.
However, they found the way blocked by Cesar, whose first major intervention of the second half came in the 66th minute when he parried Manuel Arana's 20-yard effort.
Cesar needed the help of team-mate David Navarro in the 69th minute though after Mohamed Tchite had slid in to steer the ball past the Valencia goalkeeper and seemingly into the path of team-mate Colsa.
Navarro was alert to the danger though and smashed the ball out for a throw-in before Colsa could tap into an empty net. Racing threw men forward in the closing stages, and Cesar was called into making a double save in the 85th minute, first turning Tchite's well-struck shot behind and then from the following corner diving to his right to save Alexandre Geijo's header.
That proved to be the last decent effort Racing would have though, and Valencia were able to celebrate their third league win of the season.
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