UD Las Palmas approached this first game of the second half of the season with the aim of jumping back up the table, and moving further away still from relegation, and catch a glimpse of Europe, against a Valencia team that seemed to be pulling themselves back into contention, after a somewhat limp first half of the season.
The return of Pedro Bigas and Dani Castellano to the defence, having both overcome their recent injuries, was the good news first the home team’s starting eleven, as Quique Setién recovered two of his lynchpins in the yellows’ engine room.
True to their style, UD Las Palmas began the match attempting to run the game, but the first chance fell to Munir who headed over the bar. The game continued rather sluggishly as both teams played quite cautiously.
In the 21st minute, Gaya played Santi Mina through who slid the ball past home goalkeeper Javi Varas to put the away team ahead (0-1), and Valencia were showing their bite. Following the goal the visitors began to look much more comfortable on the pitch, as the first half hour approached.
Prince was brought down inside the area and the referee didn’t see any punishable offence. Las Palmas began to look lively as another shot by Prince gave the visitors the first real warning of attacking threat, and this was followed by another attempt by Vicente Gómez. These were the best moments in the match so far for Las Palmas, and they got their reward through this persistence with a superb goal by Jonathan Viera, firing home to bring the scores level at 1-1, a real bullet of a shot beyond the reach of Diego. The goal came in the 42nd minute and the scores stayed that way until half time.
Viera’s goal just before half time gave the second half a whole new picture, with everything to play for and a whole new battle, the best way possible to start the second half.
Munir was sent off with two yellow cards, and Valencia were suddenly a man down with nearly the whole of the second half to go. It was a golden opportunity for Las Palmas to put the game to bed, a new horizon had just dawned for the home team.
In the 53rd minute Mauricio Lemos pulled a goal out of the hat with a direct free kick that flew into the top corner beyond the desperate dive of Diego Alves to make the scores 2-1, and things suddenly looked like they couldn’t be any better. Prince then made the most of a defensive slip to put the game virtually beyond their rivals’ reach, making it 3-1. Jonathan Viera went off to rapturous applause as he was replaced by Livaja in the 77th minute. The fans were in awe of their 'Romario'.
The scoreline didn’t change after that, and Las Palmas shoot up to 28 points as they start the second half of the season, just 6 points off a European place.
