Valencia missed the chance to close the gap to La Liga leaders Barcelona as their unbeaten start to the season ended with a surprise 1-0 defeat to 10-man Getafe on Sunday.
Barca were held to a 2-2 draw by Celta Vigo on Saturday but Markel Bergara thwarted the attempts of Marcelino's side – without injured trio Ezequiel Garay, Jeison Murillo and Goncalo Guedes – to go two points behind Barca, who are now five clear.
Getafe thought they had the lead when Amath Ndiaye deflected Mauro Arambarri's shot into the back of the net, but he was adjudged to be in an offside position.
The hosts' frustrations were added to when Arambarri was shown a second yellow card for a wild lunge on Martin Montoya, though Jorge Molina should have given them the lead before half-time when he beat the offside trap and looped a header onto the roof the net.
Getafe continued to threaten more and they had a shock lead when Bergara's fierce drive deflected off Gabriel's thigh and flew into the top-right corner.
Dani Parejo saw three first-half free-kicks saved by Vicente Guaita and the former Valencia goalkeeper produced his best stop to push the midfielder's dead-ball effort against the upright with 15 minutes remaining as Marcelino fell to his first defeat at the helm of the visitors.
We may not have won yesterday, but our lead in the standings has GROWN! December 3, 2017
