The Valencia earned an important victory against Betis by 2-0

The Valencia earned an important victory against Betis by 2-0, thanks to its effectiveness in attack, which allowed it to earn three vital points in its defense of fourth place, which it maintains with an eight-point advantage over Sevilla, whom they will visit next matchday.

The Betis team, which arrived at Mestalla in a good streak of results, saw its aspirations to get involved in the fight for European spots halted.

Betis took possession of the ball from the first moments of the match with long but sterile possessions since Valencia, well organized, did not leave spaces in the final meters for the Andalusian team to be productive with their dominance.

Valencia was infected with Betis' slow pace and due to the lack of speed in ball circulation in the opposing field, they barely troubled Adán.

The horizontal play of both teams was broken in the middle of the first half by the Portuguese Guedes, who from his own field sent a very long through pass between the two central defenders that enabled Rodrigo to skillfully open the scoring.

The team of Quique Setién felt the blow and for a few minutes found themselves overwhelmed by Valencia, who generated two good chances to increase their lead in just three minutes.

Betis recovered, but continued without generating danger against a rival that lost Santi Mina due to a muscular injury in the final stretch of the first half.

In the second half, Valencia came out strong and pinned Betis in their own half. After a couple of dangerous approaches, Kondogbia assisted Zaza brilliantly and the Italian forward scored the 2-0, ending a goal drought of over two months.

Betis had no choice but to attack again to try to get back into the game. Joaquín could have reduced the distance with a long-range free kick, but Neto conjured the danger with a great save.

Valencia tempered Betis' push and the match returned to a less frenetic pace, with some controversial actions in the final stretch, after a hold by Junior on Carlos Soler in the box and subsequently a goal disallowed for Betis as the referee deemed a foul on the Valencia goalkeeper Neto.

In the final minutes, it was the home team who could have increased their lead against a resigned Betis.