Alphabet Challenge | Part 31, Club 15 | Free-Scoring Valencia

Valencia CF came so close to an unexpected Spanish title in Trebor Mahtal’s first full season, only losing out to Real Madrid on the final day of the 2049/50 campaign. A summer of change was around the corner, but Trebor Mahtal was positive about his young side’s future.

Flying Start To LaLiga

The bookies cut Valencia’s title odds to 11/1 from 25/1 last season, but still tipped them to finish 4th. Barcelona, who finished 27 points off top last season, are somehow 13/8 favourites, followed by holders Real and Atlético (3/1), and Mahtal was worried about a Barca bounceback.

Mahtal’s second full season in Spain began with a trip to promoted Betis, and Combes’ powerful low shot after half an hour was enough for a 1-0 victory. Combes scored two more as striker Bruno Torres also bagged a brace in a 5-1 thrashing of Cádiz in their first home game. Valencia had a pretty kind start to the season before a big first clash with Real. And Valencia’s dominance showed as they bossed the game by 14 shots to 5 and won 2-0 with the strikeforce of Alexis Munoz and Torres laying on goals for each other. Valencia’s relentless form continued as they made it 14 wins from 14, including Combes, midfielder Oriel Lobo and Torres braces leading a 7-1 crushing of Bilbao, libero Viljar Bekkevik laying on two goals in a 4-1 win at Sociedad, and Combes scoring twice in a 5-1 win at Gijón.

That game showed the sheer dominance Valencia were enjoying over the rest of Spain this season, which saw them continue into the end of the year with a ridiculous 13-point lead.

Kinder Champions League Games

Valencia went straight into the group stage, in which Mahtal welcomed two of his former clubs to Valencia. They began with a 6-0 away demolition of Dinamo Zagreb with Torres scoring two and creating two more, before drawing at Ajax and Sullivan’s brace downing Celtic 3-0. Mahtal hosted former side Juventus and picked up an easy 3-1 win before fully rotated teams lost 5-0 at Napoli, beat Rosenborg 2-1 and lost 5-3 at Chelsea. But the first 11 returned to earn 2-0 win at home to Dortmund, which secured a 6th-place finish. The run was likely to end in the last 16 as they annoyingly drew Real, and so it proved as they lost 3-0 away so Mahtal threw in the reserves for the second leg and focused on league matters.

Chasing LaLiga Title

2051 began with a big game as Valencia hosted 2nd-place Atlético and cruised to a 3-0 win through Torres, Munoz and Combes to move a massive 16 points clear. The fine form showed no sign of abating against some poor Spanish sides as Torres bagged a hat trick in a 4-1 thumping of Betis, in which Combes tore his hamstring, Lobo, Cihan and Torres braces inspired a 6-1 hammering of Deportivo and Lobo scored two more as they battered local rivals Granada 5-0. They finally lost 2-1 at Celta before a really poor performance in a 4-1 defeat at Real in between the two Champions League clashes.

The players got a bit of a break and libero Viljar Bekkevik earned a late, very much deserved win at Bilbao. That took Valencia 18 points clear going into the final 10 games, from which they just needed 12 points to claim the title. They moved a step closer as Torres and Domínguez’s first goal for the club earned a 2-1 win at home to Sevilla and Cihan laid on two Torres goals as they thumped Sociedad 5-0, while Barca only drew at home to Osasuna.

Combes returned to the bench for a trip to Osasuna and came off it to score the opener within five minutes. Converted winger Antonio Hernández, who ended a 20-match scoring drought, and Torres added late strikes to earn a 3-0 win as Osasuna didn’t even muster a shot on target. Two days later, Barca went to Gijón and again only drew 1-1, which handed the title to Valencia with seven games remaining on 3 April.

Valencia won LaLiga for the first time in 47 years!

Valencia celebrated the title with a pretty strong finish, including dominating Vallecano on Mahtal’s 67th birthday. And, despite losing narrowly at Barca and Atlético on the final day, they won the league by a huge 17 points. Valencia finished on 94 points after 31 wins, 1 draw and 6 defeats, scoring a massive 109 and conceding just 29. Their players absolutely dominated the stats, claiming the top three positions in goals, assists and average rating. Torres was the top scorer with 27, followed by Combes and Munoz on 16, Lobo topped the assists with 17 followed by Sullivan and Combes with 13 and 12). They actually had the six top-rated players led by Combes (7.79) then Torres (7.44), Francisco Guilló (7.43), Lobo (7.39), Cihan (7.34) and Munoz (7.31) with Sullivan 8th on 7.29. Combes claimed the Premio Don Balón Mejor Jugador joven del año (young player of the year) and Jugador del año, with Torres and Guilló 2nd and 3rd in the latter, and Mahtal won Manager del año.

Officially Halfway Through The Alphabet Challenge

Mahtal celebrated one of his finest seasons yet as he led Valencia to a truly dominant LaLiga success. That was thanks to some stellar players, led by Torres scoring 32 with 9 assists in 45 games and Combes scoring 17 with 13 assists in 33 games. Munoz chipped in with 16 goals and 6 assists, Sullivan got 11 goals and 13 assists and midfield lynchpins Guilló scored 8 with 10 assists and Lobo got a club-high 19 assists with 7 goals.

This success saw Mahtal reach the halfway mark of his Alphabet Challenge, after lifting major trophies with 13 of the 26 required clubs. So Mahtal knew that, as fond as he’d grown of Valencia, it was time to move on. He departs Valencia after 882 days and 140 matches, just 8 games short of the longest stay of his career at Perak, of which he won 96, drew 15 and lost 29, scoring 319 and conceding 142.

Where would Mahtal move next as he began the second half of his Alphabet Challenge? Join us on Friday to find out!