Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Luis Rioja was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
8 goals in one match, Umar Sadiq on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Valencia and Real Madrid.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Juan Castilla is living that version at Valencia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Valencia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arnaut Danjuma is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The fee is $5.3M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Córdoba drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Juan Gutiérrez is living that version at Valencia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Stole Dimitrievski was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Valencia can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
In brief
Player ratingsThe pass was always on for Luis Rioja
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Valencia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Juan Dinenno has just signed for Valencia, and for once the answer mattered.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Valencia and Atlético Madrid in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Valencia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arnaut Danjuma is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Beaten 7 times, with 2 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Valencia have gone and got theirs early.
The fee is $4.7M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Deportivo La Coruña drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Álvaro Fernández is living that version at Valencia, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valencia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Valencia
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cristian López has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jaime Gallardo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Stole Dimitrievski keeps the shirt for now, at Valencia's convenience rather than his own.
377 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stole Dimitrievski and Valencia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valencia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Guido Rodríguez wants continental football; whether Valencia can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The phone has started ringing about Filip Ugrinić again, and this time the name on the line is Getafe. Valencia are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Valencia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arnaut Danjuma is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.