Dani Parejo scores twice to fire Valencia above Sevilla

Dani Parejo scored twice as Valencia climbed above Sevilla in La Liga with a 3-1 victory at the Mestalla.

A nervy start from the Sevilla defence invited pressure from the hosts, and they were gifted the opportunity to break the deadlock when Diogo Figueiras was adjudged to have fouled Alvaro Negredo inside the box.

© Getty Images

Parejo made no mistake from 12 yards to fire Valencia into an early lead over Unai Emery's side.

The lead was doubled in the 32nd minute when Enzo Perez used the space offered to him to slide a pass into the path of Parejo, who kept his composure in front of goal to pick out the bottom corner.

However, a dramatic first half was far from over as Sevilla reduced the deficit with a penalty of their own from Carlos Bacca after Figueiras went down under pressure from Parejo.

Valencia appeared shocked by the response, and the two sides should have been back on level terms when Joao Cancelo chopped down Vitolo to hand Sevilla a second penalty.

Bacca took on the responsibility once again, but Diego Alves responded impressively to push the striker's effort to safety.

Sevilla would pay for the miss early in the second half as Rodrigo worked his way into some space before setting up Javi Fuego, who calmly finished to extend the home side's lead.

Beto came to the rescue for Sevilla a few moments later to block Rodrigo's effort and push an Andre Gomes shot over the crossbar as Valencia threatened to pull further clear.

The introduction of Kevin Gameiro from the bench boosted the visiting attack, but the Frenchman's fine run into the box ended in disappointment as Denis Suarez poked the cross wide.

Despite dominating in the latter stages, Valencia were unable to find a fourth goal to add gloss to the scoreline on a night when they replaced their rivals in fourth place.