Valencia have moved to within one point of La Liga leaders Barcelona courtesy of a 4-0 victory over fellow top-four hopefuls Sevilla at the Mestalla this evening.
Goncalo Guedes and Simone Zaza were on the scoresheet for the hosts either side of half time to leave them in control of the game, before late strikes from Santi Mina and a second for Guedes saw them cap off another impressive performance.
Valencia have now won their last five matches, scoring 21 goals in the process to leave them hot on the heels of Barca - albeit having played a game more.
It took until two minutes before half time for the hosts to make the breakthrough, but it was worth the wait as Guedes burst through on goal before cutting back onto his right foot and firing a fine finish into the top corner.
The second arrived six minutes after the restart when former West Ham United loanee Zaza collected the ball in the area before working space to shoot and drilling a clinical low finish into the bottom far corner.
Zaza was narrowly short of getting on the end of Carlos Soler's cross with 20 minutes remaining as Valencia pushed for more, and Rodrigo was denied by Sergio Rico moments later.
Sevilla did have the chance to pull themselves back into the match with less than 15 minutes left when Luis Muriel got on the end of a cross into the box, but his header flew narrowly wide of the target.
That warning shot only served to intensify Valencia's efforts, though, and they added a third with five minutes remaining when Guedes turned provider, picking the pass for Santi Mina to poke his finish past the onrushing keeper.
Guedes was back on the scoresheet himself in stoppage time, this time producing an exquisite chipped finish over Rico after latching on to Geoffrey Kondogbia's defence-splitting pass.
The result sees Marcelino's side move one point behind Barcelona ahead of the leaders' home match against Malaga this evening, whereas Sevilla drop to sixth and could end the weekend three points adrift of the Champions League places.
Barney Corkhill
