Valencia on course for Champions League group stages

Sofiane Feghouli scored a late goal for Valencia in their 3-1 win against Monaco

Sofiane Feghouli late goal helped Valencia secure a 3-1 advantage going into the second leg of their Champions League play-off against Monaco.

Algeria international Feghouli put the Spanish side in the driving seat when he found the net in the 86th minute giving his team control going into the second leg.

Valencia got off to the perfect start through Rodrigo’s tap-in after only four minutes, but Monaco responded early in the second-half through Mario Pasalic.

Valencia Captain Daniel Parejo had his deflected effort giving his team the lead before Feghouli sealed off the game with the third goal. “It’s a good result, the only downside is that we conceded a goal,” midfielder Parejo said. “We’re now going to Monaco to win, not just to qualify, because we don’t know how to play any other way.”

Valencia have got a good chance of returning to the Champions League group stages for the first time in three years.

Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim who guided the club to the quarter-final of the elite European competition last season said he felt that the result was unfair for his side.

“I think the result is unfair”, the manager was quoted as saying by French sports dailyL’Equipe.
“When we were just starting to dominate the game, Valencia scored their second and third goals. “It is not normal to concede goals from the wide areas. We need to change this for the next game.”

Meanwhile in the other fixtures; Scottish champions Celtic secured a 3-2 win over Malmo, Swiss club FC Basel drew 2-2 with Israel side Maccabi Tel Aviv ,Shakhtar Donetsk were 1-0 winners away to Rapid Vienna and Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb got a 2-1 win over Skenderbeu.