Valencia defeats Galatasaray 2-1 in a friendly match

Fribourg, July 22: Valencia kicked off its pre-season schedule with a 2-1 friendly win over Turkey's Galatasaray, a match in which the Spanish-league football club looked superior overall.

After a mostly uneventful first half-hour at Stade Universitaire Saint-Leonard in this western city, Portuguese defender Ruben Vezo opened the scoring for Valencia in the 36-minute mark when he capitalized on a pass by Nacho Gil and some lax defense by the Turkish club to score past net minder Ismail Cipe.

Valencia's defence also was shaky towards the end of the first half, especially on the wings, but Galatasaray's forwards failed to get anything past Spanish goalkeeper Jaume Domenech.

The La Liga club, which came out with an almost entirely new batch of players at the start of the second half, stretched its lead to 2-0 on a goal by Toni Lato in the 52nd minute.

On the play, the Spanish defender did well to control a long pass and then slotted a left-footed shot past Cipe.

Valencia's spacing and organization generally were a bright spot for the team in its first pre-season match. IANS