Valencia’s hopes of a winning return to the Champions League after a two-year absence were dashed when Hulk struck twice for Zenit St Petersburg in a 3-2 victory for the Russian champions in their Group H opener.
Valencia, the 2000 and 2001 runners-up, came through qualification by beating Monaco 4-3 over two legs but they were brought abruptly down to earth in the first half at their Mestalla stadium by a pair of thunderous efforts from Hulk.
The Brazil forward opened the scoring in the ninth minute when he sped clear on the left and cracked a shot across the home goalkeeper, Jaume Domènech, into the far corner. His second shortly before half-time was even better after he picked up the ball outside the area and smashed it high into the net.
The Valencia full-back João Cancelo, who had hit a post in the second minute, pulled a goal back for the home side 10 minutes into the second half and the forward André Gomes levelled 17 minutes from time, when he scored from a tight angle.
Zenit’s Belgium midfielder Axel Witsel grabbed what proved to be the winning goal three minutes later with a powerful, low shot. Their victory meant their coach, André Villas-Boas, won the battle of the Portuguese coaches as Valencia are managed by Nuno, with whom Villas-Boas worked at Porto, under José Mourinho.
“The match didn’t go as we wanted,” Valencia’s Gomes said. “We wanted to turn it around but couldn’t pull it off. We knew we had to risk it everything, and a miscue by us meant they scored the winner.”
