Red Star Belgrade 2 - 2 Valencia

Under normal circumstances we'd have fancied ourselves for this game but it was a bit of a worry coming on the same evening as a hard fought World Club Trophy victory. Travelling to Serbia straight aftwerwards for another game was always going to be easy so we're pleased to have come out of it with a draw. Plans were thrown into chaos too after Innocenti was unable to play having got injured earlier in the evening and it seemed to affect the team as we went two goals down in the first half. However with renewed fight in the second half and an inspired substitution by the manager we came back with goals from Gotze and Rapadori. The last action of the game deep into stoppage time saw defender Paulista make a second clumsy and tired challenge unsurprisingly after 180 minutes of football and he was given a red card. With the squad a bit thin in defence this will impact our league game at the weekend with him missing through suspension. At least we're still in this cup tie and fancy our chances in the return leg.