Valencia took 34 seconds to tilt their Copa del Rey tie against Tavernes and never let it go. By the 23rd minute they were 4-0 up, and Aimar added two more after the break as Valencia cruised to a 6-0 win in Tavernes vs Valencia.
The early burst that settled the tie
The opener came from the first attack. Sato threaded the ball for Aimar, who got in behind the defence and set up Dani Raba, and Raba finished to put Valencia in front.
From there the game stopped looking like a contest. Luis Rioja supplied two assists in the rout, Harvey Elliott scored the fourth with a direct free kick, and Hugo Duro was part of a night where Valencia barely had to leave first gear.
Aimar's finish and the crowd at Mestalla
Aimar's brace gave the scoreline a more emphatic shape after the break. He finished the night on two goals, while Valencia reached six in total and put the tie beyond doubt long before the final whistle.
The setting fitted the performance. Close to 32,155 spectators were at Mestalla, including around 5,000 supporters who travelled from Tavernes, and the home crowd got a cup night that was over almost before it started.
The wider issue for Valencia is not this tie, but the contrast with their league form, where they are 19th with 9 points from 12 matches. This was a clean cup release from that pressure, even if it does not change the domestic table. Mestalla could have played its last cup match before the move to the Nou Mestalla, which gives the result a little extra weight in the club's own staging.
Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
