Ten-man Valencia left it late to secure a 1-1 draw from their trip to Sevilla on the opening weekend of La Liga action this evening.
The first chance of the encounter was carved out by visiting Valencia in the eighth minute, but although Pablo Piatti's shot beat Sevilla goalkeeper Beto, the ball cannoned off the inside of both posts before it was cleared to safety.
That incident would prove to be one of Beto's final involvements in the contest because he was soon forced to leave the field of play with a hamstring complaint.
The loss of their goalkeeper did not hamper the hosts, though, and they broke the deadlock in the 44th minute.
Colombian striker Carlos Bacca sped away from the Sevilla defence, before he squared a pass for Aleix Vidal. The summer signing from Almeria's first shot was saved Diego Alves, but Vidal was on hand to fire the rebound into the roof of the net.
Sevilla continued to carve out the better opportunities after the restart, with Vicente Iborra spurning one of the best of them in the 65th minute as he scuffed his effort from eight yards out wide of the target.
Two minutes later, Valencia's hopes of getting anything out of the contest were dented when substitute Rodrigo De Pau, who had only been on the pitch for a matter of seconds, was red carded for a foul on Vidal.
However, in the 88th minute, depleted Valencia scored an equaliser when, after a goalmouth scramble, debutant Lucas Orban bundled the ball into the net from close range to ensure that the spoils would be shared.
Liam Apicella
