Valencia still have not scored in La Liga, and a Betis substitute beat them in the 83rd minute

Two league games into the season, Valencia have not scored a goal. Real Betis went to the Mestalla on Tuesday 25 August, defended for 83 minutes, and then broke away and won it through a 20-year-old substitute. The match finished in the early hours of Wednesday in India, and it leaves Betis level on points at the top of La Liga with a clean sheet still intact.

Eighty-three minutes, then one counter-attack

The goal came from a transition rather than any sustained pressure. Troy Parrott held the ball up and turned defence into attack, and the move ended with Pablo Garcia striking a left-footed finish past Dimitrievski. Garcia had been on the pitch only a few minutes himself. Manuel Pellegrini had gone to his bench looking for exactly this, and got it with seven minutes of normal time left.

Pablo Garcia is a Betis player in the fullest sense. He joined the academy at six, scored 43 goals in 38 games to finish top scorer in the Division de Honor Juvenil in 2023-24, signed his first professional contract in January 2025 and made his senior debut two days later against Mallorca. He turned 20 in June.

Parrott’s first appearance in Spain

Pellegrini sent Troy Parrott on in the 71st minute for his first La Liga appearance since joining from AZ Alkmaar. It nearly produced a goal immediately. The Ireland striker beat Valencia’s offside trap, got clear and dragged his angled shot the wrong side of the post. Twelve minutes later he was the reason Betis were ahead.

Pellegrini was happy enough afterwards, saying the 24-year-old has “many attributes” and that “he’s going to do well” in Spain. On the evidence of 20 minutes, that is a reasonable position to take.

Betis have won two and conceded nothing

Betis beat Real Sociedad 1-0 at home on 21 August and have now followed it with 1-0 away at Valencia. Two games, two wins, two goals scored and none conceded. That puts them second, level on six points with Sevilla and behind only on goal difference, though the table is still a lopsided thing this early: Barcelona and Real Madrid have played once, Betis and Sevilla twice.

Winning at the Mestalla without conceding is the sort of result that gets filed away and looked at again in May. Neither goal has been pretty and neither win has been comfortable, which is usually a better sign than the reverse.

Valencia’s problem is at the other end

Valencia have a point from two matches and sit 15th. They drew 0-0 with Celta Vigo on 22 August and lost this one, which means 180 minutes of league football without a shot going in. The defending has not been the issue. One goal conceded in two games is a respectable return, and for 83 minutes on Tuesday they kept a Betis side that had not conceded all season at arm’s length.

The attendance was 45,472. A team that cannot score does not need many other things to go wrong before a season turns awkward, and Valencia now go to Deportivo La Coruna on 30 August looking for a first goal.

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