Inside La Liga: Tempers rise at Mestalla

The locals are very restless at Valencia, as fans and pundits now realise what it’s like supporting a club controlled by Singapore businessman Peter Lim and Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes.

Valencia have not started the new season well. A 3-2 defeat at home to Zenit Saint Petersburg in their opening Champions League group opener a fortnight ago was followed by a 0-0 draw at home to 10-man Real Betis, bringing chants of ‘Nuno must go’ directed at coach Nuno Espirito Santo.

Last Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat at Espanyol meant an expensively assembled team had scored just twice in their first five La Liga games, during their worst start to a season since 1997.