Jonas provided some much-needed cutting edge for the Valencia as they got off the mark as they beat Lille 2-0 last night, leaving the French side still winless in Champions League this season.
A well-worked first-half opener from the Brazilian forward and a slightly more speculative second with 15 minutes remaining, left Lille bottom of the group and Valencia nicely placed behind leaders Bate Borisov, their matchday three opponents.
After the game Valencia boss Mauricio Pellegrino praised his side’s belief saying:
Playing the way we did tonight will help us win games in the future. We felt good as a team. We offered good support play and we were always looking to have possession of the ball in order to create more chances. We were looking to score goals up until the sending-off, which actually made the game harder.
Looking back on previous games, if I have one complaint it is that we lacked concentration. In our previous encounter against Bayern we made some bad decisions. Today, we believed in what we were doing as a team. What most occupies my mind now is that the side continues to play like this. Sometimes in football you can work well for 80 minutes and in ten you suffer a drop in form which can end up losing you the match.
