Fifteen shots, five on target, no goals: Valencia and Celta open with a 0-0

Both of these clubs were starting their league season a week after everyone else, and neither found a goal to mark it with.

Celta Vigo did most of the football: 56% possession, 616 passes to Valencia's 486, 89% accuracy, and the only big chance ESPN logged all night — which they missed.

Close on the numbers, empty on the scoreboard

The expected goals finished 0.67 to Celta and 0.58 to Valencia. Fifteen shots between them produced five on target and three saves at one end, two at the other. Both sides committed exactly 17 fouls.

It was that kind of evening: tidy, even, and short of anyone willing to take a risk in the final third.

A point each, then very different Augusts and Septembers

The draw at Mestalla turned out to be the calm before very different storms for these two clubs. Valencia lost their rearranged matchday-1 fixture 0-1 to Real Betis three days later, then fell 3-1 at Deportivo La Coruña in a match settled by two own goals either side of a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang strike. Barcelona put five without reply past them at Mestalla on matchday 4, and Sevilla won 1-0 through a Juan Iglesias header with nine minutes left on matchday 5. That run — one point from four matches, and a single goal scored in the process — cost Carlos Corberán his job. Interim coach Óscar Sánchez's first match in charge produced Valencia's first win of the season, 1-0 at Alavés, substitute Luis Rioja scoring against the club he had left that summer. It did not last: Real Sociedad came from behind twice to win 2-3 at Mestalla in stoppage time on matchday 7, dropping Valencia back into the bottom three.

Celta's month went differently, if not much better in the early going. A red-card-triggered defeat to Osasuna in the rearranged matchday 1 was followed by this goalless draw, then a 0-2 home loss to Athletic Club in which Celta failed to register a single shot on target from eight attempts. A goalless stalemate away at Real Sociedad followed that, then a 1-1 draw at Getafe in which Carl Starfelt cancelled out Martín Satriano's early opener and Celta saw out the closing half hour against 10 men after Zaid Romero's red card. A second straight 1-1, with fellow strugglers Málaga, came next before Celta finally broke through on matchday 7: a 5-0 thrashing of promoted Racing Santander at Balaídos, built on a Hugo González penalty and a Pablo Durán brace, gave them their first win of the season at the sixth attempt.

Where the table stands now

A month on, the two clubs that shared a blank at Mestalla sit apart in the table. Valencia are 19th with four points from seven matches, inside the relegation zone, with a goal difference of -9 — four goals scored, thirteen conceded, among the worst in the division. Celta have pulled clear of them: 16th on six points from six played, with a goal difference of +2 that is healthier than several sides above them. Neither club has escaped the bottom third of LaLiga, but the trajectories that started with this scoreless draw have diverged sharply since. It remains their only meeting of the season so far.