Valencia CF and Sporting de Gijón: two teams united by the goal

David Villa unites the history of Valencia CF and Sporting de Gijón. The Asturian striker, raised in Mareo, stood out in Sporting, where he competed for two seasons in the Second Division and helped them get promoted to the First Division before making the leap to Valencia CF. At Mestalla he lived his best sporting years, scoring 125 goals in 208 official matches, being the second highest scorer in the club's history ahead of Mario Alberto Kempes.

Valencia CF paid tribute to him this year with the Valencianista fans in the streets and in the stands of Mestalla where the love and gratitude towards the striker was clearly obvious.

David Villa, top scorer of the Spanish National Team with which he won the World Cup in 2010, is undoubtedly the most internationally recognized player who has played for both Valencia CF and Sporting de Gijón.

In any case, throughout the long history of the two entities there are other great strikers who wore the jerseys of both clubs.

Although he never made his debut with the Sporting de Gijón first team, Miguel Ángel Angulo arrived at VCF Mestalla from the Sporting B team after having been trained in the Avilés youth academy. 

During his time at Valencia CF, the versatile Asturian player scored 67 goals in 434 official matches and became the player with the most titles in the Club's history after winning the Intertoto Cup (1998), Copa del Rey (1999 and 2008), Spanish Super Cup (2000), LaLiga (2001/02 and 2003/04), UEFA Cup (2004) and European Super Cup (2004). 

Angulo is now the coach of VCF Mestalla.

The goals of Eloy Olaya, the great striker who arrived at Mestalla after having excelled at Sporting Gijón in the 80s and having played for Spain in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, still remain in the Valencianista memory.

Eloy arrived at Valencia CF in the summer of 1988 and played seven seasons with the Valencian team, scoring 42 goals in 240 games. He helped the team to return to Europe competition and to achieve the runner-up position in LaLiga in 1989-90.

In addition to Eloy Olaya, in the 1980s Valencia CF and Sporting de Gijón also shared other foreign strikers who were respected in their respective countries.

Uruguayan Wilmar Cabrera played two seasons at Mestalla in the mid-1980s, scoring 26 goals in 64 games. After the 1986 World Cup he left for French soccer and later returned to Spain to play for Sporting.

The opposite path was taken by Mexican Lucho Flores, who shone for the Asturian side before joining Valencia CF after scoring 12 goals for Sporting and playing for the Mexican national team. At Mestalla, Lucho Flores only played for one season, 1988/89, in which he reprised his first-choice attacking pairing with Eloy. He was unable to show his full potential and only scored 4 goals.

The history of goalscorers between Valencia CF and Sporting has deeper roots. Back in the 1950s, Valencia CF's Manuel Badenes, a striker from Castellón, stood out during his six seasons, scoring 110 goals in 115 games, an average of almost a goal per game. With Valencia CF Badenes won the 1954 Cup before moving to Real Valladolid and later to Sporting Gijón, where he spent two seasons.   

Quiliano Gago, a skilled winger who played 8 seasons at Mestalla in which he won two Cups (1949 and 1954) and the Eva Duarte Cup (1950), also stood out in the same period. He scored 43 goals in 106 games before leaving for Sporting Gijón, where he won promotion to the First Division.

Also in the 50's they shared a young striker from Moncada, Ricardo Alós, who played on loan for a season at Sporting Gijón before arriving at Valencia CF where he scored 31 goals in 54 games and became Pichichi de LaLiga in the 1957/58 season.

Valencia CF and Sporting de Gijón have also shared offensive players such as Pablo Rodríguez, who arrived at CD Mestalla after training at Sporting de Gijón.

In his 7 seasons with Valencia CF he won the Copa del Rey in 1979, the Cup Winners' Cup in 1980 and the Super Cup in 1981. His great performance against Glasgow Rangers earned him the nickname "the squirrel of Ibrox Park".

Carlos Horacio González "Zurdi" was also a left winger. After excelling at Sporting Gijón, he played three seasons at Valencia CF from 1988 to 1991 in which he scored 6 goals and provided 4 assists.  

These are some of the names of the particular history with the goal that Valencia CF and Sporting de Gijón have in common. Two historic clubs that cross their paths in the Copa del Rey of 2023 round of 16.