Genk demolished by Valencia

Roberto Soldado scored a first-half hat-trick as Valencia thumped Genk 7-0 to keep themselves firmly in the race for the last 16.

Soldado nets treble as Valencia keep their last 16 hopes alive

Roberto Soldado scored a first-half hat-trick as Valencia thumped Genk 7-0 to keep themselves firmly in the race for a UEFA Champions League last 16 spot. Group E will now go down to the wire for Valencia and Chelsea, after the Blues were beaten 2-1 by Bayer Leverkusen - which put the German side on top. The Spaniards wasted little time in taking the lead, with Brazilian striker Jonas firing them ahead in just the 10th minute before Spanish frontman Soldado hit three goals in succession to hand the hosts a four-goal advantage heading into the break. Pablo Hernandez, substitute Aritz Aduriz and Tino Costa added further strikes in the second half to wrap up the hosts' decisive victory. Valencia will head to London to face Chelsea next month knowing a draw will be enough to go through to the knockout rounds. The home side opened the scoring against the winless Belgians when Brazilian Jonas applied his head to a Costa free-kick to nod home from six yards. Kevin De Bruyne had a rare shot blocked for Genk before Valencia went further ahead in the 13th minute, Roberto Soldado netting his first from 12 yards after Jonas threaded the ball in from the right channel. Anxious to erase the memory of Saturday's La Liga loss to Real Madrid, the hosts continued pressing with Costa forcing Genk keeper Laszlo Koteles to tip his 21st minute effort round the post.

Heroics

Koteles performed similar heroics to deny Mehmet Topal two minutes later, before Genk forced a rare shot on target in the 32nd minute when Thomas Buffel's 20 yard effort was held comfortably by Diego Alves. Soldado grabbed his second and Valencia's third in the 37th minutes when Costa nudged his free-kick to the striker, who blasted the ball past a helpless Koteles from the edge of the box. And it was 4-0 two minutes later after another rising strike from Soldado, who was played in on the edge of the six yard box by a short pass from Pablo Hernandez. Valencia continued to dominate in the second half with Koteles tipping over a drive from Topal and a 20-yard shot from Hernandez before the fifth arrived in the 68th minute, Hernandez sweeping home from a Jonas pass. Two minutes later Aritz Aduriz made it six when he drilled home a left-foot shot from the right side of the six yard box after a ball in from Miguel on the right wing. And after Aduriz and Jonas both came close, Genk's misery was complete 10 minutes from time when Costa followed up to poke home after Jonas' initial shot had been parried into his path by the hapless Koteles.

Valencia	Team Statistics	KRC Genk
7	Goals	0
4	1st Half Goals	0
18	Shots on Target	4
3	Shots off Target	4
3	Blocked Shots	4
9	Corners	8
11	Fouls	11
0	Offsides	0
2	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0
87.9	Passing Success	80.4
22	Tackles	23
72.7	Tackles Success	69.6
58.7	Possession	41.3
52.6	Territorial Advantage	47.4
513	Total Passes	347
17	Total Crosses	21
118	Lost Balls	130
60	Recoveries	56