It’s father versus son in Saturday’s Liga 1 Indonesia action as East Java rivals Persebaya Surabaya and Arema FC squared-off against each other at the former’s Gelora Bung Tomo, with Persebaya captain Ze Valente facing-off against his father, Arema head coach Fernando Valente. In the end it was the son who emerged victorious, with Persebaya winning 3-1 and the younger Valente finding himself in the scoresheet.
Prior to Satruday’s Super East Java Derby, Ze stressed to the media that he will approach the match against his father in a professional manner.
“I haven’t communicated with my father after the match against Madura United.” Ze said, as quoted from Suara Jatim, “He’s focused with Arema, I’m focused with Persebaya. I want to win for my team, not to get one over my father. The three points will be my motivation.”
The match itself saw Persebaya dominating their arch-rivals, peppering the Singo Edan defense with attack after attack. Spurred on by their faithful supporters, the Bajul Ijo took the lead in the 26th minute through Bruno Moreira, curling the ball into Julian Schwarzer’s goal after taking advantage of a mistake made by Arema defender Syaeful Anwar.
In the 34th minute, Arema had a crucial chance to level the score at 1-1. Although Dedik Setiawan had an open opportunity, his shot wasn’t powerful enough and defender Arief Catur easily warded off the danger before it could cross the goal-line.
Persebaya continued their dominance throughout the first half, with Ze generating numerous opportunities. Nevertheless, Persebaya had to wait until the third minute of stoppage time to secure their second goal, as Dusan Stefanovic executed a flawless header from Bruno’s pass.
The second half started perfectly for Persebaya, with Ze striking home a powerful, well-taken volley in the 50th minute to pretty much seal the win for the Bajul Ijo.
Despite this, Arema didn’t back down without a fight. In the 65th minute, Dedik managed to find the back of the net to make it 3-1, however shortly afterwards he suffered an injury and was substituted by Ginanjar Wahyu.
Following this, Arema displayed more confidence in their ball possession while Persebaya sought to dictate the game’s tempo, playing with a calmer demeanor and slightly easing off the pressure on Arema FC’s goal as they seek to sit upon their lead.
Catur successfully stole the ball from Bagas Adi in the 85th minute, however, when faced with a one-on-one situation, Catur couldn’t outsmart Filipino goalkeeper Schwarzer, ensuring that the scoreline remained the same until the end of the match.
The three points took Persebaya to 5th in the Liga 1 table, with 21 points from 13 games. Arema, on the other hand, remained in the relegation zone in 16th with 10 points from their 13 games.