Sevilla are the LaLiga leaders heading into the October international break after champions Barcelona could only draw away to Valencia.
Match Events
2' GOAL! Valencia 1-0 Barcelona (Garay)
Parejo takes a simple corner towards the near post for Gameiro but it takes a touch off the head of Pique and goes directly into the path of Ezequiel Garay who taps it home from inside the six-yard box. 1-0 to Valencia after only two minutes!
6' CLOSE! Batshuayi's shot wide out
ALMOST 2-0! What is happening to Barcelona?! Guedes bursts into the area and centres it for Gameiro who tees up Batshuayi for a shot. The striker can’t get the ball out of his feet but eventually manages a weak-foot strike which goes perilously close to the Barcelona goal. Valencia are dominating the early stages here!
23' GOAL! Valencia 1-1 Barcelona (Messi)
It’s as simple a goal as Messi will score as the captain plays an easy one-two pass with Suarez on the edge of the penalty area and curls a shot into the bottom corner of the net! The two sides are level once again! 1-1!
47' CHANCE! Cheryshev's shot wide out
Gaya crosses the ball early for Gameiro who isn’t quite ready for the pass. Alba clears it but only as far as Cheryshev whose outside-the-boot shot from just outside the penalty area loops just over the crossbar and out for a goal-kick.
54' CHANCE! Messi's shot saved
After some beautiful give-and-go passing in which two Valencia players have the ball played between their legs, Neto saves his side’s blushes after making a convincing stop on an acute-angle shot from Messi.
81' CHANCE! Messi's shot wide out
Messi plays Coutinho through on goal but the Brazil international is unable to hold off Garay who uses his imposing stature to steal the ball and clear his lines
Match Reports
Lionel Messi scored a brilliant equaliser as Barcelona's winless run in LaLiga stretched to four matches following a 1-1 draw at Valencia.
Ezequiel Garay capitalised on terrible marking to convert a corner in the second minute, but Valencia were unable to make the most of their early dominance at Mestalla on Sunday.
Messi levelled midway through the first half with a wonderful strike from outside the penalty area, although Barca, who beat Tottenham 4-2 in the Champions League in midweek, could not find a winner.
Line-ups
Valencia XI: Garay, Gameiro, Parejo, Neto, Gabriel, Kondogbia, Cristiano Piccini, M. Batshuayi, Gayá, Gonçalo Guedes, C.Soler
Subs: D.Wass, Coquelin, Murillo, Rodrigo, D. Cheryshev, Jaume Doménech, T.Lato
Barcelona XI: L. Messi, T. Vermaelen, L. Suárez, Piqué, I. Rakitić, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Philippe Coutinho, M. ter Stegen, Semedo, Arthur
Subs: Vidal, Jasper Cillessen, D.Suárez, Rafinha, Lenglet, Munir, O. Dembélé
TonyV25
319
Barcelona and Real Madrid doing everything to let the other to get on top...
cj7_
298
Barcelona's away form is quite bed in La Liga, the title race is definetely wide open but we're leaking goals. On top of that, Pique is our only right footed CB. Recruitment is needed in January.
Viddipryz
269
In the first half Barcelona was playing well after Messi scored everyone was playing well but we can’t always be depending on Messi it’s a team sport not just a one man game. We’re still having problems with our defense they aren’t organized when it comes to teams pressing us. Valverde isn’t getting the best out of everyone I don’t know what he’s telling te players in the dressing room but certainly it isn’t helping by seeing the lack of motivation by the team.
Ismitty
231
Half bread is better than nothing 😂
MILIMAN
207
From today's match my conclusion would be bit negative towards Luis Suarez. Though he is one of my idol l personally feel that he should be rotated much often, inbetween 50' to 60' mins. Dembele should be given chance and not coutinho should be rotated. Arthur did well, messi was good, coutinho missed a chance, lvan rikitic was low today, lots of miss pass, busquet was lost in some part of the second half, semedo maintained the pace but needs improvement, Jordi played his part, Pique is out of form hope to see umtiti back soon , Varmealen was average, ter stagen should be rested missing cillesen's smile
boostman
161
Any good managers available? Asking for a friend.
Tingthuibo
144
We can still see clearly the same mistakes of defender. Barca doesn’t put much interested in getting world class defender, instead they always look for mid-field. Please get it soon defender.
Maxpower
125
Barcelona are completely lost. They don't feel like a threat at all to the other teams, the only threat to the opposition are Messi and Jordi Alba. I don't see motivation on the attack and I see frustration on the pitch when they can't find their way to score. Messi isn't happy and when he's not happy he can't play at his best.
Zihamoryz
102
Barcelona be like... Atleast we draw
cokilruyz
81
I think today valverede is the man behind the loss.. From the 60mins we saw both arthur and rakitic startd struugling.. Instead of replacing them with vidal and dembele he sit silently nd watch the game.. Non sense.. Thats it.. If the fresh legs were introduced on that time especially arthur we should have got more chances for attacking.. We are too lucky tnos valencia strikers are too unlucky today to find the net.. Otherwise it will be 3-1 loos to barca.. Valverede if you can't, plz stop Nd go
Sedoso
20
The gang meets in Europe League.
Beatztapes
17
Please Valverde, you can't make the first sub in minute 84, when everyone on the pitch is already gassed out. We needed Vidal, Dembele in minute 65-70, not 84.
ready2
17
Barcelona isn't struggling in the CL though. La Liga seems to be a whole other level
pluslove
16
Dang Barca calm down, you wanna win the league or something?