Valverde: Messi decides what to do and he always gets it right

Ernesto Valverde once again lauded his star player, Lionel Messi, whose genius settled the Catalan derby in Barcelona's favour on Saturday.

Messi scored twice in the second half, his first a chipped free kick, as Barça beat a well organised Espanyol side 2-0 at Camp Nou.

Valverde said: "Messi can appear at any moment and we already know about his effectiveness from dead balls. For as much as we train, we can't predict what the rivals will do [to defend him]. We don't know if they will drop someone on to the floor or drop someone back. It's something that happens in a split second, Messi decides [what to do] and he always gets it right. He's created psychosis in rival teams -- and that's very good for us."

Barça's win was hard fought but deserved. Valverde gave credit to Espanyol for making the derby difficult.

"It was really tough, because they had a line of five [in defence] and there wasn't much space to move," the coach added. "There wasn't much danger on the counter, but it was difficult to create chances. In the second half we were a bit better, the game opened up and we were able to score."