Barca fail to convince in victory

A late first-half penalty conversion from Lionel Messi was enough to give an unconvincing Barcelona a 1-0 victory over Real Valladolid on Saturday night at the Camp Nou in Barcelona.

The Argentine was far from his best on the night, with a number of uncharacteristic giveaways and failing to convert a second half penalty, but he was good enough to convert his first penalty attempt on the night to earn Barcelona the three points.

Overall, this was a disappointing performance from the Catalonians. While there were some good moments in the second half once Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho entered the fray, Barcelona's play won't do anything to quiet any critics.

Valladolid goalkeeper Jordi Masip also had a big say in the narrow scoreline. The former Barcelona B stopper was sensational and left Suarez and Messi shaking their heads in disbelief at the saves he made, including on Messi's second penalty.

Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde opted to rotate his squad a bit before the midweek Champions League clash versus Olympique Lyon, as Suarez was rested and Kevin-Prince Boateng earned a start up top.

After a sluggish run of results, the hope from Barcelona fans was that their team would come out with purpose and put Valladolid to the sword early, but it was the complete opposite.

If anything, Valladolid was the side that was asking questions, while Barcelona looked disinterested and afflicted with imprecise passing, needless giveaways and an overall lack of energy. Outside of the play of Gerard Pique and a narrowly missed Messi shot, there was very little for Valverde to feel good about.

Yet Barcelona kept plugging away and minutes before halftime a tug from behind by Michel on Pique sent the centre-back to the ground and referee Martinez Munuera pointed to the spot. Up stepped Messi to take the spot kick and the Argentine barely fired in a left-footer past Masip to take a 1-0 lead.

Barcelona were on better footing in the second half and the reliable Jordi Alba-Messi connection nearly paid off, only for Masip to make an outstanding reaction save. That was then followed by another Messi chance, this time with the Argentine missing wide.

Valverde wanted more punch from his attack so Suarez was summoned on the bench to replace Boateng right before the hour mark. Suarez was gifted a chance to double the margin when Messi swallowed up a Verde pass and quickly fed the Uruguayan, but Masip again came up with a big stop to keep the visitors within a goal.

Ousmane Dembele was next to exit after a relatively quiet evening and was replaced by Coutinho. The Barcelona attack was humming to a better tune and an impeccable pass from Messi into Suarez should have been converted but the striker opted to square for Pique instead of going at goal and the chance was wasted.

Coutinho and Suarez were showing good chemistry and some slick combining between the two ended with Keko bringing down the Brazilian in the area. Messi looked to convert his second penalty of the night, only this time Masip made the save and then swallowed up Messi's header off the rebound.

At the other end though Valladolid did very little to take advantage of Masip's heroics, as they hardly troubled Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the Barcelona net and when it was all said and done, the Barcelona defence ably locked down the much-needed victory ahead of the team's return to Europe.

Match Sheet:

1.- Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Pique, Vermaelen, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Vidal, Alena (Rakitic, min. 76); Messi, Boateng (Suarez, min. 60), Dembele (Coutinho, min. 70)

0.- Real Valladolid: Masip; Antonito, Joaquin, Olivas, Calero, Nacho; Michel, Anuar, Verde (Toni, min. 68) (Stiven, min. 75); Sergi Guardiola, Enes Unal (Keko, min. 79)

Goals: 1-0, min. 43: Messi (p)

Referee: Martinez Munuera (Valencian). Yellow Cards: Unal (Min. 11) for Valladolid, Anuar (Min. 32) for Valladolid, Messi (Min. 67) for Barcelona, Michel (Min. 70) for Valladolid, Calero (Min. 81) for Valladolid

Red cards: None

Stadium: Camp Nou

Attendance: 67.435