Ousmane Dembele gave Barcelona a 1-0 win over Real Valladolid, but it was far from convincing.
2018/2019 La Liga
0-1
Goal
57' GOAL! Valladolid 0-1 Barcelona (Dembele)
The Frenchman strokes the ball into the bottom corner from close range. A long ball over the top from Suarez played Sergi Roberto in down the right. He was forced to leap to head it back across the face of goal.
Dembele was in the right place at the right time, placing his effort past Masip into the net.
There was a slight moment of confusion as to if Sergi Roberto kept the ball in play when he made contact with his header on the byline, but the Spaniard did brilliantly to tee up his team-mate to score.
Sergi Roberto does brilliantly on the right flank to head the ball back from the byline to set up Dembele for the opening goal.
Match Report
Barcelona battled to a 1-0 win over Real Valladolid on Saturday to make it two victories from two in their LaLiga title defence.
Ousmane Dembele's second-half strike settled matters at the Jose Zorrilla against last season's LaLiga123 play-off winners.
Valladolid thought they had equalised through Keko in second-half stoppage time, but the goal was ruled out for offside after a VAR referral.
It was a far from convincing display from Ernesto Valverde's side, but it means they move top of the table ahead of Sunday's fixtures, while Valladolid are still looking for their first goal and win of the season.
Barca recalled Philippe Coutinho to the starting line-up but struggled for rhythm in the first half, with Dembele wasting the best of the early chances following a fine cushioned pass from Lionel Messi.
Dembele remained the most threatening of the champions' attackers, though, and made the most of his next good chance, sending a controlled volley past former Barca goalkeeper Jordi Masip 57 minutes in after a header down from Sergi Roberto.
Valladolid responded well to the setback and looked the most likely to score next, with Marc-Andre ter Stegen saving from Keko and Kiko Olivas in the final 15 minutes.
Luis Suarez had what he thought was the decisive second goal disallowed for offside, but Barca held on to make it two wins and no goals conceded from two league games this term, although it took a VAR intervention to deny Keko's last-gasp header.
Line-ups
Real Valladolid XI: Borja Fernández, Javi Moyano, Kiko Olivas, Óscar Plano, Nacho, Jordi Masip, Rubén Alcaraz, E.Ünal, Anuar Mohamed, Toni Villa, Fernando Calero
Subs: Duje Cop, Míchel, Antoñito, Keko, Samuel Pérez, Verde, S. Karim
Barcelona XI: L. Messi, L. Suárez, Piqué, I. Rakitić, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Philippe Coutinho, M. ter Stegen, S.Roberto, S. Umtiti, O. Dembélé
Subs: Vidal, Lenglet, Semedo, Arthur, Munir, Malcom, Jokin Ezkieta