Despite dominating proceedings at the Estadio de Mestalla, FC Barcelona couldn’t turn their possession into three points as they squandered a number of chances en route to a 1-1 draw against Valencia CF. While the Blaugrana entered the match on a run of seven successive wins, during which time they had averaged four goals per game, they struggled with their finishing throughout this one and ultimately it cost them the win as Santi Mina struck a late equaliser on the counter-attack. Not ideal, but hardly the end of the world either.
FIRST HALF
Averaging four goals a game over the past seven matches, FC Barcelona entered the match as strong favourites to bag a few more against a depleted Valencia CF side. For a while, and from the start it looked as though we might do just that. Barça were moving the ball around quickly; our movement was sharp as well and as a result, the Blaugrana were picking the Valencia defense apart at will.
Nothing summarised the first-half better than Neymar’s performance up against stand-in right-back, Ruben Vezo – the Portuguese defender is a centre-half by trade, and this was painfully obvious every time the Brazilian breezed past him.
Chances for Neymar, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Ivan Rakitić followed, but not one of them could take advantage. In each case, composure and accuracy were the issues – which was strange to see given our prolific run of goalscoring form as of late. Undoubtedly Luis Enrique would have been disappointed not to see his team get ahead at the break, but there was no need to panic – if the first 45 minutes was anything to go by, we would create a few more chances before the night was over.
SECOND HALF
Fortunately, our lacklustre finishing was limited to the first-half only; after wasting a bunch of gilt-edged chances, Barça broke the deadlock just before the hour mark by converting of our their toughest shots of the game. A ball over the top set Luis Suarez free, and after expertly holding off Aymen Abdennour, the Uruguayan buried his shot at the near-post to notch his 13th goal of the La Liga season.
Despite dominating possession, Barça didn’t really create an awful lot after their opener; Neymar’s superb individual run and curling effort were the closest we got to a second, and we would be made to rue those misses as Los Che struck on the counter-attack. Paco Alcacer gets all the plaudits for his superb touch and hold-up play as he teed up Santi Mina for a thumping equaliser with less than five minutes to play.
Barcelona: Bravo; Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez, Neymar
Goals: Suarez (58’)
Valencia: Jaume; Vezo, Santos, Abdennour, Gaya; Perez (Bakkali), Danilo; Mina (Tropi), Parejo, de Paul (Piatti); Alcacer
Goals: Mina (86’)
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