Valencia 1-1 Barcelona: Sterile Catalans can't break Los Che down
Messi earned a point with a good finish after Garay sent the hosts ahead at Mestalla
Barcelona failed to win for the fourth time in a row in La Liga in a 1-1 draw at Valencia, with Lionel Messi equalising after an early goal for the hosts.
VAL
1 ________________ 1
FCB
LINE UP
Valencia
Neto; Gabriel, Piccini, Garay, Gayà; Carlos Soler, Parejo, Kondogbia (Coquelin 79'), Guedes (Cheryshev 11'); Batshuayi y Gameiro (Rodrigo 67')
FC Barcelona
Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Vermaelen, Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Arthur (Rafinha 87); Coutinho (Dembélé 83'), Messi y Suárez
Goles
1-0, Garay min 2. 1-1, Messi min 22.
Árbitro
González González (colegio castellano-leonés). Amarilla a Carlos Soler, Parejo del Valencia y Suárez, Coutinho del Barcelona
Incidencias
Partido correspondiente a la jornada ocho de LaLiga Santander. 46.249 espectadores.
After just two minutes Ezequiel Garay had a tap-in at the back post after Gerard Pique failed to clear the ball.
Marcelino’s side started with a bang and for the first quarter-of-an-hour unleashed a string of attacks on Barcelona’s goal.
Luis Suarez went down in the area under a Jose Gaya challenge and might have had a penalty, before he played a one-two with Messi which saw the Argentine drill home from outside the box.
The Catalans were on top after that, with 75 per cent of possession, but could not find a breakthrough.
“La Liga is very tight, you can’t win easily,” said Ivan Rakitic. “Today we did very good work, we played very well against one of the best teams in La Liga at their stadium.”
