Sergio Busquets' late, late strike was enough for Barcelona to triumph over a resolute Valencia side, and to break the hearts of the Los Che faithful.

Busquets, renowned for his defensive nature rather than goalscoring ability, fired home his first goal since September 2013 in the 93rd minute, following up after Diego Alves had somehow kept out a header from Neymar. On the overall balance of play, a draw would have been the fairest result, which will only further the disappointment experienced by the Valencia faithful.

The game began with a slow tempo, as both sides looked to feel their way into the match. French defender Jeremy Mathieu was returning to the Estadio Mestalla for the first time since his summer move to Barcelona, and the 27 year old was greeted with a courtesy of jeers and whistles, culminating with him earning an 8th minute yellow card for a wild challenge on Valencia's Alvaro Negredo.

Valencia had quietly yet effectively dominated the opening 15 minutes of the clash, counter attacking at every available opportunity. Rodrigo had the first real sight of goal in the 12th minute, after he cut in from the left and forced a save from Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo. Then, in the 14th minute, Barca broke rapidly, and Neymar teed up Suarez. The Uruguayan, who is yet to score in La Liga, fired straight at Diego Alves, who turned the ball behind for a corner.

Minutes later, things kicked off between Neymar and Nicolas Otamendi. The Brazilian attacker went down under a challenge in the penalty area, but the referee waved play on. Otamendi got in Neymar's face, and the winger responded, using his head to nudge his opponents slightly.

Valencia finished the half stronger, with Parejo and Gomes spurning chances to break the first half stalemate. And in first half added time, Gomes again managed to slip clear of the advancing Bravo, but could only find the side netting with his effort. The sides went in level at the break, and one noticeable feature was that Lionel Messi had yet to cast his spell on the game.

The second half began in a fashion opposite to the first, fiery and pacy, and once again it was the southern Spain side that were on top. Spanish youth prodigy Jose Gaya was effective on the left hand side, not only in neutralising the world class Luis Suarez, but also attacking wise. His deep cross evaded both Mathieu and Piqué and landed on the head of the stretching Negredo, who couldn't hit the target.

Just moments later however, Suarez was almost on the scoresheet. His excellent first touch brought the ball away from Diego Alves, but after doing the hard part, he scuffed his effort wide at the near post when faced with an open goal. Things just don't seem to be quite clicking for the Uruguayan at this moment in time. The end to end football was beginning to shine through, as just minutes later, Rodrigo's goal bound effort was cleared off of the Barca line by the stalwart Piqué.

And within two minutes, the controversial nature of incorrect officiating reared it's ugly head again. Suarez, quite clearly onside, tapped in to hand Barca the lead, although it was immediately chalked off as the linesman called offside. Moments later at the other end, Valencia wasted their best opportunity of the night, Feghouli firing at Bravo when through 1 on 1.

Negredo got on the end of another Gaya cross, but his left footed strie was well stopped by the unbeatable Bravo. The changes were rung out by each side, with Rafinha, Pedro, Alcacer and Filipe entering the fray in the final 10 minutes. In the 91st minute, Lionel Messi turned up. Played through 1 on 1, his first touch cost him time, and Otamendi recovered to make a brilliant, potentially game-saving tackle. However, it was not to be.

The diminutive Argentine, who scored successive hat tricks against Sevilla and APOEL, found himself with time and space in the area. He floated the ball across the 6 yard area, where Neymar was waiting to pounce. His headed effort was unbelievably blocked by Diego Alves, who could only palm it into the path of the onrushing Busquets, who slammed home a left footed drive from close range, finally breaking a resolute Valencia defence.

Cue scenes of madness at the Mestalla. In the midst of the goal celebrations, Messi was struck on the head by a bottle fired from the crowd. In his protests to the referee, he was booked, and the Sunday which began in such tragic circumstances following the death of a Deportivo fan in Madrid ended with a black shadow cast once again over Spanish football.

Barca's recovery keeps them 2nd, within 2 points of arch rivals Real Madrid, while Valencia drop to 5th following Sevilla's demolition of Granada.