Goals from Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi were enough for Barcelona to secure a 2-0 victory over Valencia and extend their lead at the top of La Liga.
Suarez gave the Catalan the lead inside the first minute before Claudio Bravo was called upon to save a Valenica penalty in the eighth minute to keep their lead. A few half chances followed in the remainder of the first period with Adriano and Gerard Pique both coming close. Chances from Neymar and Lionel Messi went close in the second period but the Argentine wrapped it up in injury time to secure the points for Luis Enrique’s side.
Barcelona couldn’t of got off to a greater start when they took the lead inside the first minute, a quick break spearheaded by Lionel Messi saw the Argentine play it out to his to Suarez who coolly slotted into the bottom corner to Luis Enrique’s side the early lead.
Keeper Claudio Bravo was call upon in the sixth minute to produce an excellent save from Fegouhli but the flag was already up for offside. Two minutes later the Chilean was call upon again after Rodrigo turned defender Gerard Pique and subsequently bringing him down for a penalty. Captain Parejo stepped up to take spot-kick, he blasted it towards the bottom corner but Bravo was on hand to brilliantly catch the effort.
From that point onwards it was very evenly matched contest with few chances, Suarez produced some excellent skills in the 42nd minute before playing it off to Adriano but his shot was wayward. From that Valenica broke down the field but the ball into the area was easily caught by Bravo, the last action of the half came when Pique got his head on Xavi’s corner but it was well wide of the target.
Barca continued their dominance into the second period with Neymar coming close in the 55th minute, Messi played it out wide to Dani Alves who played it into the area for his fellow Brazilian but Neymar’s weak header was easily held by Diego Alves.
10 minutes later Messi had a great opportunity from a free kick in a dangerous area but it just whizzed over the top of the crossbar. He was involved again eight minutes when he sprayed an excellent ball across field to defender Jeremy Mathieu but his attempted cross was turned behind.
Valenica were on the ropes for the majority of the second period but came close to an equaliser 15 minutes from the end, the ball came up for Rodrigo which was turned behind well by the keeper. Messi went on a mesmerising run three minutes later winding in and out of Valencia but Otamendi managed a vital interception to prevent the shot.
Valencia continued to push for an equaliser right into the final minutes and from that Barcelona got their second. In the fourth minute of injury time a Valenica attack was cleared up field to Messi who was one-on-one with Alves, he dinked it past the Brazilian and slotted it home for his 28th league goal of the season.
This was routine victory for Barcelona with two well-worked goal right at the beginning and right at the end of the match to seal the win and dominated the play and possession in between. That victory puts Barca five points ahead of Real Madrid for the time being and focus will now to their meeting with PSG at the Nou Camp on Tuesday.
Valenica will be disappointed with their overall performance, they went at their opponents in the first ten minutes but that penalty seemed to deflate them. This defeat has also seriously damaged their European aspirations as closest rivals Sevilla now sit just three points behind with their weekend game yet to be played.