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Barcelona closed the gap on La Liga leaders Real Madrid to one point with a narrow 1-0 away win over Real Valladolid. The defending champions managed to scrape past a rugged Valladolid side as Arturo Vidal's first half effort proved to be the difference between the two teams.
Manager Quique Setién tweaked Barcelona's formation for this fixture, opting for a three-man defence with Sergi Roberto, Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet starting in front of Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. Nelson Semedo and Jordi Alba played high up the flanks while Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann were the strikers.
Barcelona started the game with high intensity and attacked the Valladolid defence from the get-go, with Semedo looking dangerous on the right-hand side. In the 15th minute, the Portuguese defender started a move from a wide position and threaded a neat pass to Messi whose sublime flick found Vidal in the box.
The Chilean midfielder smashed the ball into the bottom-left corner with a first-time finish to give Barcelona the lead. Just four minutes later, Griezmann's woes in front of goal continued as he missed a sitter after finding himself unmarked in the box.
Valladolid tried to make a comeback in the second half, moving the ball into dangerous areas but were thwarted by the heroics of Marc Andre Ter Stegen who picked up his 14th clean sheet of the season.
With the win, Barcelona move to within a point of La Liga leaders Real Madrid, having played a game more, to keep their slim title hopes alive. On that note, let us have a look at the Barcelona player ratings in the unconvicing win over Valladolid.
Barcelona Player Ratings
Marc-Andre Ter Stegen: 8.5/10
Marc Andre Ter Stegen put in another inspired display between the sticks as he made three crucial saves in the second half to keep Barcelona's fragile one-goal lead intact. The German goalkeeper was not tested much by the Valladolid attack in the first half where he had a routine shift.
Ter Stegen made a total of seven saves in the game, with the bulk of those coming in the second half. If not for his quick reflexes, Barcelona were all set to drop crucial points tonight.
Sergi Roberto: 6.5/10
It was a decent performance from the La Masia product who played in a more defensive role tonight. Sergi Roberto linked up well with Riqui Puig and Messi in the early stages of the game.But as the game progressed, he drifted away from the limelight and had little to contribute in the second half.
Roberto displayed his versatility as he started in a three-man defence against Valladolid. For a player used to starting at right-back and getting involved in the buildup play, he did well to fall back into formation quickly.
Gerard Pique: 7.5/10
Like Ter Stegen, Gerard Pique also sprang into active mode in the second half. He commanded the defence well and made as many as 11 interceptions before Valladolid strikers could get into dangerous positions.
Pique was impressive in the air and won four aerial duels while he also maintained a decent pass completion ratio of 97%.
Clement Lenglet: 4/10
Clement Lenglet had a very poor game tonight as he struggled against the impressive Kike Perez and Sergio Guardiola in the first-half.
The Frenchman was booked in the 40th minute for a foul against Oscar Plano and had to be taken off in the 57th minute.
Nelson Semedo: 7/10
Nelson Semedo started as a wing-back on the right flank for Barcelona and was effective going forward, especially in the first quarter of the game. He had a series of exquisite exchanges with Messi, Puig and Vidal in the opposition half that eventually led to the only goal of the game.
He also laid down a clever cross for Griezmann in the 19th minute, which the French forward failed to connect. Semedo's energy levels, however, dropped drastically after the goal and he spent the major portion of the second half in Barcelona's territory.
Jordi Alba: 6.5/10
With most of the attacking opportunities being created on the right flank, Jordi Alba had little to offer from his advanced wing-back position. He did combine sublimely with Messi from a corner routine in the first half, but apart from that his attacking threat remained limited.
Defensively, Alba was not challenged much and barring a few routine clearances and a couple of interceptions, he only contributed in keeping the ball moving for Barcelona.
Sergio Busquets: 6.5/10
Sergio Busquets managed to put in a fair shift in the middle of the pitch in Barcelona's tweaked formation against Valladolid.
The veteran midfielder looked a bit sluggish defensively, earning a yellow card for a foul that led to Valladolid's best chance of the game. Busquets, however, played a key role in breaking up the opposition's play and even created two half-chances in either half.
Riqui Puig: 7/10
Riqui Puig put in another impressive display in the Barcelona midfield and found himself in the thick of things in the visitors' early onslaught on the Villareal goal.
He showed great skill on the ball and was intelligent with his passing. Puig's movements off the ball were also key in opening up the stubborn Valladolid defence. He displayed a burst of pace and good turn to get away from his markers but had little to offer defensively.
Arturo Vidal: 8/10
Arturo Vidal had one of his best games of the season tonight as he got on the scoresheet and was dominant in the midfield throughout the game.
The Chilean international got into a good position to receive Messi's pass, but still had a lot to do as the Valladolid defence closed in on him. However, he took the chance perfectly and had the presence of mind to unleash his shot into the far corner, to score the only goal of the game.
Vidal also completed his duty as a defensive midfielder by making four tackles in the game, which was more than any other Barcelona player on the pitch, while also maintaining an 89% pass accuracy.
Antoine Griezmann: 4/10
Antoinne Greizmann just flopped, plain and simple, against Valladolid. With all the players around him in the final third operating at a higher level, he failed to keep up and let his teammates down. The Frenchman was unsure in possession and got dispossessed on a couple of occasions in the first half.
His biggest mistake in the game came in the 19th minute when he messed up an opportunity to double Barcelonaa's lead and put the game away for good. Greizmann wildly swung his right foot at Semedo's delivery in the box to completely miss the ball as the chance went begging.
He was substituted off after the first half due to his poor display.
Lionel Messi: 7.5/10
It was another game and yet another assist for Barcelona's talismanic captain Lionel Messi.
Barcelona have had to depend on the Argentine's ability to conjure the only goal of the game against Valladolid. He was comfortable with the ball at his feet and used his quick feet to get past his markers.
Messi often found himself surrounded by two or three Valladolid defenders and thus his direct threat was limited, but that did not stop him from laying a clever assist to Arturo Vidal.
The closest Messi came to scoring was in the 42nd minute when he found himself with a bit of space and made a run into the box from the left side to unleash a low driven shot that took a deflection off a defender.
On another occasion, his fine free-kick in the 63rd minute was pushed over the bar by the Real Valladolid goalkeeper Jordi Masip.
Barcelona Substitutes
Luis Suarez: 5.5/10
Luis Suarez replaced Griezmann at half time and fared a little better than the former Atletico Madrid forward in the final third. However, he looked a bit off the pace and went down way too easily to challenges. Suarez had a couple of encouraging exchanges with Messi but failed to score or assist a goal.
Ivan Rakitic: 5/10
Ivan Rakitic came on the pitch when the hosts pushed Barcelona on the backfoot. That meant that the Croatian had to spend most of his time helping his defenders.
As Barcelona sat back and defended in the second half, Rakitic's creative potential was not fully utilised and he had little impact on the game's outcome.
Ronald Araujo: 5/10
Ronald Araujo had barely anything to do after coming on in the 57th minute for Clement Lenglet as Barcelona players crowded their half to thwart Valladolid's second-half attacks.
He, however, did make a couple of clearances from the box and had a successful tackle in the final few minutes of the game.
Junior Firpo: N/A
