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Barcelona drew 2-2 with Valencia tonight in a crucial LaLiga match at the Camp Nou. Barca continues to lead the league table with 50 points from 22 matches and Valencia stay in the seventh place with 30 points from the same number of matches.
Valencia scored a couple of goals within the first 35 minutes of the match to stun the Barca supporters.
However, Barca pulled one back in the 39th minute through a Lionel Messi penalty and then equalized in the 64th minute through Messi again.
Messi’s genius rescued Barca yet again and earned a valuable point for them. However, Atletico Madrid, who are second on the LaLiga table, would still fancy their chances of winning the league.
Barca had 69% possession in the match and eight shots on goal against Valencia’s seven. However, Valencia played some nice counter-attacking football to come away with a vital away point.
We would now take a look at the 3 things we learned from tonight’s match:
#3 Barcelona’s defence looked sluggish
Barcelona started Gerard Pique and Thomas Vermaelen in tonight’s match, and both of them were found wanting in terms of speed and agility.
Pique and Vermaelen are 32 and 33 years old respectively and had a problem in dealing with the pace of younger forwards like Gameiro and Rodrigo.
Valencia should have scored in the 3rd minute itself, as one of their shots hit the post. However, Rodrigo’s brilliant solo run led to their first goal in the 24th minute.
One of the Valencia defenders won the ball from Messi and played it to Rodrigo, who made a brilliant 50-yard dash before passing it to Gameiro, who made no mistake in slotting the ball past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
Both Pique and Vermaelen found it very difficult to close Rodrigo down or mark Gameiro. Pique has become considerably slower with age and relies primarily on his anticipation only to stop the opposition forwards.
Moreover, he got injured in the first half, and it made things even more difficult for Barca. Vermaelen has played in only eight matches this season, and quite understandably, looked a bit rusty.
Sergio Busquets is also on the wrong side of 30, and had difficulties in providing adequate cover to the centre-backs.
Barcelona played Nelson Semedo and Sergi Roberto as their right and left backs respectively, but neither could convince with their defensive prowess. Both of them were quite comfortable making overlapping runs, and Semedo was actually behind most of Barca’s attacks in the first 15 minutes or so.
He also earned Barca the penalty in the first half that led to their first goal, but did not look very comfortable while defending.
Valencia’s second goal came from an attack through their left wing, as Semedo could not stop the cross from the flank and Roberto fouled Valencia's Daniel Wass inside the box, as the latter tried to head the ball in. Regular left-back Jordi Alba did not play yesterday, and Barca missed him sorely.
#2 Valencia played very good counter-attacking football in the first half
Valencia had some problems initially in dealing with Barcelona's quick passes and Semedo's overlaps through the right wing but recovered well to start playing some solid counter-attacking football, which left Barcelona flabbergasted.
The Valencia defenders started playing long, diagonal balls to their left flank and Semedo had to fall back and subsequently struggled to negotiate the forwards.
They also made some good interceptions, and one such interception paved the way for their first goal. Another long ball to the left flank led to Valencia's second goal, and they looked all set for a famous win at the Camp Nou.
Rodrigo was a livewire for Valencia and played box-to-box at times to make things difficult for Barcelona.
His solo run led to Valencia's first goal, and it was his 4th assist of the season. Denis Cherysev also had a fairly decent game for Valencia and gave some problems to Sergi Roberto through the right flank.
Valencia could not hold on to a two-goal lead ultimately, but impressed with their counter-attacking football in the first half.
#1 Valencia maintained their defensive shape, but could not stop Messi
Valencia played with a 4-4-2 formation that became 4-4-1-1 as soon as they lost possession, and maintained their defensive shape almost throughout the match.
It is very difficult to do so against a team like Barca, who keep playing short and probing passes inside the opposition half. Moreover, Messi keeps falling back to the middle third to confuse the opposition defenders and thereby creates space for his teammates.
However, the Valencia defence performed creditably against the much-vaunted Barca attack and their goalkeeper also made some very good saves.
However, all their efforts were not good enough to stop Messi, who scored yet another brace to rescue his team.
Messi has now scored 29 goals in 27 matches this season and is carrying Barca almost single-handedly.
However, other Barca forwards like Luis Suarez and Philipe Coutinho would have to step up their game against stronger opponents like Real Madrid, who are going to face Barca thrice in the next month.
