Late lead slips away as FC Barcelona draw at Valencia, 1–1

Just when it looked as if FC Barcelona were going to be the first team to win at Mestalla this season, the Catalans’ only defensive lapse of the game provided Valencia just the window they needed.

After Luis Suárez had put Barça ahead in the 59th minute, Santi Mina drew Los Che level with a strike four minutes from time, snatching two points from FC Barcelona and keeping Valencia — who where missing ten players due to injury or suspension — undefeated at home this season.

The draw snaps an eight game winning streak for FC Barcelona across all competitions but keeps them unbeaten in their last eight visits to Mestalla in La Liga. This is Barça’s fifth draw over that stretch.

Barça took the lead just shy of the hour mark when Suárez slotted past Valencia goalkeeper Jaume Domènech after appearing to have run out of room deep in the Valencia end.

Suárez and Lionel Messi combined on a brilliant give-and-go near midfield that sent Suárez barrelling in on goal. After shedding multiple defenders, Suárez, faced with an acute angle to Jaume’s left, found a sliver of an opening just big enough to exploit and shot. It was Suárez’s 13th goal this season in La Liga, where the Uruguayan continues to hold onto the number two slot on the scoring list.

The goal was also just the third Valencia had conceded at home in the league this season.

But with four minutes to play the hosts drew level when forward Paco Alcácer managed to control the ball between Barça defenders Gerard Piqué and Javier Mascherano before dumping off to a charging Mina, whose one-time blast from 12 metres into the top shelf gave FC Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo no chance to save.

Well before the game was decided, however, the first half was one of missed opportunities for FC Barcelona The Messi–Neymar–Suárez connection, the so-called Trident, tried mightily to do what it does best, but it came up short time and again in the first 45 minutes.

The best early chance the trio created came in the 26th, when Neymar pulled off a brilliant move along the touchline and found Messi alone, only for Messi to shoot straight at the goalkeeper. Suárez then had back-to-back shots in the 34th and 35th minutes, but first fired high on a one-time volley attempt and then passed up an open chip shot in favour of a wide open Neymar, but sent a cross that sailed high and behind the streaking Brazilian.

Despite the Barça siege, however, Valencia, playing under caretaker and interim head coach Salvador González, aka Voro, stood courageously tall on defence and managed to dodge a Catalan landslide in the battle for possession.

Valencia are now unbeaten at home in their last 19 league games overall dating back to last season, when Barça won at Mestalla on a last-minute goal by Sergio Busquets.

FC Barcelona continue as leaders at the top of the La Liga table, but are now just two points ahead of second-place Atlético Madrid and four points ahead of third-place Real Madrid. Valencia's point now gives them 20, and has them in seventh place, just one point from the ever important sixth slot that promises a berth in the Europa League.