Messi’s double leads Barca to nail-biting win over Valencia
VALENCIA: Lionel Messi missed a penalty but still scored twice, including an exquisite free-kick, as Barcelona edged a five-goal thriller with Valencia to stay within touching distance of the top of La Liga.
After Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid both won on Saturday, there was no margin for error at Mestalla, where Barcelona’s 3-2 win reduced the gap behind Atletico back to two points, now with four games left to play.
Gabriel Paulista headed Valencia in front early in the second half before Messi missed a penalty, only to smash in from the resulting scramble.
Griezmann and a superb Messi free-kick looked to have then made the victory secure but Carlos Soler’s stunning strike from distance left Barcelona holding on at the end, a nerve-wracking win meaning they could overtake Atletico next weekend if they beat Diego Simeone’s side at the Nou Camp.
“We knew we would not have any calm games,” said Gerard Pique. “We are still in the fight. Calm games mean you’re not competing for anything.”
After a frantic week in which Real drew against Real Betis, Atletico lost to Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona were beaten on Thursday by Granada, order has been restored to some extent this weekend, with all the top three back to winning ways. Sevilla are now six points behind Atletico.
“The only idea against Atletico is to win,” said Pique.
“I hope we will be top by the end of the weekend but even if someone else is there, I wouldn’t put my house on them being champions.”
Barcelona’s key strengths and weaknesses were clearly demonstrated against Valencia where again they proved themselves to be the most creative team in the division while also showing their vulnerabilities at the back.
And if they have one trump card during the run-in, it is Messi, whose double takes his La Liga tally to 28 goals for the season, seven ahead of Karim Benzema and even more remarkable given his relatively slow start.
The Argentine now has seven in his last five games. Ronald Koeman was banned from the bench after being sent off against Granada, with assistant coach Alfred Schreuder in his place on the line.