Barcelona have extended their winless streak in La Liga to four as they drew 1-1 with Valencia at the Mestalla on Sunday night.
Valencia were ahead within a minute through defender Ezequiel Garay but Lionel Messi scored his sixth goal of the La Liga season to ensure Barcelona shared the spoils.
Some sympathy must be reserved for the 100-strong marching band who played while the teams walked out, the sounds of their horns and drums drowned out by a rapturous Mestalla crowd.
The nervous excitement of the home supporters quickly turned to ecstasy when Garay netted the opener. After Gerard Pique cost Barca three points against Leganes with a horrible mistake, the centre-back will once again watch the replays and question his actions after he ducked out of a cross that eventually found it's way to the unmarked Garay at the back post. The Argentinian couldn't miss from inside the six-yard box and bedlam ensued in the Curva Nord.
With the deafening sound of their supporters behind them, Los Che took it up a notch by exposing Barcelona's weakness on the flanks. Goncalo Guedes, on loan from PSG, tormented Nelson Semedo on the left-wing, and after four minutes, managed to square the ball into the box with the eventual rebound falling to Michy Batshuayi whose effort glided an inch past Marc Ter Stegen's far post.
The Blaugrana seemed stunned as Marcelino's men ferociously pressed high up the ground. Geoffrey Kondogbia, who looked every bit of a player against Manchester United mid-week, was close to doubling Valencia's advantage, his curled effort from outside the box had Ter Stegen beaten but narrowly missed the post.
After a scintillating display against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night, you wouldn't have been blamed for thinking Messi was in the stands during the opening ten minutes of this encounter. But Valencia, quietened in attack due to the withdrawal of the injured Guedes, begun to sit deeper in their own half and that's when Messi pounced.
As we've seen so many times before, the Argentine played a neat one-two with Suarez on the edge of the box before drilling a precise strike into Neto's bottom left-hand corner.
Ernesto Valverde's men then settled and controlled the game for the rest of the opening stanza, with Valencia lucky to head into the tunnel with the scoreline at 1-1.
The hosts returned with a spring in their step and almost went ahead through Dennis Cheryshev. But as they inevitably retreated into their own half, Valencia were hardly troubled by a sluggish Barcelona. Talk of a World Cup hangover before the game was seemingly validated as the Blaugrana, with six starters over the age of 30, failed to penetrate with any fluidity or precision.
The result costs Barcelona top spot on the La Liga table following Sevilla's earlier win over Celta Vigo. They are now second ahead of Atletico Madrid on goal difference while Valencia are 14th on nine points after their sixth draw of the season.
