3 things we learned from Barcelona edging Valencia 2-0

Barcelona and Valencia traded blows for 90 minutes, both sides playing hard and fast trying to secure three vital points for the La Liga stretch run. In the end, though, it was a first minute goal and another at the death that gave Barcelona the 2-0 win, and the Catalan giants keep marching on towards the trophy at the finish line.

The match got off to a screaming start when a classic Barcelona passing attack saw Xavi feed Lionel Messi, who turned and kicked the ball out to a lurking Luis Suarez to fire home past Diego Alves. Only 55 seconds had passed, and it seemed that Barcelona were going to continue their recent steamrolling of just about everyone in La Liga.

Valencia had other ideas, though, and they put up one hell of a fight. Barcelona dominated possession, but when it came to action in the final third, Los Murciélagos created almost all of the danger. They won a penalty through a sloppy Gerard Pique foul in the ninth minute, but couldn’t convert it thanks to an excellent stop from Claudio Bravo. Valenica didn’t let that get them down, though, pressing forward with reckless abandon and doing everything they could to try to score.

That allowed the Blaugranas to start creating more of the danger in the second half, though they often battled with the offside flag as efforts to spring Neymar or Suarez over the top were left wanting. Lionel Messi very nearly continued his wonderful goalscoring form, but missed by inches when his effort to drop the ball in to the near corner on a free kick banged off the corner itself.

Valencia rolled the dice by taking their young star Paco Alcacer off the pitch in favor for the more physical style of Alvaro Negredo, and it nearly paid dividends in a hurry. With Mascherano trying and struggling to mark Negredo, Valencia got several good chances in his first few minutes on the pitch, but they couldn’t convert any of them. That gave Barca the chance to adjust and reorganize, and the well dried up. The last minutes of the match were end-to-end, but right at the death Valencia committed too many men forward in a desperate effort to equalize, giving Lionel Messi a wide-open field to run through on the counter attack. Diego Alves saved his initial try, but he couldn’t smother the ball and Messi needed only a tap-in to finish the match off.

It was a heck of a battle and an impressive display from Valencia, but they just couldn’t quite get the job done and convert their chances. Still, they should feel proud about causing so many problems for Barcelona without getting gutted in defense until that moment at the end, and Barcelona should feel a little lucky to have kept a clean sheet. If Valencia can keep this side mostly together and maybe improve it some, they could make a whole lot of noise next season.

Goals: Suarez (1’), Messi (90’+2)

Goals: none

1. Gerard Pique’s good form has gone up in smoke - For a few months, Gerard Pique was living up to his talent and reputation, playing extraordinarily well in the middle of Barcelona’s defense. On Wednesday against PSG in the Champions League, he had a nightmarish match at times, making some very poor mistakes, and he was little better against Valenica today. Pique gave up a penalty with a dumb and needless challenge, bundling down Rodrigo when he was offering little threat, and was left spinning uselessly on far too many Valencia attacks. Barcelona are in crunch time at this point of the season, and they need the heart of their defense to be playing a lot better than this.

2. Valencia deserve to be challenging for the Champions League - Valencia came in to the day breathing down Atletico Madrid’s neck, just a point out of third place for the last guaranteed Champions League qualifying spot in La Liga. They currently sit fourth, which would put them in to the last Champions League qualifying playoff round, and with their quality performance today highlighting their excellent recent form, they fully deserve to be where they are and pushing for more. Nuno has his side playing entertaining and high-quality football, and seeing how his squad handles the Champions League could be quite delightful.

3. Barcelona’s depth is crazy - Even with heavy rotation to rest players between Champions League legs, Barcelona were still able to put out a lineup that would have a good chance of challenging for a La Liga title. When you add that to being able to pull Pedro and Sergi Roberto off the end of the bench for junk-time minutes, two players who would easily be nailed-on starters for almost any other team in the league, you just have to tip your cap and admire the squad that Barcelona has assembled. From top to bottom, front to back, this is quite possibly the deepest and most talented squad in Europe, with the only clear challenge for that title coming from Bayern Munich in Germany.