It was a relentless game for long periods with both goals being well-worked and resulted in great movement from Rodrigo and Alba to get on the end of perfectly weighted passes from their team-mates.
Anyway...that’s all for me. Thanks for joining me on this fine Sunday evening. We will meet again one day.
Full-time: Valencia 1-1 Barcelona
The gol fantasma will be what we all remember from this game. Barcelona will feel aggrieved for a while but it was a decent point for them in the end.
90+4 mins: Valencia break from their own goalkeeper’s clearance as the ball flies up the other end to Zaza’s left foot but he volleys it into the ground and it bounces over.
90+3 mins: Barcelona try to play the ball out from the back in injury-time and are quickly closed down by Zaza who tackles Umtiti inside the area but the visitors get away with it.
Updated
90+1 mins: Four minutes added on!
Vicent rightly points out: “Hi Will, the orange wig is an homage to Jaime Orti, the president of València when we won the league in 2004. He died a couple of days ago.”
Now I remember reading about it this week.
90 mins: After Deulofeu’s cross is blocked out for a corner, he sends the ball in from the set-piece but Paulinho’s head goes upwards and over.
89 mins: Pereira is cautioned after a late challenge on Busquests who naturally makes a meal of it. Valencia make their final change as Santi Mina comes on for Soler.
88 mins: We’ve had a few stages played out at walking pace as the both teams look very tired currently.
87 mins: Can we get a winner in the final few minutes? Barcelona look the far more likely to score again at the moment.
86 mins: Another sub for Valencia as Garay goes off and Vezo comes on.
85 mins: Valencia go route one as the ball is pumped up for Zaza to chase but Ter Stegen comes out of his goal 35 yards to smash it away. In worse news for Valencia: Zaza is limping.
GOAL! Messi dinks the ball over the top and Alba reads the pass superbly to get the other side of the Valencia defence and volley home on the stretch from six yards to draw his team level with eight minutes remaining.
GOAL! Valencia 1-1 Barcelona (Alba, 82 mins)
The left-back nets a great goal against his old club.
Updated
81 mins: Rodrigo breaks away and Valencia end up two on one in the final third but his pass is a little behind Guedes who checks back and is stopped by Umtiti on the edge of the area. Valencia make a change as Rodrigo goes off and Manchester United loanee Andreas Pereira comes on.
79 mins: The final Barcelona change sees Aleix Vidal join the party in place of Semedo. Valverde did still have Paco Alcacer on the bench, but decided against using the striker.
77 mins: Deulofeu does some more fouling after losing the ball, as he tries to rectify the issues by diving in on Kondogbia but only succeeds in fouling the Valencia midfielder.
76 mins: Messi plays the ball to Alba to cross in but there’s no one in the box for Barcelona who can challenge Garay and Gabriel. Might need to re-think things.
Good celebration...
74 mins: Paulinho is taken down by Rodrigo who gives him a tap on the ankles and gets booked for his troubles.
Paul’s been back in touch, as the computer doesn’t love him like we do, to talk Suarez: “Offside a lot? He’d put Fergie’s old pal Inzaghi to shame.”
(I once interviewed Denis Suarez when he was at Manchester City and he explained how when he went out for a drink in the city and asked for a water, people thought he was strange.)
72 mins: Deulofeu has an early impact by bodychecking Gaya. I’m not sure that’s what he was brought on for. Speaking on subs, Iniesta is off and Denis Suarez is on.
71 mins: Kondogbia lifts the ball out to Guedes on the left wing, the Portuguese cuts in and shoots from inside the area but it’s a woeful effort as he slices the ball well wide of goal.
70 mins: Iniesta plays a very lazy ball straight to Parejo, who gladly intercepts and kicks off another attack for the hosts, but that comes to nothing. Valencia really trying to take the sting out of the game now.
68 mins: Deulofeu is coming on for Barcelona in place of Rakitic. Looks like Barcelona will change to 4-3-3.
66 mins: Soler squares up Vermaelen who stops the Valencia man before he could get into the box. It was a robust but fair challenge from the Belgian.
65 mins: Suarez has done nothing of use apart from checking to see if the assistants can spot when someone/thing is the other side of the line. He’s been offside a lot tonight.
64 mins: Kondogbia is really putting a stop to a lot of what Barcelona are trying to do here. Iniesta can’t cope with him physical and might need to source a Plan B.
63 mins: Valencia are understandably growing in confidence as Guedes gets into the box once again where he is met by Umtiti who tackles the winger and ensures he ends up on the floor.
GOAL! After absorbing all that pressure, Valencia have the lead, as Guedes plays in Gaya on the overlap, who sends the ball into Rodrigo who gets across Vermaelen and taps home from a couple of yards. He runs off to celebrate and takes an orange wig from the stands, obviously.
GOAL! Valencia 1-0 Barcelona (Rodrigo, 60 mins)
The former Bolton forward gets on the end of a cross to score!
Updated
Paul responds: “Sorry Will. But at least the computer from the other text comms doesn’t ask who I’ve been browsing with!”
The computer doesn’t need to ask, as the computer knows.
57 mins: Guedes glides past Semedo on the left-flank but he’s then greeted by Ter Stegen who spreads himself like Schmeichel to stop the ball and then bravely gathers it.
54 mins: Paulinho plays in Messi who lines up a powerful shot from inside the area, but Montoya is there to block it out for a corner. Messi thought that was going in.
54 mins: Messi is fouled for the 46379393rd time today just moments after Zaza smashes into Ter Stegen from behind for his own amusement. Valencia going with the physical style.
53 mins: Rakitic swings a corner over from the left where an onrushing Vermaelen connects with the cross but his powerful header goes well over. What a moment that would have been.
Kari says: “The “early Christmas present” joke is even less appropriate in Spain,
because the main gift-giving day is the Epiphany, January 6th, when
Spanish children receive presents from the Three Kings. And with
Suárez’s form falling off a cliff and Neymar gone to Paris, a Three
Kings joke isn’t all that appropriate either.
“Enjoy the second half!”
Updated
51 mins: Guedes attacks down the left for Valencia and pulls the ball back for Zaza who drags a shot from the edge of the area wide of Ter Stegen’s goal.
49 mins: The tape is out on the sidelines as Garay changes his stockings, which means he’s missing a corner, something he’s quite useful for. The set-piece comes to nothing.
47 mins: The referee, a man who failed to spot the ball going over the line, is now demanding Garay replaces his sock, which has a hole in. Well this is novel and pointless. There’s no reason for this apart from to amuse us all on a Sunday night.
46 mins: We’re off once again. What hilarious mistakes will we get now?
Paul emails in: “Here’s another interpretation I found of that messi ‘goal’. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) fashions a shot from the edge of the box after receiving an accurate pass. Neto makes a comfortable save to stop the effort from flying into the middle of the goal. Computer’s eh?”
I assume you all long for the day The Guardian hire a robot rather than use me.
Also, why are you checking other text comms, Paul? What have I done to you? We can be friends.
If anyone emails in to make an “early Christmas present” joke regarding the Neto incident then you will be instantly banned (I don’t have the power but I will try to find it). It’s November.
Custard hands will in the dressing room right now drying his gloves, getting his team-mates to throw him the ball to see if he catches it. If the referee had spotted that the ball had gone over the line then we could have spent half-time regaling one another about goalkeeper mistakes, but instead we’re left reviewing various levels on incompetence.
Good stat....
1 - Barcelona attempted 438 passes against Valencia, the most in a first half of a La Liga game this season. Control. pic.twitter.com/rFcnXa0EMA
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) November 26, 2017
Ghost goal in Spanish in gol fantasma, so I’m sure we’ll get a few of those headlines tomorrow. It really was poor from the officials.
Half-time: Valencia 0-0 Barcelona
Well... Barcelona should be winning, not just because Valencia have refused to attack but because Lionel Messi struck a shot which went over the line after Neto fumbled the ball through his slippery hands and open legs, and then into the back of the net. Sadly the assistant referee didn’t seem to notice the fact the ball was 5349870834 yards over the line, so didn’t wave his little flag to signal a goal.
44 mins: Now there is a booking as Gabriel is cautioned for rugby tackling Messi in an unorthodox manner. The resulting free-kick is just kicked out of play though, which is unfortunate.
43 mins: A cheap foul on Messi from Zaza as the striker clips the messiah to stop him on the halfway line. The Italian striker doesn’t go into the book for it, though.
42 mins: Suarez chases a ball over the top and battles to stay on his feet, eventually getting away from the defence and strikes from an acute angle but Neto stands firm and repels the Uruguayan’s effort.
41 mins: Iniesta tries to send a long pass over the top to Suarez but it’s read and intercepted by Montoya.
38 mins: Iniesta sends in a corner from the right that goes over everyone and ends up with Messi on the other side but he can’t do much with it as the ball then goes back to the right flank, where it is eventually crossed in by the man who took the original corner but that is cleared. Finally, Iniesta has a shot from 20 yards that goes straight to custard hands Neto.
Updated
37 mins: Valencia really not showing much dynamism going forward. Just a case of showing they’re able to compete with Barcelona over 90 minutes, rather proving they can beat them.
Joan joins the debate: “It’s in the shield of the city. Christian king of Aragon besieged Valencia (then ruled by the invading muslims). A bat flew into his tent and he somehow understood it was the time for the final assault and the “reconquista” if the city.”
34 mins: Soler tries to do a trick and falls over. A sign of Valencia’s ambition this evening.
33 mins: Neto works out what his hands are for on this occasion as he stops Messi’s dipping free-kick, as the goalkeeper gets down quickly to his left to stop the ball.
Chris emails in: “In (sort of) answer to Eyton’s question about the bat on the Valencia shield, I can say that the bat is an animal associated with the city of Valencia and also, though not necessarily to the same degree, with the surrounding region. The bat also appears on the city crest.”
32 mins: More bad luck for Messi as he fouled by Kondogbia 20 yards from goal, but at least the referee gets this one right and books the Valencia midfielder for the poor challenge.
30 mins: WHAT ON EARTH?! Messi smashes one from the edge of the area, which goes through the hands of Neto, who turns round to pull it back from behind the line, but the assistant referee doesn’t give it. Poor officiating! No goal-line technology in Spain. And then Zaza almost scored at the other end.
29 mins: Vermaelen collects a corner and tries to put in a cross of his own, but this is blocked out by the Valencia defence for another corner. Once again Los Che clear it.
28 mins: The referee has just done his best to get in the way, but Barcelona still get the ball across the pitch as they look to build another patient attack. Valencia are really sitting deep today as they look to contain the league leaders, who are struggling to break them down.
Graham confirms: “The bat is for batman AKA El Cid, who was named after a fairly large avenue in Valencia. Something about bats on hats and moors; before the time of Messi.”
Not done after El Sid Lowe.
24 mins: Paulinho is looking to be quite dangerous for Barcelona, this time running the other side of the defence to get to a pass through Valencia, but his cross from the byline is blocked for a corner, which comes to nothing.
Updated
22 mins: Messi sends the ball into Suarez’s feet, but the Uruguayan loses the ball when trying to deceive a couple of defenders. The Barcelona striker really is out of form at the moment, I saw him against Juventus in midweek and he was awful.
21 mins: Alba commits another foul, this time on Gabriel in the Valencia area as he tries to get to the ball. He made contact but the former Arsenal very much threw himself to the ground to ensure he received a free-kick.
Eyton asks: “Can you tell us why Valencia has a bat atop their shield/crest? Strikes me as an interesting choice of animal.”
Answers on a postcard, please.
19 mins: Soler is blocked off by Alba as the defender doesn’t let the Valencia man go round him. The Barcelona man knew what he was doing there.
18 mins: Messi tries to have his first real involvement by combining with Paulinho on the edge of the area before flicking the ball to an offside Suarez, which kills the move.
15 mins: Iniesta chips the ball down the line for Alba to chase but his cross into the box is easily cleared by the first man. The Iniesta to Alba combination could be a useful one for Barcelona tonight.
14 mins: A Valencia attack is broken down by the Barcelona defence, who then build a cautious counter, which ends with Messi smashing the ball straight at a defender. They will go again.
12 mins: Busquets has just played a one-two with Rakitic while the latter was sat on the floor. Barcelona really are re-inventing the game here.
11 mins: Iniesta played a lovely through ball for Suarez to run onto, but the assistant referee raises the offside flag - it was tight but the official was correct on this occasion.
10 mins: Barcelona are very good striking the ball cleanly but once again their effort is straight at Neto, as Rakitic lines one up from 25 yards but drills it into the arms of the goalkeeper.
Mark has emailed in, which is very kind of him on this Sunday evening, to say: “The more I watch Umtiti...the more I think France are going to be a serious contender in Russia next year. Not only has he become one of the best defenders in the world, but he has real presence on the pitch these days.”
Do we all agree?
8 mins: Valencia get two corners in quick succession but the first one is easily cleared and then the second one goes out of place due to a miss-placed pass in the direction of Parejo. Los Che are now certainly in the game.
7 mins: Zaza and Rodrigo combine after a mistake from Rakitic, but Busquets gets back to block the former Bolton man’s shot from inside the area. It certainly got the crowd going.
Updated
Joe tweets: “All this talk of Barcelona’s forgotten man is overshadowing the game. Still, this could be the game where he saves his season, so be interested to see how Luis Suarez gets on...”
8/10 for effort, Joe.
4 mins: The first shot in anger comes from Paulinho who smashes one from 30 yards out but his shot is always rising, although the goalkeeper feels it necessary to push the ball over.
3 mins: The hosts won’t be too bothered about Barcelona keeping the ball for long periods, as they know their strength is on the break, but the signs currently a ominous.
2 mins: Valencia did not have a touch in the opening 90 seconds as Barcelona look to show they will dominate the game from start to finish. The visitors eventually lose possession when Iniesta smacks one across the pitch on a defender’s head.
Kick-off
1 min: Let’s get ready to rumble!
Barcelona wore shirts with the message #AguanteToto to show their support for Sevilla boss Eduardo Berizzo who it was confirmed has cancer this week.
John has got in touch via Twitter: “FCB will need Vermaelen to be as sharp as a bulls horn tonight not much game time so far. SB & Ivan R to play as deep as they ever have they’ll be standing on TV’s toes to blunt Valencia’s counter attack. Can see a score draw for the Quiniela(The Pools), 2-2 I think!”
Updated
Here we go...the players are out onto the pitch. The ground is full and there’s a brass band to play to them, too. This is novel.
Former Valencia president Jaime Orti will be remembered before the game following his death this week.
Applause as Jaime Ortí's famous giant fan is brought out pic.twitter.com/UInz50Hfsu
— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) November 26, 2017
Charles has emailed in: “Hard not to have a soft spot for Thomas Vermaelen, who was, seemingly in the previous century, a terrific club captain for Arsenal, and whose terrible injury record nevertheless didn’t put off Barcelona (and Roma for a year on loan). Vincent Kompany is the obvious happy-ending comparison, but with Vermaelen’s luck it seems unlikely. Cue a spectacular own goal then stretched off, poor bugger.”
Not too far from Valencia, down at Villarreal, those plucky Sevilla players have turned another game around by winning 3-2 away against El Submarino Amarillo despite going 2-0 down. They’ve done that twice in two games now, although they won this one, after recovering from a three-goal deficit against Liverpool in midweek.
It’s a sign of how well Valencia are doing that Sky’s entire build-up is about Los Che. Barcelona are pretty decent at football, too, so it might be worth mentioning them at some point.
Whatever happens tonight, Barcelona will remain top of the league but it’s a sign of how remarkable Valencia have done so far, that they are still above the Madrid teams despite playing one game fewer.
Gabriel on Simone Zaza:
He’s a great player and a great person, too.
West Ham fans won’t be able to confirm the former.
It’s a touch lively down at the Mestalla
🦇 ¡Así está Mestalla dos horas antes del #ValenciaBarça! 🔝
— Valencia CF (@valenciacf) November 26, 2017
👏 ¡Juntos a por la victoria! 👏 pic.twitter.com/tbAy2qRDmA
Barcelona head coach Valverde is well aware of what valencia have at their disposal:
They have [Goncalo] Guedes, [Simone] Zaza, Rodrigo [Moreno], [Carlos] Soler, all players who play very high and block the ball being played out from the back. They have the best counter-attack in the league and controlling that will be key.”
I mock Vermaelen, but...
0 - Barcelona have not lost any of their 11 La Liga games with Thomas Vermaelen (W10 D1). Bet. pic.twitter.com/E3pzWn521h
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) November 26, 2017
This isn’t just because Vermaelen is playing, but the chance of a goalless draw tonight are low. Between Valencia and Barcelona, they scored 65 league goals this season, which is a lot. Not to mention the fact there were 11 goals in the two games between them last season. The last 0-0 in this fixture came way back in 1995.
Valencia boss Marcelino was asked if he had a plan to stop Messi. He doesn’t admittedly a have plan.
It is easy to give opinions on how to counteract him [Messi], we will try to make his participation as limited as possible and in limited space situations.
But to annul him? No one has done it definitively and usually he gives his maximum performance in matches of this level.
Updated
You very jolly people can also email or tweet me about the events in Valencia, which is nice. If anyone has any special recollections of Mr Vermaelen, please send them in. The details are at the top ^^.
Updated
It’s been a fine week for Barcelona, not only have they played out a goalless draw with Juventus, but they’ve also had Lionel Messi pen a new deal at the Nou Camp, meaning he’ll be there for the rest of his career, supposedly.
Updated
So...when was the last time Vermaelen started in the league? Well it wasn’t this season. It wasn’t last season, it was...23rd January 2016, which I think we can all accept was a long time ago. But what a privilege it will be for us all to witness this momentous occasion.
Updated
Team news
Valencia: Neto; Montoya, Paulista, Garay, Gayá; Carlos Soler, Parejo, Kondogbia, Guedes; Rodrigo, Zaza.
Subs: Jaume, Veazo, Pereira, Santi Mina, Lato, Nacho Vidal Nacho, Gil.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Vermaelen, Umtiti, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta; Paulinho, Messi, Suárez.
Subs: Cillessen, Denis Suárez, Deulofeu, Alcácer, Digne, Aleix Vidal, David Costas.
Preamble
We’re in the strange position of preparing for second versus first in La Liga and neither Madrid team is involved. A Valencia team comprised of nearly men and Simone Zaza are hosting a dominant Barcelona side.
The unbeaten Catalans will be bolstered by the fact Lionel Messi finally got round to doing the necessary I dotting and T crossing this week to sign his new contract at the Nou Camp. The team were so pleased they did a little round of applause for the Argentine when he got to training, which is nice. What hasn’t buoyed Barcelona is their lack of defenders as Gerard Pique (suspended) and Javier Mascherano (knacked) are out meaning Thomas Vermaelan (surprisingly not knacked) might even play.
Valencia have surprised many with their form this season, with Italy penalty fluffer and former West Ham sub Zaza - whose nine goals leaves him only behind Messi in the Pichichi standings - playing the role of figurehead, a thought that will leave many Hammers supporters confused. He has been helped by the fine work of Gonçalo Guedes, on loan from Paris Saint-German, who is looking like he’s worthy of playing for a top two club in Spain. However, they are coming up against a team that has only conceded four goals in the league this season
Will Valencia continue their incredible form? Or will Barcelona continue their incredible form?
Updated
