Barcelona vs Valencia, 2016 La Liga: Final Score 1-2 as Barça's nightmare continues

Barcelona ’s terrible run of form hit a new low on Sunday after a 2-1 loss at Camp Nou against Valencia , thanks to an own goal by Ivan Rakitic and a strike by Santi Mina, with Lionel Messi getting Barça’s only score. Barça played well for the first time in weeks, but the defensive problems came to light again and the La Liga leaders are the least likely to win the title the way things are going.

FIRST HALF

The initial minutes of the first half featured the best football we've seen from Barça in quite a while.

There was great use of possession, good player movement and many opportunities created, butgoalkeeper Diego Alves, who always turns into a beast against the biggest teams in Spain, stopped all of them.

And then, in a rare counter-attack,
Valencia full-back Guilherme Siqueira played an innocent cross that somehow deflected off Ivan Rakitic and Claudio Bravo before finding the net for the opener. The goal clearly had an effect on Barça, who immediately started giving up the ball easily and offering plenty of space for the visitors to attack.

After a few shaky minutes, the Catalans showed improvement and Messi had another giant chance saved by Alves.

In the last minute of the half, another lapse in concentration from the Barça defense, and Santi Mina found himself alone in front of the goal. Two-nothing.

At halftime, a good offensive performance, but thanks to bad luck, bad defense and incredible goalkeeping, the Blaugranes were behind, and the mission to come back in the final period was nearly impossible.

SECOND HALF

Instead of going all out looking for at least one quick goal, Barça were slow and uninspired with their passing and had trouble until the best player in the world finally beat the keeper. A smart grounded cross
from Alba found the right foot of Lionel Messi who scored his 500th career goal to bring the Blaugrana back to the match.

With time running out, the Catalans
needed to step up the pressure to try and find a win. They did and found more good chances, but Diego Alves continued to stop everything.

When he didn't, his defenders did,
and even when Gerard Piqué found himself completely alone in front of the goal, he missed a really, really easy chance.
In the end, the equalizer never came, much less a game-winner.

Another loss, a very painful one.
What a nightmare.

                    ****

Barcelona : Bravo; Roberto, Piqué,
Mascherano, Alba; Busquets;
Rakitic, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez,
Neymar

Goals: Messi (63')

Valencia : Alves; Barragán, Mustafi,
Abdennour, Siqueira; Fuego;
Rodrigo (Gayá), Parejo, Pérez
(Cancelo), Gomes; Mina (Alcácer)

Goal: Rakitic (27' O.G.), Mina
(45'+1)