New Valencia coach Gary Neville watched on from the stands as Santi Mina’s late equalizer handed his side a shock 1-1 draw at home to European champions Barcelona on Saturday.
Luis Suarez had put the visitors into a controversial lead as he appeared to be offside before slotting in at the near post, but Valencia’s work rate was rewarded when Mina fired into the top corner five minutes from time.
Real Madrid are now just four points behind Barca as they bounced back from their embarrassing elimination from the Copa del Rey for fielding an ineligible player last week, with Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo all on target in their 4-1 thrashing of Getafe.
Photo: EPA
However, Real remained third, two points behind Atletico Madrid, after goals from Diego Godin and Antoine Griezmann handed Diego Simeone’s men a 2-0 win at Granada.
Neville was not due to officially take charge until yesterday, leaving Valencia in the hands of caretaker boss Voro and Neville’s brother, Phil, and the depleted hosts put up a brave fight against the superior quality of the European champions.
“There is nothing to reproach the team for,” Barca boss Luis Enrique said. “We played a complete game at a very difficult place to come, we dominated the whole game and had by far the most chances.”
Barcelona should have had the game wrapped up by halftime, but the star front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Suarez were uncharacteristically wasteful in front of goal.
Messi spooned the first chance over from Neymar’s fine cross, before the latter ballooned the ball into the stands with just Jaume Domenech to beat.
More brilliance on the left wing from Neymar teed up Messi once more, but on his weaker right foot he fired straight at Domenech.
Valencia claimed Suarez was lucky to stay on the field at the start of the second half when he appeared to stamp on Aymen Abdennour’s foot after a heated exchange between the two and Valencia felt even more hard done by when it was Suarez who finally opened the scoring when he squeezed the ball in at Domenech’s near post, despite latching onto Messi’s pass from an offside position.
Yet, they made Barca pay for their profligacy when Paco Alcacer held up a long-ball over the top and laid the ball perfectly into Mina’s path to slam home his first goal for the club.
At the Santiago Bernabeu, any sign of the fans’ frustration at the club’s latest gaffe in being eliminated from the Copa del Rey due to an administrative error was eased when Benzema fired home from Pepe’s fine cross after just five minutes.
It was the Frenchman’s first goal since being charged in a blackmail scandal involving international teammate Mathieu Valbuena and he looked back to his best as he doubled Madrid’s advantage on 16 minutes when he slotted into the bottom corner from Bale’s headed cut-back.
The one-way traffic continued as Bale showed great composure to finish from Ronaldo’s knockdown and score for a second consecutive league game for the first time since January.
Ronaldo finally got in on the act three minutes later at the end of a devastating counterattack as he latched onto a Toni Kroos through-ball to register his 17th goal of the season.
Atletico remained in front of their city rivals thanks to another solid display as they recorded their sixth clean sheet in seven games to extend their winning run in all competitions to six.
Godin powered home the opener from Koke’s corner after 20 minutes to give the visitors the perfect start.
Griezmann made the game safe 14 minutes from time when the France international blasted high into the roof of the net from an Oliver Torres through-ball.
Also on Saturday, RC Deportivo de La Coruna were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Sevilla, while RC Celta de Vigo grabbed a point at Real Betis Balompie when their match ended in the same result.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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