Valencia vs. Barcelona: Winners and Losers from La Liga
Valencia and Barcelona fought out an exciting and entertaining 1-1 draw at the Mestalla, bringing the table-toppers' winning streak to an end.
Barcelona dominated the first half and created plenty of chances, but all three forwards missed good chances to put their team ahead.
After the break, it was Luis Suarez who finally found the breakthrough, smashing in at the near post for what the team would have thought was a winner, but Santi Mina hit a fantastic late equaliser to share the points.
Here are all our winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Neymar
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Once more the in-form player who was most exciting to watch, Neymar put on a real spectacle in the first half with his touch, dribbling and ability to pick a pass being the best outlet for Barcelona.
Numerous times he beat his man in a straight-up dribble, from standing or taking the ball on the run, and he picked out Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi on multiple occasions to give his team chances on goal.
The one thing missing from Neymar's game this weekend was the finish; he skied a great early chance and then sent a fantastic curling effort just wide in the second half as Barca missed the chance to put the game to bed.
Loser: Ruben Vezo
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While Neymar excelled down the channel, Ruben Vezo was given an absolutely torrid time. The centre-back was out of position and lacking in sharpness, having not really been given too much playing time yet this season, and it showed in the first half in particular.
Vezo had no chance of stopping Neymar one-on-one as the Brazilian dipped infield and went on the outside on alternate dribbles, while it should also be noted that Valencia's right-back for the match was afforded no protection by those ahead of him in midfield.
It's not hard to imagine that Joao Cancelo or Antonio Barragan will be straight back into the team when available.
Winner: Luis Suarez
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Luis Suarez had a tough match. Aymen Abdennour showed his strength and aggression against the in-form centre-forward with a series of tough challenges and forceful interventions, but the Uruguayan simply looked for new ways to hurt Los Che.
In the end, it's arguable that his goal was actually offside, but Suarez wasn't flagged and made no mistake as he outmuscled Abdennour and rifled past Jaume Domenech at the near post—a goal in an eighth-consecutive game, per statistician MisterChip on Twitter.
It wasn't the winner in the end, but Suarez was clearly the biggest threat on Valencia's goal throughout and now has 13 Liga goals for the season.
Loser: Rodrigo De Paul
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Given a rare chance to start, Rodrigo De Paul would have been hoping to make a big impression on the watching new manager, but he was found wanting with both movement and end product once again.
The Argentinian was wasteful with the few shooting opportunities Valencia crafted and was unsurprisingly subbed during the second half. To make matters worse, it was the other wide forwards who had the big impact: Santi Mina and, briefly, Pablo Piatti.
With the likes of Sofiane Feghouli at the club, too, and an incoming manager likely to be demanding of end product as well as work rate and team shape, this might have been a big last opportunity for De Paul, which has gone begging.
Winners: Teams in Madrid
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Both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid had won their matches earlier on Saturday—4-1 against Getafe and 2-0 at Granada, respectively—and will be delighted at the league leaders having dropped points on this occasion.
Neither of the capital city sides have managed to beat Barcelona in La Liga this term, Real taking a drubbing in El Clasico and Atleti narrowly losing late earlier in the campaign, so other teams taking points off the Catalan outfit is what will keep the title race going.
Just four points separate the three sides now after 14 game weeks.
