Barcelona maintained pressure at the summit of the La Liga table with a professional 4-2 win over Valencia at Camp Nou. Eliaquim Mangala opened the scoring with a well-taken goal for Valencia, before Luis Suarez equalised just six minutes later. A thrilling first half saw more excitement as Mangala saw a red card in the final moments of the first period before Lionel Messi duly obliged from the resulting spot kick.
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Messi doubled his tally after the break while Andre Gomes confirmed all three points with a neat goal in the dying stages of the game. Munir was the other scorer for the visitors. With this victory, the Catalans are now just two points behind Real Madrid, though the reigning European champions have a game in hand.
On that note, let's take a look at the five talking points from the game between Barcelona and Valencia:
#1 Lionel Messi bullies Diego Alves once again
Last night's brace against Valencia took Messi's tally against Valencia goalkeeper, Diego Alves, to 21 goals. The Los Che custodian has always been tagged as the Argentine's bunny. During his time with Almeria, Alves conceded seven goals against Messi while the last meeting between the two sides was another entertaining episode.
In the previous encounter, Alves had intimidated Messi before he took a penalty but failed in his efforts as Barcelona won 3-2 on the night.
Messi has now scored 41 goals this season in 40 games and has achieved this feat for the eighth season running. He is also the current leading goalscorer in Europe in all competitions.
#2 Mangala fails to deliver on the big stage
Having been once considered as one of the brightest prospects in world football, Mangala has seen his stock fall rather quickly. After his big money move to Manchester City, Mangala failed to rise up to the challenge and was ultimately shipped to Valencia on loan.
Though he has been a regular for Valencia this season, his errors have often proved costly for the team, which turned out to be the case against Barcelona, again.
He started the game in the best possible fashion when he nodded home from a corner to give his side a surprise lead. His luck soon ran out as he received a straight red card for his silly tackle in the penalty box on Luis Suarez. If he doesn't curtail his brash challenges, Valencia won't take the decision of signing him on a permanent basis.
#3 Samuel Umtiti's unbelievable streak still going strong
The youngster has a unique record to his name which is taking Barcelona to greater heights in the league. The Catalans have not lost a league game when the Frenchman has started, which is 17 games running. Umtiti's absence has cost his team dearly with his team winning just two games out of 11.
His importance has risen to such heights that the club sees him as the long-term central defender for the next five years.
Along with Neymar, it was Umtiti's absence which cost them the game against Deportivo La Coruna which just goes to show the defender's prowess at the back.
#4 Munir El Haddadi shows he still has a future for the Catalans
The La Masia product was deemed surplus to requirements at the beginning of the season and was offloaded to Valencia on loan. That decision came to bite Barcelona back as Munir scored yet again against his old team with the forward scoring the second goal for Valencia last night.
He had also scored in the first leg when the two teams met.
Munir has benefited from regular playing time at the Mestalla and has also played well when deployed on the wing. This performance means that Barcelona will not sell him next season to Valencia and may make a place available for him in place of Paco Alcacer who has been terribly poor since his move to Camp Nou last summer.
#5 The race for La Liga crown heats up
Since being almost out of race in both the league and Europe, Barcelona have done miraculously well to still be in the running in all competitions. Their incredible win over Paris Saint-Germain has infused them with a new found confidence and belief which has helped them in being neck and neck with Real Madrid in La Liga.
Though they are still behind Real Madrid, the remaining fixtures are kind to Barcelona than to Madrid, which may see a shift in power at the top. Along with the two La Liga giants, Sevilla are also on the coattails of the two, just six points behind Barcelona in the table.
A win over Valencia has re-ignited the title race which may even go to the last day of the campaign with Real Madrid expected to play their game in hand in the second last week of the season.
