Barcelona shocked the world of football by going down 2-1 to Valencia last night. The defeat means that the Catalan side have blown their sizable La Liga lead, with Atletico Madrid drawing level on points with them, garnering 76 in 33 games.
An early own goal from Ivan Rakitic in the 26th minute set the cat among the pigeons, as the small travelling contigent of Valencia fans could not believe their own luck as Los Che took the lead. It went pear shaped for Barcelona at the stroke of half-time, as Santi Mina scored the second goal after a move that seemed remisniscent of the much vaunted Barcelona said, only this was Valencia that went 2-0 ahead.
Lionel Messi stepped up on the hour mark, as he turned in a peach of a cross from Jordi Alba to score his 500th goal. However, it did not matter in the end as Valencia parked the bus and earned a surprising victory, given that they lost 7-0 to Barcelona earlier in the season.
Twitter was predictably merciless when dealing with Barcelona’s loss. Many took potshots at the fact that Barcelona’s El Clasico loss to Real Madrid has resulted in a downward spiral for the Catalans.