Valencia 1-1 Barcelona; High intensity game ends in an enthralling draw at the Mestella
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Valencia pressed from the off creating a spate of decent chances and Barcelona rode their luck in the first half with Pinto fortunate to stay on the pitch. The visitor’s volatile goal keeper had raced to cut-off Soldado and he appeared to handle outside the box preventing what could’ve been deemed a goal scoring opportunity but much to the chagrin of the packed home crowd, the referee waved play on.
The Catalans found their groove in the second 45 and it was Valencia’s turn to play from the ropes. Miguel felled Thiago in the box and Messi was tasked with converting the resulting penalty kick. Diego Alves who has a very impressive penalty saving record flung himself to the left to parry away the little maestro’s 56th minute spot-kick. This was an eventful game of two halves- more accurately- a fantastic eventful game of two halves.
Starting line-ups
Valencia started the game in a 4-4-1-1 shape with Diego Alves in goal, a back four of Rami, Ruiz Alba and Miguel. Albelda and Banega 
started in central midfield flanked by Piatti and Mathieu. Jonas played just behind Soldado upfront.
Barcelona started the game in a 4-3-3 shape that had Pinto in goal, a back four of Puyol, Pique, Mascherano and Abidal. Busquets, Thiago and Fabregas played in midfield while Cuenca, Sanchez and Messi started upfront.
Valencia pressing
Barcelona as is customary, had majority of the possession but I haven’t seen a side press the Blaugranas this season better than this team and their calm on the ball under what was sometimes frantic pressure from the visitors was admirable.
Unai emery’s team has a very impressive record at the Mestella this season with only 2 losses a handful of draws one of which came against Guardiola’s men in the league. In that game, Valencia exploited the 3-4-3 Guardiola had chosen with particular emphasis on Barcelona’s right side of defence.
The Catalans reverted to a more traditional 4-3-3 in this tie with Puyol playing on the right to shore up that area but Valencia’s first attempt to probe his defensive credentials on that flank saw them score.
With the Mestella crowd aroused, Valencia continued to press Barcelona as high up the pitch as possible and the Catalans were struggling to adapt to a shot of their own medicine. Valencia were relentless and when they had the ball, they didn’t look to play it over the top and counter attack like most sides do, instead they looked to build from the back sometimes playing the very sleek short passing game that Barcelona excels at which can be extremely difficult to do against this team.
More importantly though, they were as calm on the ball as they were off it. In stark contrast to the panic-stricken defending we’ve been seeing from Pepe and co. against Barcelona in the Classicos, Valencia were as relaxed as an Italian side that practices a defensive based Catenaccio game week in week out.
Second half
Keeping up with Barcelona is much easier said than done and Los che seemed to push back about five yards in the second half. While Jonas and Soldado would close down Barcelona’s central defenders as soon as they got the ball in the first half, in the second, they’d allow them a tad bit more time on the ball preferring to fall back and mark them when they approach the center circle.
Unai Emery’s strategy was risky and Valencia survived a few scares but it worked like a proverbial charm. Valencia’s high pressing game had limited the service to Barcelona’s forwards in the first half and they fluffed the limited opportunities they got. The fact that Isaac Cuenca had the biggest impact of Barcelona’s attacking trio (credit to him) says a whole lot about the way they played.
Sanchez was subdued-a bit wasteful when he got chances- and Messi, who has lost the ball more times than any other player in la liga this season did little to disprove the statistics that had been released earlier in the day by SuperDeporte.
In the end, neither team could feel hard done by after sharing the spoils and as impressive as the double Zidan-like pirouette from Puyol was, the second leg should make for even better viewing.
In conclusion, a pensive looking Guardiola had admitted to being wary of Los che before the game and this performance justifies those sentiments. Unai Emery has never managed a win against Barcelona as Valencia coach in 7 attempts but his side’s performances this season suggest that particular stat is about to be tipped over.
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