Player Ratings – Valencia 1 Barcelona 1

“We lacked the ability to finish that we normally have”.

They last won La Liga in 2004, their sixth Spanish title, and were Champions League runners-up in 2000 and 2001 but have been hampered by financial problems over the past decade that forced them to sell many of their best players.

“There is nothing to reproach the team for”.

Beating the Ligue 1 side will give Valencia a chance of reaching the Champions League knockout stage and Lyon’s form suggests it is well within their grasp.

“We weren’t rewarded for all the effort we put in, but Valencia defensively played very well”. “They were solid, well supported by their fans and took advantage of one transition”.

And Valencia felt even more hard done by when it was Suarez who finally opened the scoring as he squeezed the ball in at Domenech’s near post despite latching onto Messi’s pass from an offside position.

Enrique claimed not to have seen either incident and his captain Andres Iniesta insisted Barca had been unlucky to come away with just a point from Mestalla.

But, as Moyes so rightly said: “It’s football, while it’s only 1-0 you’ve always got a chance”, not so much a piece of football punditry but an uplifting little message in a bottle and, quite frankly, the sort of thing that made Britain great. Barcelona should have had the game wrapped up by half-time, but the star front three of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Suarez were uncharacteristically wasteful in front of goal. In any case, it’s not a step backwards because we’re still the leaders and doing a good job. “He has proven it. He has scored lots of goals and, on top of that, important ones in moments where we needed them”.

The game was over as a contest in the second half despite Alexis heading a consolation goal for the visitors 20 minutes from the end.