Barcelona beat Valencia and maintains pressure on Real Madrid
BARCELONA, Spain – Lionel Messi scored twice on Sunday in Barcelona’s 4-2 victory over Valencia, who played a large part of the game with one less and continues to stalk Real Madrid, the leader of the Spanish soccer league.
Eliaquim Mangala surprised the crowd at Nou Camp by putting Valencia ahead after 29 minutes, but at 35 tied Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez and minutes later was subject to a penalty by Mangala, who was expelled on receiving The second admonition.
Messi transformed the maximum penalty, but immediately in the first half Munir El Haddadi discount, loaned in Valencia by Barcelona himself, evened the encounter.
El Barca dominated the second half and that dominance resulted in the score when the Argentine scored his second goal in the 52nd minute. Former Valencia midfielder André Gomes scored his first goal for Barcelona to seal the 4-2 at 89 minutes.
With this win, Barcelona are second on the table with 63 points, two less than Real Madrid, which has a game pending.
Earlier, Antoine Griezmann scored for the fifth time in his last four games and assisted Atletico Madrid 3-1 over Sevilla, placing them two points behind Jorge Sampaoli’s side, third in the standings .
The French striker crossed the ball in a free-kick in the front of the Sevilla area, which was topped by Diego Godín, Uruguay, to open the scoring in the 37th minute.
Already in the second half, Griezmann converted a distant foul with a shot that hit the crossbar, putting the provisional 2-0 in the 61 minutes, while Koke scored the third at 77, sealing the third consecutive victory of the «mattresses «In the League. Argentine Joaquín Correa scored the consolation goal for the Andalusian club at 85.
