Barcelona 2-2 Valencia: Lionel Messi equals Pele’s record as Barca drop points

On Dec 20, 2020

Barcelona 2-2 Valencia: Lionel Messi equals Pele’s record of 643 goals for a SINGLE club but Maxi Gomez’s second-half strike sees Ronald Koeman’s side slip up once again in LaLiga title race

Barcelona once again dropped points in LaLiga after failing to overcome rivals Valencia at the Nou Camp
The visitors opened the scoring through Mouctar Diakhaby and poor marking allowed him to head home
Barca equalised through Lionel Messi, who in doing so equalled Pele’s record of 643 goals for a single club
Messi missed a penalty but Jordi Alba kept the danger alive and the Argentine finished at second chance
Ronald Araujo then left mouths agape with a stunning scissor kick effort to put Barca ahead in the match
Valencia fought back again as Maxi Gomez poked home Jose Gaya’s cross from the left to level the score

Published: 12:16 EST, 19 December 2020 | Updated: 14:46 EST, 19 December 2020

Barcelona’s slim title chances took another dent when Valencia nicked two points from them at the Nou Camp on Saturday.

Barca were trying to make it three straight wins but poor defending crossed them again and they took a point from the game despite being given a generous first-half penalty.

The home side dominated possession in the first half but Valencia had all the best chances with Marc Andre ter Stegen having to dive full stretch to keep out a Maxi Gomez header and a Carlos Soler shot.

Valencia’s Maxi Gomez was able to create himself a pocket of space before lashing the ball past Marc-Andre ter Stegen

Gomez credited team-mate Jose Gaya by lifting the full back into the air after his assist set up the goal to level the score at 2-2

Youngster Ronald Araujo put Barca back in the lead at 2-1 after pulling off a stunning acrobatic effort to score

The Uruguayan defender was surrounded by jubilant team-mates following his remarkable second-half finish

He could do nothing, however, on the half hour when Mouctar Diakhaby crashed in a header from a Soler corner having given Antoine Griezmann and Ronald Araujo the slip.

Yunus Musah might also have finished had Maxi not gone for the same loose ball in the area. The young winger hobbled off before the breath with a shin problem. Valencia were comfortable with the clock ticking down but things unravelled in the last minute of the first half.

Griezmann burst through and as Jose Gaya pursued he placed a hand on the Frenchman’s shoulder. It was not a push, it was not the reason why Griezmann tumbled, and it should not have been penalised with a spot kick.