Scrappy win huge boost for Barca

Barcelona boss Luis Enrique hailed his players efforts despite a far from convincing display in a 2-0 win over Valencia on Saturday.

Goals in the first minute from Luis Suarez and last minute from Lionel Messi, his 400th for the club, bookended a match in which Valencia enjoyed the majority of the chances and were left to rue Dani Parejo's missed penalty in the first-half.

However, Enrique was quick to highlight the merit in Barca ending Valencia's 10-game unbeaten run in La Liga just four days after all but sealing their place in the Champions League quarter-finals with a 3-1 victory away to Paris Saint-Germain.

"It is a great result and a day to congratulate the players, who gave everything, and the fans who were immense," said Enrique.

"It was a complete day, we did the job and now the pressure is on others. Barca come out of the game greatly strengthened."

Seeing Paco Alcacer miss a hat-trick of good chances on top of Parejo's missed penalty, Enrique introduced Ivan Rakitic for Adriano at half-time in a tactical rejig that restricted the visitors to far fewer chances after the break.

"It was a different game to all those we have played at the Camp Nou. We had a marvellous start with the goal, and then we had a lot of problems overcoming their pressing.

"We committed errors that we don't normally and they had a lot of chances and deserved a bit more.

"In the second-half we made a change because Adriano had a yellow card and it went well, the game was more like what we wanted."

Valencia boss Nuno Espirito Santo, meanwhile, was left to reflect on what might have been after dominating the first 45 minutes.

"We played very well in the first-half and had a lot of good chances," he said.

"We go away hurt, sad and angry because we wanted to win. In the first-half we had too many chances to end up with this result."

Defeat leaves Valencia now four points adrift of third-placed Atletico Madrid and just three ahead of Sevilla, who play their game in hand against Granada on Sunday.

"We are proud but not satisfied because playing so well doesn't mean anything when you lose.

"We have an important objective but we need to keep picking up points."
Source: AFP