Valencia 2-3 Barcelona: Lionel Messi scores late penalty to seal win

Lionel Messi scored a last-minute penalty to send Barcelona to the top of the table as they beat Valencia 3-2 at the Mestalla on Saturday.

Messi opened the scoring in the first half with a fine low effort for the visitors, who lost captain Andres Iniesta to injury after just 10 minutes.

On-loan Barcelona striker Munir El Haddadi hit a low strike past Marc-Andre ter Stegen soon after the break, before fellow forward Rodrigo equalised after running onto a lofted pass from former Manchester United winger Nani.

Luis Suarez finished well to bring the champions level after Diego Alves could only push Ivan Rakitic's header straight into his path, before Messi's late penalty won it in dramatic fashion - prompting some home fans to throw objects in the direction of Barca's players, with Neymar appearing to be hit by a water bottle.

Coming into this game, Barcelona had hit eight goals in their last two games and had not conceded since they were on the losing end of a 4-3 scoreline to Celta Vigo at the start of October - their last away trip in the league.

Joao Cancelo and Nani offered an early glimpse at how Valencia would go about looking for a first win over Barcelona at home since February 2007, but they soon abandoned that logic, instead opting for a physical approach.

Looking to unsettle one of Barcelona's fabled front-three, Valencia set about targeting Neymar, who was bought down by a couple of hefty challenges, much to the dismay of Barca boss Luis Enrique on the touchline.

Minutes later, it was Iniesta who was on the end of a crude challenge when, after making inroads in midfield, he was bought down by Perez and held his knee while signalling frantically to the bench.

Ivan Rakitic was introduced in place of the stricken World Cup winner and would go on to play a considerable part in the opening goal just 10 minutes later.

Good play down the right saw Messi and Suarez link up and the pair found themselves in the Valencia area, but their play was half cleared by former Manchester City defender Eliaquim Mangala, who could only watch as Messi fired beneath Alves.

With 73 per cent of possession, it was trademark Barcelona and they could have been two goals ahead had Suarez buried two chances presented to him but he was uncharacteristically wasteful in front of goal.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

With a minute of the first half remaining, Neymar attempted to double Barcelona's advantage with an audacious over-head kick, but his effort went narrowly over the bar.

Whatever Cesare Prandelli said to his Valencia side during the break clearly worked, because it was the home side who began the half with far more endeavour and punished Barcelona with an equaliser.

Daniel Parejo broke clear down the right and his clever, measured cut-back went straight into the path of Munir and he hit an excellent, low finish past Ter Stegen.

And Valencia soon found themselves ahead when Nani played a brilliant lofted pass into the path of Rodrigo, who had ghosted into the penalty area to fire home.

That quick-fire double stunned Barcelona back into life and from an in-swinging corner, Rakitic again played his part, when a bullet header was parried straight into the path of Suarez, who made no mistake by volleying into the bottom corner.

Nani should have grabbed a third goal for Valencia late on, but he rifled his strike wide of the target.

Then, with a minute of added-time remaining, Suarez - who was a thorn in the Valencia side all game - was impeded inside the box and the referee did not hesitate in pointing to the spot, with Messi slotting home to earn all three points for his side.

As Barcelona players celebrated in front of the home crowd, Suarez and Neymar went down clutching their heads after they were hit by objects thrown from the stands.