Valencia vs Barcelona. Spanish La Liga.
MestallaAttendance46,799.
Saturday 5 December 2015 21:36, UK
New head coach Gary Neville watched from the stands as Valencia held champions Barcelona to a 1-1 draw at Mestalla in La Liga.
Luis Suarez gave Barcelona a second-half lead from an angle, before Santi Mina equalised with six minutes remaining as Valencia maintained their unbeaten home record in the league this season.
Neville was in the stands as his brother Phil assisted interim manager Voro on the bench, and will take full charge for Wednesday's must-win Champions League clash with Lyon.
The result leaves Valencia in seventh place, five points off the top four, while the gap between top side Barcelona and second-place Atletico Madrid was reduced to two points.
Lionel Messi should have put the champions ahead after five minutes from Neymar's fine scooped ball, but the Argentine fired over the bar from inside the area.
Five minutes before the break Barcelona had another opportunity to go ahead, but a vital touch from Valencia's Aderlan Santos denied Suarez a tap-in after Alba's cross.
Suarez opened the scoring for Barcelona just before the hour-mark, but five minutes before the goal, television replays showed the Uruguayan appearing to stamp on the foot of Aymen Abdennour.
The referee did not spot the incident, and the former Liverpool striker put the visitors ahead from a tight angle after Messi's fine ball over the top of the Valencia defence.
It marked Suarez's eighth game in a row scoring, and his 12th in that run.
Zakaria Bakkali's left-footed effort forced Claudio Bravo into a good save with 12 minutes remaining after Rodrigo De Paul pick-pocketed Gerard Pique, but Valencia were level with six minutes to go.
Latching onto Paco Alcacer's knockdown, Mina stroked a fine effort into the top right corner from just inside the area for 1-1.
