Barcelona woes continue with Valencia loss

  • 18/04/2016
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

By Tales Azzoni

Barcelona fell to Valencia 2-1 at the Camp No, losing their third straight game to allow Atletico Madrid to draw level on points atop La Liga with five rounds to go.

Atletico erased Barcelona's lead by beating Granada 3-0 earlier Sunday.

Real Madrid sit one point behind after winning 5-1 at last-placed Getafe on Saturday.

Atletico was trailing by nine points three rounds ago, and Real Madrid was 12 points back four games ago.

At the time, Barcelona was cruising toward a repeat of the Champions League, Spanish league and Copa del Rey treble.

But Luis Enrique's squad has won only one of their past six games, being eliminated by Atletico in the Champions League quarter-finals.

"We've got a marvellous challenge, if we win the five games remaining we will be champions," Enrique said.

"We're going to approach it like a Barca player always does, with our heads held high."

Their 39-game unbeaten streak ended with a home loss to Real Madrid earlier this month.

Atletico has three of their last five games at home, while Barcelona will play away three times.

Valencia opened the scoring after Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic deflected a cross into his own net in the 26th minute.

Midfielder Dani Parejo then provided a perfect pass for Santi Mina's precise shot into the far corner in first-half injury time.

Lionel Messi scored his 500th career goal in the 63rd to end a five-game scoring slump that was his worst with Barcelona in five years.

He completed a cross by Jordi Alba to keep his team's hopes alive, but they couldn't capitalise on their chances of equalising.

It was the second win in a row for Valencia after four straight losses, moving the club further away from the relegation zone.

They have 40 points from 33 games and is in 12th place.

AP