Barcelona vs Valencia, summary: Araujo red card, score, goals & highlights | LaLiga Santander 22/23
FC Barcelona vs Valencia CF: as it happened
Signing off...
OK, that's all from myself today!
Thanks for following the game and make sure to check out the other matches we've got on the site!
Joe
Wondering why FC Barcelona players were wearing purple armbands?
Here's the reason: they've invented a new colour.
Yes, really!
Busquets was named MVP of the game:
82% pass completion rate, 1 assist.
Green = completed pass
Red = failed pass
Blue = key pass
Yellow = assist
That's some leap from Rapha!
And it turned out to be the winning goal; Real Madrid have it all to do away at Real Betis later tonight to claw back some of the point lead that the Catalan side have built up.
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Want more football?
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Sergi Roberto post-match:
"We are 10 points clear right now. Madrid have to play but it's important to keep getting points.
We defended until the end today but that's part of a winning team.
Compared to other games or other years, we lacked the second goal to be a bit calmer, that would have changed things. It's a shame but we have to know how to suffer and we're happy and have to be positive.
We feel good, we're happy."
Araujo did well to stop the attack; Marc wouldn't have made it I don't think. But the team defended well. Another game without conceding.
I've been in the first team for 10 years, I'm happy to continue here. I want to be here and the manager wants me here too, as well as the board. Even if I don't play, I always give everything and I hope there's a lot of happiness for us all in the future."
Rubén Baraja post-match press conference:
"We came into the game thinking we could get something. And during moments, we could have.
The team got up after the goal and we had some good chances to score, which isn't easy at Camp Nou.
They closed off the gaps really well in the second half but we still had chances to score.
We could have been clearer but that's football."
"We want to be competitive and stay in games. The team competed well today.
They have players who dominate but we kept up the intensity.
In terms of the effort and attitude to continue, we just need to keep going for the next game.
The penalty is a subjective decision.
We just have to move onto the next game and take the positives."
"I didn't see the penalty shout. Someone said to me there was contact but I can't change the decision.
I'm not happy because we had a good opportunity and the game was 'alive'. We weren't able to take advantage of the chances and change the game.
But the team worked well and we did a good job coming to the Camp Nou and played an intense game."
Xavi post-match press conference:
"Normally I’m nervous on the sidelines but today I was more nervous, you see the game better I saw that we suffered.
They defended well, they are very organised.
We have to learn to finish off games, and today we didn’t do it, which is a shame.
We lacked effectivity, it made us suffer until the end, and even more given the red card. We suffered but this helps us to grow."
"It’s a clear red card, we have to be honest. It’s a mistake from us but it’s a red card.
There’s an order to take penalties. Ferran was top of the list. Showing ambition and personality to take penalties is important, but we decide and we have an order.
People always talk about ‘Xavi’s Barça’, but it’s the players, they play, we just help them."
Here's the top of the table:
Barça are currently TENpoints ahead of Madrid with an extra game played.
Madrid play Betis tonight.
| T | MP | W | D | L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 62 | 24 | 20 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | 52 | 23 | 16 | 4 | 3 |
| 3 | 45 | 24 | 13 | 6 | 5 |
| 4 | 44 | 24 | 13 | 5 | 6 |
| 5 | 40 | 23 | 12 | 4 | 7 |
Post-match interviews coming up...
The new Atlético?
I'm joking, of course, but this constant 1-0 winning thing that Barça are doing definitely makes me remember that famous side!
Raphinha post-match:
"It was a difficult game, especially after the red card. The important thing is we keep going and we got the three points.
It's hard to play with a man down, we had to drop deeper and it's important we didn't concede a goal.
Ronald was the last man and it's normal. There are times we have to do these things.
Ansu wanted to score [the penalty], I understand him. It's normal, it happens."
What a crazy second half. Valencia changed into a completely different side after the red card, which completely threw the game plan for both sides off the table and into the Mediterranean.
Araujo, now Barça have confirmed the win, won't regret his decision but the fact is that they struggled to play with a man down in the second half and were arguably lucky to get away with three points. But that's how you win league titles, I suppose, by showing versatility and the ability to play in all kinds of situations.
FULL TIME!
CHANCE FOR VALENCIA!
Kluivert smacks a long-range effort into Ter Stegen's hands.
Kounde clears a bouncing ball into space. Barça have everyone except Alarcón pressed back into defence.
Barcelona are being very cautious, not wanting to make mistakes. Valencia continue to chase...
HUGE CHANCE FOR VALENCIA
Hugo Duro finds time and space inside the box but his shot is terrible after a heavy first touch and the effort spoons into the stands.
Alonso lets the ball run out but the referee gives a corner to Valencia.
5 added minutes.
Into the final minute of normal time.
Musah's poor pass allows Barça to regain their shape and the ball.
Xavi's concerned expression continues to press against the window like a dog that wants to eat of their owner's dinner table,
Raphinha OFF
Alarcón ON
The crowd continue to push their team over the line but Los Che don't stop attacking.
Fran Pérez goes down after a challenge from Kessie inside the box and the Valencia players scramble over to the referee asking for a penalty.
Raphinha gets back into his own box, steals the ball from Fran Pérez and clears the danger. The 89,000 fans inside Camp Nou erupt in support.
Sergi Roberto OFF
Eric García ON
Huge whistles from the crowd after it appeared the ball went out of play before Kluivert got his cross in. Xavi will not be a happy bunny rabbit with the way the game has gone over the last minutes...
It's Barcelona now who are pinned back inside their own box; Valencia have the initiative in the game and are pushing to score.
Almeida and Samu Lino OFF
Kluivert and Yunus Musah ON
Ter Stegen comes out to punch a dangerously looping cross from Castillejo and now Kounde is down after taking a hit.
Fran and Castillejo have been very good so far; they link up well together down the right.
Kluivert and Yunus Musah are preparing to come on.
Fifteen to go; Valencia have just stepped up a gear over the past few minutes.
Christensen is limping...
Eric García warming up.
Offside given, but that was great from Valencia.
Fran Pérez got on the end of a cross from the left after some nice build up by Los Che. His shot went just wide.
HUGE CHANCE MISSED BY FRAN!
Whistles from the crowd as Valencia build up a nice attack. They've had the ball for around 2 minutes now, just passing around, probing, finding spaces in the FC Barcelona defence.
Mamardashvili and Diakhaby crash into each other but the ball is cleared away from goal.
Free-kick to Barça on the right. Raphinha to cross...
Alonso intercepts a pass from Lino and plays Raphinha through on his own...
Valencia burn their lungs to ashes in an effort to get back and defend, which they do.
Diakhaby (who came on earlier) plays Castillejo in behind the Barça defence but Christensen does well to sweep up and clear the ball.
Barcelona hold onto the ball to cool everyone down and inject a sense of calm into what has been a frantic few minutes.
Barcelona are now playing a 4-3-2 with Busquets, Roberto and Kessie behind Raphinha and Ferran.
Thierry and Ilaix OFF
Castillejo and Fran Pérez ON
Around half an hour to go and you can't help but feel that this game is on a knife edge...
Ansu OFF
Alonso ON
STRAIGHT RED CARD FOR ARAUJO!!!
Valencia launched an attack and Kounde headed back to Araujo who didn't read it. Hugo Duro broke free and the centre-back's instincts kicked in, dragging the striker down.
HUGE CHANCE FOR VALENCIA TO SCORE!
The cross comes in from the left wing and Hugo Duro takes a swing at the air instead of making contact with the ball from 4 yards out!
ANSU OFF THE POST!
He broke away down the right after a pass from Raphinha and smacked a shot past Mamardashvili!
WIDE!!!!
FERRAN HITS THE PENALTY WIDE OF THE LEFT POST!
Penalty confirmed!
Ferran to take.
Kounde had a shot that hit Hugo in the arm... VAR checking.
Kessie had a shot from distance that bounced terribly inside the box and Kounde's resulting effort on goal hit Hugo on the arm.
PENALTY BARCELONA!
Araújo is OK to carry on.
CHANCE VALENCIA!
Thierry fires an early cross towards Hugo Duro but the striker misses the ball.
The bad news is that Araújo is down...
Almeida tries a pass over the top of Balde to Thierry, but it's wildly overhit and flies out of play. A lack of calmness, pausa as they say in Spain.
Chance!
Balde's cross is hit over the bar by Ansu; great work from Busquets to find the left-back.
Kessie challenges Foulquier as the right-back gets down the wing. The Barça midfielder does well to shove him off the ball and let it out for a goal kick.
Valencia have started brightly, pushing FC Barcelona back into their own half...
And we're off!
De Jong OFF
Kessie ON
The players are back out for the second half!
You may have noticed that goalkeepers across the world are all wearing black this weekend - but why?
Here's an explainer as to why the initiative is a fantastic idea.
Half time:
The control that Xavi asked for has definitely been there for FC Barcelona, who have shown over large periods of the first half that they know perfectly well how to get at Valencia CF. Raphinha has been a bright spark - not just for his goal - and has created plenty of dangerous moments for his side with good movement and intelligent passing.
Balde on the other side has shown some good moments, too, getting the better of his opposite number on a few occasions and creating crossing opportunities.
I was going to say that Ferran was having a solid game up front, but two incredibly strange passes have given Valencia CF the biggest chances of the entire game: one that left Ter Stegen completely open and the other - kicked in the air in the same careless fashion - landed at the feet of an opponent.
If FC Barcelona can keep their serious caps on, they've got this result, but Valencia should be pleased with some of the openings they've had so far.
And that's all for now!
Hugo Duro is down in the box... nothing given.
1 added minute.
HUGE CHANCE FOR VALENCIA!
Ferran, what are you doing?!
He plays the exact same pass as he just did to Ter Stegen, this time straight to Thierry, who launches forward and Barça are lucky Ilaix didn't get a lot of power on his shot at the end of the move.
Valencia keep pressing, trying to stop FC Barcelona from progressing, but the home side are finding spaces everywhere, especially in the wide areas with Raphinha and Balde.
HUGE CHANCE FOR VALENCIA!
Ferran plays quite an absurd, looping pass back to Ter Stegen, who takes it down but fails to find Koundé. The poor pass lands at Lino's feet inside the box but the forward whacks a crazy shot high into the stands.
Almeida gives Busquets a kick in the ankle and the player goes down. The Camp Nou crowd holds it breath but it looks like he's just fine.
CHANCE!
Ansu heads a Raphinha cross into the ground and it bounces wide.
Jesús Vázquez makes a nice run behind Koundé and Ilaix sees it, playing a ball over the top. Unfortunately, Ter Stegen smells the danger and comes to collect.
Ansu goes for the shot and smacks the ball into the wall.
And right away, at the other end, Balde wins a free kick close to the corner flag after being tripped by man of the moment, Thierry.
CHANCE!
THIERRY GOES CLOSE!
Some nice Valencia possession ends with a Thierry header that catches Ter Stegen out and bounces just wide. Baraja will be encouraged by that.
CHANCE!
FERRAN!
The ball bounces to Raphinha who plays it across the box. Valencia's clearance arrives at Ferran's feet; he takes a touch to teady himself before firing a low drive at Mamardashvili, which the goalkeeper pushes away.
Valencia (typically, after I just said they are dropping deeper), start to have a sustained spell on the ball. Barcelona hold their shape and eventually win the ball back after a poor pass from Thierry.
FC Barcelona continue to push as Valencia drop deeper and deeper...
I think Xavi is more animated inside his glass box than he is on the touchline!
CHANCE!
Ferran's cross is cleared by Foulquier but the ball rolled right across goal...
Raphinha (again) played in the Spaniard down the right.
De Jong gets arguably the biggest cheer so far with a fantastic challenge that stops a Valencia counter attack.
Mamardashvili makes a bit of a mess of coming out to punch a cross and his flappy hand sends the ball out for a Barça corner.
CHANCE!
Raphinha goes close!
Balde made a lovely diagonal run through a million challenges before popping the ball of to the Brazilian winger, whose far-post shot curled wide.
Raphinha gets his own back on the Valencia defender that blocked his shot by flicking the ball through the legs of Vázquez. Olés from the crowd.
Into the wall.
Free-kick for Barcelona in a dangerous area after Hugo fouled Busquets.
27 yards out, just to the right of the box. Raphinha is over the ball...
Barcelona are finding their flow.
Passes are zipping around, touches are becoming easier and the ball looks a lot heavier at the feet of the white shirts.
Ansu breaks away down the right but his shot is easily saved.
Busquets clipped a perfect pass over the top of the defence to Raphinha who had made a run from the right in behind the defence.
The winger met the ball with his head to flick it over the rushing goalkeeper.
Chance! Busquets!
Ferran did well to skip past 2 challenges and play the ball into the box from the right. It ended up at Busquets on the edge of the box but the midfielder's shot was blocked.
Ter Stegen collects a cross and immediately throws the ball to Raphinha on the right wing, who sprints to make the Valencia defenders tear back in fear.
The away side get back well and block off the winger from getting any closer to goal.
Chance for Barça as Balde gets past his man before hitting a cross into the box that Valencia defend well. Koundé gets down the right side but Foulquier ushers the ball out of play.
Araújo finds space and launches a cross-field pass towards Ansu that flies away into the stands.
Thierry breaks forward and lays the ball left to Lino, who steps back onto his right foot before playing a shot/cross that Ter Stegen collects.
The first big cheer from the home crowd comes after Raphinha channels his inner Ronaldinho and pulls off a fantastic turn to skip past Vázquez.
De Jong has Barça's first shot of the game, but he slips and it rolls into the goalkeeper's hands.
Lino gets in behind Kounde and manages to get a shot off that goes wide. Danger signs from him in the early stages.
Samu Lino takes a shot at Ter Stegen after nice footwork let him slip into the box on the left side, but it was so weak that a few laughs even came from the crowd.
Mamardashvili comes out to collect a ball over the top that Ansu had sensed. His run in behind caught out the entire Valencia defence.
Foulquier does well to tackle Balde who, again, made a surging run down the wing. Xavi is not a calm man in the stands today.
Barça attack down the left with Balde, but De Jong doesn't read the pass from the youngster and Valencia stop the danger.
Valencia launch the ball forward and gain ground, pushing Barça back.
It's Ferran down the middle for the home side, like we saw before the game.
And we're off!
Valencia kick us off from right to left.
Here we go!
Barcelona XI:
Ter Stegen
Koundé - Araujo - Christensen - Balde
De Jong - Busquets - Sergi Roberto
Raphinha - Ansu Fati - Ferrán Torres
Valencia XI:
Mamardashvili
Thierry - Cenk - Cömert - Jesús Vázquez - Foulquier; Ilaix - Guillamón - André Almeida
Samuel Lino - Hugo Duro
Alexia Putellas, Mapi León, Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh present their 'The Best' trophies to the crowd as the men's team prepare in the tunnel.
Rodolfo Molina / Rodolfo Molina
And the answer is...
Espanyol!
Yes, the Catalan club drew 1-1 against Barcelona with a goal from Joselu in the 73rd minute on 31 December 2022.
It remains the only goal Xavi's side have conceded in the league at home this season.
15 minutes to go!
The player warmups are concluding and they're almost getting ready to go back to the dressing room. From what we're seeing on the pitch, it looks like Ansu and Raphinha will be on the wings with Ferran in the middle. Let's see if it plays out that way.
Camp Nou is slowly but surely filling up to the brim for this one...
PAU BARRENA / AFP
Question number 2!
Barcelona have conceded just one goal at home all season: which team was it against?
Answers to @English_AS!
GORKA LEIZA / DIARIO AS
That's not Xavi on the bench...
Xavi Hernández isn't on the bench today after going full-Gavi and picking up one too many yellow cards.
His brother, Oscar Hernández, will therefore be on the sideline today.
Pre-match stats
- Barcelona have won their last 4 against Valencia, scoring at least 3 goals in three of those games (they are also unbeaten in 6 at home against Los Che).
- Valencia haven’t won 2 in a row since May 2022. They beat Real Sociedad 1-0 last weekend to end a run of 5 straight defeats.
- Barcelona have only scored one goal from outside the box. All the rest have been inside - the highest percentage in Europe (44/45 goals).
- Barcelona are unbeaten at home this season and have conceded just one goal at Camp Nou in the league.
- OnlyAlmeria and Elche (3) have picked up fewer points away from home than Valencia (6).
And the answer is...
Real Madrid!
Los Blancos have played 11 at home, winning 7, drawing 4 and losing 0.
Question 2 coming up shortly...
Barça kept Madrid at bay in the Bernabéu
Can they do it at home against Valencia? it sure looks like an easier game on paper, but Valencia have no choice other than to throw everything they have at the game today.
Valencia's starting XI!
Mamardashvili
Thierry - Cenk - Cömert - Jesús Vázquez - Foulquier
Hugo - Ilaix - Almeida
Hugo Duro - Lino
Barça team news is in!
Ter Stegen
Koundé - Araújo - Christensen - Balde
Busquets - De Jong - Sergi Roberto
Raphinha - Ferran - Ansu
We've got two trivia questions for you today!
Question 1 is below; number 2 will be put out later on:
***
Q1: Barcelona are unbeaten at home in LaLiga, but can you name the other team?
***
Send your answers to @English_AS or @j4brennan and I'll pop the fastest correct answer on the live feed!
Here is the full story of Lila Barça...
The Barça players will wear purple armbands
This is part of an initiative along with Pantone, in which the club have fused their red and blue colours to create 'Lila Barça', an new, officially registered colour to raise awareness of International Women's Day.
Ruben Baraja pre-match press conference:
“They are the LaLiga leaders, they concede few goals and they are a committed team. Defensively, it’s a difficult team to beat. They have strengths that I’m not going to go into now because everybody has seen them all season long. I want to focus on what’s mine. We go to Barcelona with the idea to compete well, to have a good game and to be at a good level."
"I trust that we go into the game knowing what we have to do to be competitive in the game. For us the most important thing is to do it collectively, just like we did against Real Sociedad. What we need to do is be a team in all senses of the word, both on and off the ball.”
Xavi’s pre-match press conference:
"I believe we are going to dominate the game. [Valencia] have a new manager and they are more aggressive. I saw the game against Real Sociedad and they were very intense."
"We are looking to dominate and create more opportunities to score than we have done in recent games. We’re delighted with the win against Madrid and we want three points against Valencia. It’s going to be difficult.”
How things are going at the top:
As for Barcelona, the situation look quite delightful. They are top of the pile and 7 points clear; a surprise loss to Almería in the league last week send the newspapers into a frenzy: the league may be ‘alive’. But it is on life support; if Barcelona get back to anything like their levels of domestic form we’ve seen all season, they’ll be singing campeones by April.
| T | MP | W | D | L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 59 | 23 | 19 | 2 | 2 |
| 2 | 52 | 23 | 16 | 4 | 3 |
| 3 | 45 | 24 | 13 | 6 | 5 |
| 4 | 44 | 24 | 13 | 5 | 6 |
| 5 | 40 | 23 | 12 | 4 | 7 |
How things look at the bottom:
Ah, Valencia. Los Che currently sit 19th in the league with 23 points after 23 games. They are just 2 points from safety but their morale levels are non-existent and as well as that, the unexpected feeling of being in a relegation battle must be swimming through their minds 24/7.
Without being disrespectful, teams like Almería, Real Valladolid, Getafe and Cádiz may begin the season with the mindset of fighting for every point.
Valencia, very much like Sevilla who are also down there (and lost 6-1 to Atlético Madrid yesterday), have been thrown in without warning. The shock factor is real.
| T | MP | W | D | L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | 25 | 24 | 6 | 7 | 11 |
| 17 | 25 | 24 | 6 | 7 | 11 |
| 18 | 25 | 24 | 7 | 4 | 13 |
| 19 | 23 | 23 | 6 | 5 | 12 |
| 20 | 12 | 24 | 2 | 6 | 16 |
Valencia CF team news:
As if Valencia’s precarious position (we’ll get to that) wasn’t bad enough, they’ll have to fight off Barcelona’s attack without club captain, José Gayà, who picked up an ankle sprain against Getafe last week. It is thought he could be back for the game against Osasuna on March 11, given that his recovery is going well.
Unfortunately, the absences to the squad list list (which Valencia announced at 7PM last night) doesn’t stop at Gayà. In fact, it goes on quite a lot longer: Gabriel Paulista (leg), Marcos de Sousa (ankle), Edinson Cavani (thigh), Nico González (foot), Jaume Doménech (knee) are all out.
FC Barcelona team news:
Barça are still without their star trio: Pedri and Dembélé, and Robert Lewandowski; thigh injuries are keeping them all out. However, the good news is that the Pole trained during the week, so at least Xavi can see the light at the end of the tunnel regarding his top goalscorer.
Gavi is also missing today - can you guess why? Yes! He has picked up enough yellow cards to get himself a one match ban.
Good news! Andreas Christensen is back! Xavi confirmed he will be available in the pre-match press conference.
Hello!
Good morning, afternoon and evening to you, wherever you are in the world and welcome to the AS USA live coverage of one of LaLiga’s most exciting fixtures of the season: FC Barcelona vs Valencia CF!
Kick off is at 10:15 A.M ET / 7:15 A.M. PT / 4:15 P.M. CEST.
It’s Joe here today to talk you through the laughter and tears that Camp Nou has in store for us.