The La Liga title run took an unexpected turn on Saturday when Valencia inflicted Barcelona’s first league defeat at the Camp Nou since April 2012 as they came from behind to win 3-2.
Starting the day ahead of Atlético Madrid on goal difference and a point clear of Real Madrid, Barcelona hoped to open up a three-point gap before their rivals’ respective games on Sunday. They made a strong start too, opening the scoring through Alexis Sánchez after just seven minutes, but goals just before and after half-time from Dani Parejo and Pablo Piatti turned the game on its head.
Lionel Messi quickly levelled from the penalty spot, only for Paco Alcacer to strike the winner low past Victor Valdes five minutes later.
And Barça’s day was summed up 13 minutes form time when Jordi Alba was sent-off for a second bookable offence.
We really have a three team title race in Spain now as both Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid now have the chance to end Barça’s record run of 59 league games at the top of the table when they face Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao respectively on Sunday.