Barcelona 1-0 Real Valladolid: 5 talking points as Dembele scores last-gasp winner | La Liga 2020-21
Barcelona grabbed a hard-fought 1-0 La Liga victory over a dogged Real Valladolid side at the Camp Nou on Monday.
With the win, Barcelona won their sixth league game on the bounce to move to within a point of leaders Atletico Madrid.
In a hard-fought affair, relegation-threatened Real Valladolid defended tooth and nail as a much-vaunted Barcelona attack was kept quiet for almost the entire game.
However, Ousmane Dembele struck a 90th-minute winner to give Barcelona a last-gasp win.
The result sees Barcelona move past Real Madrid into second place in the league table and maintain their unbeaten run in 2021. On that note, let's have a look at five talking points from the game.
#1 Barcelona fail to hit their stride after the international break
Barcelona went into the international break in emphatic form, extending their winning streak to five games with an emphatic 6-1 win over Real Sociedad.
However, Ronald Koeman’s men returned to the La Liga after the international break looking out of ideas against a struggling Real Valladolid side.
However, this win should stand them in good stead ahead of the much-anticipated El Classico next week.
#2 Real Valladolid put up defensive masterclass
Relegation-threatened Real Valladolid put on a defensive masterclass as they looked all set to force a share of the spoils at the Camp Nou before Dembele's late intervention.
The visitors remain 16th in the table, just three points above the drop zone.
In a keenly-fought affair, Barcelona struggled to conjure enough scoring opportunities against a resolute Valladolid defence.
Considering how the game panned out, a draw probably would have been the fairer result. Eventually, that was not to be, as the Blaugrana grabbed all three points and stay alive in the La Liga title race.
Real Valladolid can take heart from their Camp Nou performance and look to build on it to help avoid the drop.