Valencia 1-1 Barcelona: 5 talking points

It was honours even at the Mestalla as Valencia broke Barcelona's six-game winning streak in the last game before Gary Neville took charge of Los Che. Barcelona had taken the lead in the 59th minute when Luis Suarez scored with a solo run. But Valencia fought back and were rewarded in the 86th minute when Santi Mina latched on to Paco Alcacer's pass to equalise. The result sees Barcelona's lead at the top cut to just two points.Here are the 5 major talking points from the game.

#1 Luis Suarez remains imperious

After a smashing a volley home last week, it seems that Luis Suarez is not completely done with scoring beautiful goals. The sole goal for Barcelona today came with the Uruguayan converting a chance at the near post from an incredibly tight angle which would have either been saved or gone wide nine times out of ten.

It goes on to show how much Barcelona needed a quick yet conventional striker to stay relevant once Pep Guardiola’s innovation of Messi as the false nine had run its course. The Uruguayan stays as critical a force as he was with Liverpool, even if it may not be as readily visible.

He continues to show his hunger for big games, stepping up when Messi was injured, scoring the decisive second goal in the Champions League final last year, netting twice in the Clasico two weeks ago, and now drawing first blood in an apparently less important but quality game nevertheless. Equally important is his ability to press as the first line of defence, constantly keeping defenders on his toes. 

Real Madrid could probably do with this lesson on spending £75 million effectively.