Barcelona crushes Valencia 0-5 at Mestalla and consolidates leadership in LaLiga

Mestalla is always a difficult field to visit, but the current LaLiga champion, FC Barcelona, did not hesitate and crushed Valencia (0-5) to add their fourth victory of the season and consolidate themselves in the leadership, taking advantage of the failures of their main rivals for the title, in San Mamés (3-0) and La Cartuja (1-0), in the same weekend, and sinking even further - in the process - Carlos Corberán's team into the deep crisis that it has been going through since last year.

It would be unfair to say that only one team appeared in the capital of Turia. Because the team put up a fight and had its moments, its chances, to shake the culé goal. But he lacked fortune – and aim – and Barça, faced with a golden opportunity to strike the first blow on the table in the domestic championship, did not forgive.

Six minutes were enough for the Blaugrana team to break the deadlock, two more to threaten the victory, thanks to the Lamine-Fermín connection. In 120 seconds, the '7' found the '10' on two occasions: the first, a chipped ball into the area for the winger to nail a Vaseline with a subtle touch; the second, with a ball into space inside the area that Lamine sent to save with an unappealable cross shot to sign the double.

Only the VAR granted a respite to Valencia, who breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the 2-0 did not rise to the scoreboard due to a very tight offside by the culé striker. The Valencian team looked alive again, with only one point in their locker in three games, and that motivation helped them close to a tie twice. But Ugrinic missed the ball by centimeters, in a foul called by Diakhaby, and Cubarsí saved Barça after an error by Gerard Martín.

The joy, however, did not last much longer for Corberán's team: on the next play, Gordon left the ball behind and Fermín put it close to the post to stop the attempted Valencian rebellion in its tracks. From then on, Flick's team crushed and only a miracle – Dimitrievski scored one, Lamine forgave another and Fermín hit the post – prevented the disaster for Che from being greater at half-time, to which they left with anger from the Valencian fans.

That's as far as culé goodness came. Five minutes into the second half, Fermín gave the third to Raphinha, who continues to be sweet. Corberán's changes at game time gave another air to his Valencia, although it did not last very long: the Blaugrana captain did not score the fourth by millimeters. Afterwards, Rodri and Gordon threatened to make their debut as scorers for Barça, but the world champion hit the crossbar with a header and the Englishman's shot went off the wood.