Gary Neville sees Valencia strike late to earn draw with Barcelona

Santi Mina struck a late equaliser as Valencia held Barcelona to a fortunate 1-1 draw in front of Los Che's new head coach, Gary Neville.

The former Manchester United defender does not formally take change of team matters at the Mestalla until Sunday, but will do so amid a fresh wave of optimism after the hosts left the European champions ruing their inability to make the most of a raft of obvious opportunities.

Los Che were led into the contest by interim coaches Voro and Phil Neville, but they rarely looked capable of causing an upset with their first effort on target coming as late as 79 minutes.

The hosts had no fewer than 10 players on the sidelines and started tentatively with Barcelona's famous front three surprisingly out of tune in a first 45 minutes where each of the triumvirate had clear chances to open the scoring.

Luis Suarez eventually drilled in at the near post just before the hour after being given the benefit of the doubt with an offside decision following a brilliant one-two with Lionel Messi.

But Luis Enrique's men couldn't finish the job and were made to pay for their surprising profligacy by Valencia's late flurry.

The result sees Barcelona still top, but just two points clear of Atletico Madrid who had earlier won at Granada.

5' - BARCELONA CHANCE! It should be 1-0. Neymar drifts to the left and half volleys a delicious cross into the path of Messi who arrives late but balloons his effort over the bar. The Argentine should have buried that.

6' - BARCELONA CHANCE! Barca get in again far too easily. Neymar exchanges a one-two and bursts into the area on the left but blazes over the top. More composure and he'd have been rolling that into the corner.

26' - BARCELONA CHANCE. Another big chance for Barca. Neymar skins Vezo once again on the left and rolls it into the path of Messi who takes a touch before prodding it straight at Domenech from six yards out!

34' - BARCELONA CHANCE! Neymar romps into the area and clips a lovely cross to the far post for Suarez who lashes his volley over the crossbar.

59' - GOAL! VALENCIA 0-1 BARCELONA. the visitors finally take the lead. Suarez exchanges a brilliant one-two with Messi and races into the right of the area before blasting a shot in at the near post.

74' - BARCELONA CHANCE! Neymar bursts in from the left and cranks it up a gear as he speeds beyond two and slaloms to the edge of the box before curling a shot inches wide of the far post.

79' - VALENCIA CHANCE! A first attempt on target for Valencia as Rodrigo De Paul latches onto a defensive error but sees his low 20 yarder well held by Bravo.

86' - GOAL! VALENCIA 1-1 BARCELONA. Out of the blue Valencia are level! Alcacer chases a long pass, turns beautifully and tees up Mina who arrows a brilliant first-time shot into the corner.

Suarez has now scored in 7 consecutive La Liga games for Barcelona (10 goals).

Neymar is the only player to have attempted 100+ dribbles in La Liga so far this season.

Paco Alcácer has been involved in more goals than any other Valencia player in La Liga this season (6 goals, 3 assists).

(Stats courtesy of Opta and Infostrada)

A real bonus for Gary Neville. When the former Sky Sports pundit officially takes charge of Valencia on Sunday he will do so with a smile on his face. With almost a dozen players sidelined, he watched Los Che somehow snatch a draw against the European champions. Yes, they rode their luck, but the players will head into training in positive mood which is just what Neville needs if he is to get his tenure off to a flyer by keeping their Champions League hopes alive at home to Lyon on Wednesday. It's going to a real adventure for Neville, but one he will believe he can make a success of with some fine-tuning of some of the positives he saw against the Catalan giants here.

Neymar (Barcelona). The only thing missing from the Brazilian's display was a goal. He put a couple of first-half chances on a plate for Suarez and Messi before going so close to one of the goals of the season with a stunning run and shot that just flew wide. Easy to see why he is on the short-list for the Ballon d'Or. Almost certainly a future winner.

VALENCIA: Domenech 7; Ruben Vezo 5, Santos 6, Abdennour 7, Gaya 6; Danilo 7, Parejo 6, Perez 6; Mina 7, De Paul 6, Alcacer 6. Subs: Bakkali 7, Tropi n/a, Piatti n/a.

BARCELONA: Bravo 6; Dani Alves 6, Pique 6, Mascherano 6, Jordi Alba 7; Busquets 6, Iniesta 7, Rakitic 7; Messi 7, Neymar 8, Suarez 7.