Barcelona 1-0 Valencia: Player ratings as 10-men Barca hold on to win

Barcelona weren't at their best but held on to claim a vital three points after going down to 10 men against Valencia in a scrappy game.

Barcelona dominated from the off and made their possession count after just 15 minutes with Raphinha heading in a ball over the top from Sergio Busquets to give his side the lead.

They didn't take their foot off the gas after that, pushing for more goals, but they were unable to double their lead thanks to some good saves from Giorgi Mamardashvii and some poor finishing on their part.

Valencia did have a few opportunities of their own with Thierry Correia heading wide and Samuel Lino shooting over after being gifted the ball by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, but chances for the visitors were few and far between.

They ended the first half well, giving the Nou Camp faithful some scares as they pushed further forward, but went into the break 1-0 behind nonetheless.

The second half started perfectly for the hosts when they were given a penalty for handball, but Ferran Torres failed to convert it, hitting the post. The woodwork then came to the rescue for Valencia again with Ansu Fati's effort hitting the post a minute later after the youngster was put through by Raphinha, who was causing the opponents more problems than the rest of his team combined.

For all of their missed chances though, it still looked like they'd win relatively comfortably, but that changed on the hour mark when Ronald Araujo was sent off for stopping Hugo Duro from going through on goal by pulling him down.

Valencia inevitably saw more of the ball after that but couldn't get a stranglehold on the game with Xavi's side keeping things under control well despite being a man down, although they now weren't offering much going forward.

It looked like the second penalty of the game would be given when Fran Perez was tripped over by Franck Kessie in the box with five minutes left, but the Barca player was judged to have gotten something on the ball.

That proved to be the final moment of note as Barcelona claimed the three points relatively comfortably despite being a man down for over half an hour, with Valencia only taking their first shot on target in the last minute.

Barcelona player ratings (4-3-3)

GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen - 5/10 - Almost gave a goal away with a poor ball but had a quiet day after that, not doing much right or wrong with Valencia failing to test him.

RB: Jules Kounde - 3/10 - A poor header from the Frenchman led to his team going down to 10 men, and he looked uncomfortable at the back throughout while also failing to offer much going forward.

CB: Ronald Araujo - 4/10 - Had precious little to do in the first half and got himself sent off as soon as he did in the second, although he was largely forced into making the foul by a poor ball from Kounde.

CB: Andreas Christensen - 6/10 - Was comfortably the best of Barcelona's back four defensively, looking solid and steady throughout.

LB: Alejandro Balde - 6/10 - Wasn't caused too many problems in defence and made some good passes at the other end.

CM: Sergi Roberto - 6/10 - Won the ball well but didn't do much with it.

DM: Sergo Busquets - 7/10 - Created the only goal of the game with an excellent pass and kept things ticking over nicely for his team after that.

CM: Frenkie de Jong - 5/10 - Struggled to get involved in the 45 minutes that he played, perhaps a little fatigued after his all-action display in the mid-week El Clasico.

RW: Raphinha - 8/10 - Took his goal well and could have had assists to his name too if his team-mates had their shooting boots on. Comfortably the biggest threat on the pitch.

ST: Ferran Torres - 3/10 - Missed a penalty and didn't hold up the ball or create chances for others. A day to forget.

LW: Ansu Fati - 5/10 - Looked lively but missed some good chances and failed to create too much for his team-mates.

Substitutes

SUB: Franck Kessie (45' for Raphinha) - 5/10 - Worked hard but wasn't great in possession and was perhaps lucky not to give away a penalty.

SUB: Marcos Alonso (61' for Fati) - N/A

SUB: Eric Garcia (81' for Roberto) - N/A

SUB: Angel Alarcon (87' for Raphinha) - N/A

Manager

Xavi - 7/10 - Despite not being on the touchline due to suspension, he adapted to the red card well to see out the game, but his decisions before that weren't great with his team not performing too well.