Barcelona survive scare as VAR rules out Real Valladolid's injury time equalizer in La Liga fixture
-Barcelona managed to get a 1-0 victory away to Valladolid
- Ousmane Dembele scored the only goal for the champions
- The VAR ruled out Vallolid's late equalizer as an off-side
Barcelona picked up from where they finished in La Liga as they recorded a 1-0 victory over new comers, Real Valladolid.
As the expected, the match was action packed and the Jose Zorrilla Stadium was full to capacity as the newly-promoted side welcomed La Liga's defending champions.
Barcelona dominated most of the proceedings in the first half but failed to score as Ousmane Dembele made a mess of most the chances created by the Catalan club.
Barcelona players celebrate Dembele's goal. Photo Credit: Getty Images
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Ernesto Valverde's men played nine corners in the first 45 minutes but to no avail and Valladolid were unlucky not to have gone behind.
The second half was much better from Barca as they finally got the breakthrough through Dembele in the 57th minute.
A cross was driven into the box as Sergi Roberto did well to keep the ball back in play, as he lays it back with a header and the Frenchman hit it first-time to make it 1-0 to the visitors.
Messi had a quiet match against Real Valladolid. Getty Images
Valladolid should have scored in the 75th minute after a delicious cross from Keko on the left was headed straight into the hands of Andre-Marc Ter Stegen by Duje Cop.
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Barcelona had to hold the nerve as the home side showed good fighting spirit and created chances on goal but lacked the finishing.
Luis Suarez had a goal disallowed in the 83rd minute as he was caught off-side by the assistant referee after receiving a pass from the quiet Lionel Messi.
Then, there was late drama as the home team thought they had equalized but after the referee consulted the VAR, the goal was ruled for an offside as Barcelona ran away with a 1-0 win.
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Source: Naija.ng