as goals from Lionel Messi and Neymar handed them a comfortable 2-0
win away to nine-man Rayo Vallecano on Saturday.
Valencia remained just two points behind the Catalans at the top of
the table with a 3-1 win over champions Atletico Madrid thanks to
three goals in the opening 13 minutes.
After resisting some early pressure from Rayo, Barcelona killed the
game off with two goals in as many minutes just after the half hour
mark as Messi and Neymar took advantage of the hosts' high line to
continued their fine goalscoring form.
Rayo were reduced to nine men after half-time as Jorge Morcillo and
Javier Aquino were shown second yellow cards and Barca saw the game
out to preserve their record of not conceding so far this season in La
Liga.
Barca now lead third-placed Atletico by five points and Real Madrid by
seven, but Real can cut the gap when they face Athletic Bilbao at the
Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday.
Claudio Bravo now holds the record for an unbeaten start to a La Liga
season and Barca's Chilean goalkeeper needed to be at his best early
on to prevent Alberto Bueno firing Rayo into the lead.
However, Rayo's offside trap was being breached regularly and moments
after Messi had a goal ruled out, the Argentine showed great composure
to dink the ball over the advancing Tono to open the scoring.
Barca doubled their advantage a minute later as this time Munir El
Hadaddi fed Neymar and the Brazilian took his time before drilling the
ball into the far corner.
Rayo could have been back in the game early after the restart had it
not been for another fine save from Bravo to deny Leo Baptistao.
However, any hope for Paco Jemez's men was ended when Morcillo was
given his marching orders for an unnecessary lunge from behind on
Neymar.
Messi then missed a number of chances to add to his tally in the final
quarter, leaving him still just two goals shy of Telmo Zarra's
all-time La Liga goals record of 251, before a disappointing afternoon
for Rayo was rounded off when Aquino was also sent-off for a late
challenge on Sergio Busquets.
Atletico, meanwhile, paid for their efforts in beating Italian
champions Juventus in midweek as a Miranda own goal, Andre Gomes's
strike and a Nicolas Otamendi header gave Valencia a dream start at
Mestalla.
Mario Mandzukic reduced the arrears on the half hour mark, but any
hopes of an Atletico comeback were halted when Diego Alves saved
Guillherme Siqueira's tame penalty just before half-time and they
ended the match with 10 men as substitute Alessio Cerci was sent-off
in stoppage time.
"Valencia started very strongly and we made mistakes that we don't
usually make," said Atletico boss Diego Simeone.
"After that Atletico played very well and they didn't have any more
chances. If we had scored the penalty, perhaps it would have been
different."
Valencia coach Nuno Espirito Santo refused to specify what he would
deem as success for his side come the end of the season, but believes
they can get even better with star summer signing Alvaro Negredo set
to return from injury after the upcoming international break.
"Our objective is to keep growing and keep improving as individuals
and as a team.
"Today is a great day for us, but I am very optimistic and I think we
will improve."
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