Valencia ended Barcelona’s run of 25 successive wins at the Camp Nou on Saturday by securing a rare 3-2 win.
Alexis Sanchez opened scoring for the Catalan giants in the 7th minute before Dani Parejo swept home and Pablo Piatti headed in for the visitors.
Lionel Messi made it 2-2 from the penalty spot after Ricardo Costa had handled, but Valencia grabbed a famous win when Paco Alcacer slotted in.
The La Liga champions were also reduced to 10 men when Jordi Alba was sent off for a second bookable offense.
The former Valencia player was dismissed for a body-check on Sofiane Feghouli 13 minutes from time.
The last time the La Liga leaders lost at home was in April 2012, in a 2-1 defeat by Real Madrid. The defeat was only the 4th time they have lost in La Liga when Messi has scored
Atletico Madrid will have the opportunity to leapfrog coach Gerardo Martino’s men when they host Real Sociedad on Sunday. They are tied on 54 points at the top of the league standings, with Barca ahead on goal difference.
Real Madrid, who have won their last five league matches, are a point behind and are at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.
“We will try to recover the lost ground on our title rivals. We conceded chances to Valencia and they took advantage of them. We need to keep going and keep in mind how much this hurt us today,” Martino said after Saturday’s loss.
