Ernesto Valverde: 'Valencia exposed Barcelona in draw'

Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde has claimed that his side deserved their 1-1 draw with Valencia, despite saying that their hosts had "exposed" his team at the Mestalla.

Rodrigo opened the scoring for Valencia after the assistant had earlier failed to spot that a Lionel Messi effort had crossed the line, but Jordi Alba netted eight minutes from time to earn the Catalan giants a share of the spoils.

Valverde has praised the performance of Valencia, who continue to sit in second place in the La Liga table, but felt that Barca had done enough to earn at least a point against their nearest title rivals.

The 53-year-old is quoted by Marca as saying: "It was a hard-fought game. We were exposed because they are great on the counter-attack.

"We know they are a strong team at home and in the end we earned a draw, it was a good game."

Barca have maintained their four-point advantage at the top of the standings, although Real Madrid have closed the gap to the leaders to eight points.