Messi hit by bottle in Barca’s late win

Lionel Messi was struck by a bottle during the goal celebrations as Barcelona left it late to win 1-0 at Valencia on Sunday and trim the gap to Real Madrid, La Liga leaders, back to two points.

Both sides had plenty of chances in a scrappy game at the Mestalla that was settled when Sergio Busquets smashed in a loose ball in the fourth minute of added time.

The Argentina captain Messi, who had a quiet night after setting a league scoring record last weekend, appeared to be struck on the head by a plastic bottle seemingly thrown from the crowd, while his team-mates piled on top of each other to celebrate the goal. He received some attention from a club physio but did not look hurt.

Valencia later vowed to ban the supporter who threw the bottle for life once they have been identified.

“Valencia CF regret and condemn the isolated incident in the game against FC Barcelona, in which a small, uncapped bottle of water was thrown from the stands at opposition player Lionel Messi,” Valencia said on their website.

“The club will endeavour to locate the person who threw the bottle and they will be banned for life from the Mestalla,” they added. “Valencia CF operate a zero tolerance policy on such actions and rigorously enforce all security measures set out by legislation.“

Barcelona should have been ahead in the 14th minute when Valencia’s goalkeeper, Diego Alves, produced a superb save to deny Luis Suárez, who is yet to open his account in La Liga since his ban for biting expired at the end of October.

The Uruguay international who joined from Liverpool in the close season, then had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside in the 69th minute. The visiting keeper, Claudio Bravo was also on fine form and conjured brilliant stops to deny second-half efforts from Sofiane Feghouli and Álvaro Negredo, while Gerard Piqué cleared Rodrigo Moreno’s effort off the line.

Messi started Barcelona’s game-clinching move with a lobbed pass that Neymar header powerfully at Alves, who did well to turn away the ball only for Busquets to drill it back past him.

“We were lucky in the last minute to grab the three points,” said Busquets. “A draw is never enough and we’d to try until the very end.” — AP