Champions Barcelona's domestic strife continued as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Valencia in an absorbing La Liga game on Sunday, with talisman Lionel Messi again coming to their rescue by equalising with an 11th goal in 10 games this season.

The draw stretched Barca's winless run in Spain's top flight to four games and saw them surrender top spot to Sevilla in a highly competitive league table, where the leading six teams are separated by only two points.

The Catalans fell behind in the second minute at a bouncing Mestalla stadium after dreadful defending from a corner allowed Argentine defender Ezequiel Garay to stab home from close range.

Barca continued to leak chances but got a foothold in the game thanks to a superb strike in the 23rd minute from Messi, who has been in inspired form recently and delivered a performance for the ages against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.

They failed to further breach a superbly organised Valencia, however, racking up a run of three draws and a defeat in four league games, their longest stretch without a win since 2016.

Sevilla are top on 16 points while Barca have 15 like Atletico Madrid but are second due to a better goal difference.

Barcelona had responded to disappointing results against Athletic Bilbao, Leganes and Girona with a commanding 4-2 win in the Champions League over Tottenham at Wembley Stadium but they were instantly back on the rocks when Garay struck.

Valencia continued to pile forward with little resistance after scoring and carved out three clear chances to double the lead but Michy Batshuayi was twice foiled by Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Geoffrey Kondogbia fired wide.

Barca soon got their house in order and established control and there was an air of inevitability about their equaliser when it arrived, Messi playing a one-two with Suarez before firing first time into the bottom corner.

Valencia, who have picked up only one victory in 10 games in all competitions, continued to look dangerous on the break and substitute Denis Cheryshev flashed shots narrowly off target either side of halftime.

There was a cagey feel to much of the second half, with both sides quickly smothering danger when it appeared. In one instance, Philippe Coutinho took too long to shoot inside the area, while in another Messi crept into the area down the left hand side but dragged his shot just wide of the near post.

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