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Lionel Messi remonstrates with the assistant referee
Lionel Messi remonstrates with the assistant referee. Photograph: Heino Kalis/Reuters
Lionel Messi remonstrates with the assistant referee. Photograph: Heino Kalis/Reuters

Barcelona draw in Valencia after Lionel Messi controversially denied clear goal

This article is more than 6 years old
Argentinian’s shot clearly crossed the line but is not given by officials
Serie A: Napoli return to top of the table with win over Udinese

Lionel Messi was controversially denied a perfectly good goal as Barcelona, La Liga pacesetters, hit back to earn a 1-1 draw at second-placed Valencia.

The Argentina forward thought he had opened the scoring in the 30th minute when his tame strike from just outside the area was fumbled by the Valencia goalkeeper Neto, with replays showing the ball crossed the line.

But without the benefit of technology, the referee, Ignacio Iglesias, did not award the goal, much to Barça’s dismay.

Valencia piled more misery on their visitors when Rodrigo fired them into a 60th-minute lead but Jordi Alba volleyed in a late equaliser to secure a share of the spoils on his return to his former club. The result leaves Barcelona four points clear at the top of the table.

Parejo (Valencia's captain): "Messi's goal was clear. It was a clear goal, truth has to be told. Referees make mistakes." pic.twitter.com/lj4nyB6lUr

— Ahmed #Messi (@MessiCuIe) November 26, 2017

Ever Banega scored the winner from the penalty spot as Sevilla produced another sensational comeback to win 3-2 at 10-man Villarreal.

Eduardo Berizzo’s side, who recovered from three goals down to draw 3-3 with Liverpool in the Champions League in midweek, fell behind in the 19th minute when Cedric Bakambu tapped in his ninth league goal of the season at the back post following Pablo Fornals’ right-wing cross.

And the hosts appeared on course for victory after the Colombia striker Carlos Bacca ran half the length of the pitch and rounded Sevilla’s goalkeeper, Sergio Rico, to double the lead eight minutes into the second half.

But Sevilla, whose head coach Berizzo was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, once again showed their fighting spirit and were soon level thanks to two goals in two minutes from the French defender Clement Lenglet and creative midfielder Franco Vazquez.

Villarreal’s Victor Ruiz was then sent off after picking up his second yellow card for bringing down Gabriel Mercado in the box and Banega confidently dispatched the resultant spot-kick into the roof of the net 12 minutes from time to complete the turnaround.

Deportivo La Coruna and Athletic Bilbao fought out an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Riazor.

Both sides were in need of points given their league struggles this season and the Bilbao captain, Markel Susaeta, fired the visitors into a 16th-minute lead when he raced on to Aritz Aduriz’s clever flick.

Depor levelled 10 minutes before the break when Pedro Mosquera volleyed across goal and Adrian Lopez stabbed home.

Inaki Williams – who struck the post late on – restored Bilbao’s lead on the hour with a crisp finish but Fabian Schar equalised from close range after 76 minutes.

Jonathan Viera struck a second-half equaliser as Las Palmas moved off the bottom by ending their eight-game La Liga losing streak with a 2-2 draw at Real Sociedad.

The midfielder Tana headed the hosts into a 21st-minute lead at Anoeta but goals either side of half-time from Willian José and the former Manchester United midfielder Adnan Januzaj turned the game in Sociedad’s favour.

Viera then lobbed into an unguarded net in the 67th minute after the home goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli had come off his line to clear, before Alvaro Odriozola was sent off in stoppage time after twice being booked for diving in the space of 11 minutes.

European round-up

Juventus bounced back to winning ways with a comfortable home victory while Napoli returned to the top of Serie A on Sunday.

Second-half goals from Mario Mandzukic, Mattia De Sciglio and Medhi Benatia saw the reigning champions recover from their setback at Sampdoria last weekend with a 3-0 win over Crotone.

Juve could not find a way past the visitors’ defence in the first half but the Croatian Mandzukic finally broke the deadlock seven minutes after the break when he headed in Andrea Barzagli’s cross.

De Sciglio made his mark two minutes after coming on, arrowing in his first Serie A goal from the edge of the area, before his fellow substitute Miralem Pjanic crossed for Benatia to tap in the third with 19 minutes left.

Victory leaves Massimiliano Allegri’s men in third place, four points behind the leaders Napoli, whom they travel to on Friday.

Maurizio Sarri’s men had earlier reclaimed top spot with a 1-0 win over Udinese. Internazionale had moved a point ahead after Saturday’s 3-1 win over Cagliari but Napoli needed a solitary Jorginho goal to make an instant return to the summit.

The only goal came in the 33rd minute when a bewildered Gabriele Angella brought down Christian Maggio in the box and, though Jorginho’s penalty was saved by Simone Scuffet, the midfielder tucked away the loose ball.

Jorginho tucks away the rebound from his own penalty to give Napoli the lead at Udinese. Photograph: Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters

A penalty also cost fourth-placed Roma as they drew 1-1 at Genoa. The Giallorossi led through Stephan El Shaarawy’s goal but, while defending a corner 10 minutes later, Daniele De Rossi was sent off for foolishly slapping Gianluca Lapadula, who scored the resulting spot-kick.

Lazio missed the chance to move level on points with their city rivals as Khouma Babacar converted a stoppage-time penalty to snatch a 1-1 draw for Fiorentina at the Stadio Olimpico. The Senegalese striker calmly sent Thomas Strakosha the wrong way from the spot in the fourth minute of stoppage time after the substitute Felipe Caicedo’s adjudged foul on German Pezzella.

Simone Inzaghi’s Lazio had looked on course to bounce back from last weekend’s Rome derby defeat with victory after the Holland defender Stefan de Vrij headed home Luis Alberto’s 25th-minute free-kick.

In Sunday’s other game Milan were held to a 0-0 draw at San Siro by Torino.

Paris St Germain continued their dominance of Ligue 1 with victory at reigning champions Monaco moving them nine points clear at the top of the table.

Edinson Cavani and Neymar, from the penalty spot, scored in a 2-1 win for PSG, who remain unbeaten in all competitions and have dropped only four points in 14 league matches this season.

In Eredivisie, Justin Kluivert – the 18-year-old son of former Holland international Patrick – scored a hat-trick for second-placed Ajax in their 5-1 win over Roda JC.

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