Barcelona v Valencia: La Liga – live!

Gameiro thinks he has scored! He’s through on goal and fires past Ter Stegen but it is ruled out… wait we are going to VAR for an offside check. It looks good and after an inexplicably long wait it is given, game on!

23 mins: Perhaps Barça just need to keep scoring. They look most secure when popping it around the Valencia box, probing from side to side in search of an opening. It is slow but alluring, more like watching golf than football. A pretty passage ends with Arthur trying to dink a pretty pass into Griezmann but probably wanted a sand wedge rather than a nine iron.

19 mins: Here is the weakness of this Barça team. Valencia apply a modicum of pressure and suddenly it looks as if the house might collapse. Gameiro twice bursts away from the Barcelona defence, the first time he is forced to check back, resulting in a messy scramble to clear, then he gets in behind but cannot find the target with a left-footed shot.

16 mins: Ansu Fati is inches away from getting his second! The kid cuts from the right and flashes a curling shot between two defenders that leaves Cillessen standing and drifts just past the far post.

12 mins: How do Valencia come back from this? Albert Celades finds his side 2-0 down inside ten minutes in his first game in charge. They look shellshocked but perhaps some hope exists on the counter. Even in an opening salvo where Barça have ruled the roost there have been odd flickers on the break. Currently is it all backs to the wall for the visitors though, but they have gone six minutes without conceding so that is a bonus.

It is two! Valencia are a steaming hot mess and Ansu Fati is running the show here. This time he plays creator for Frenkie de Jong’s first Barcelona goal, getting to the byline on the left and finding the Dutchman arriving in the six-yard box to plant past Jasper Cillessen from close rage. I can barely catch a breath.

Well, well, well, could he have asked for a better start? Thrust into the starting line-up and Ansu Fati has scored with virtually his first touch! The 16-year-old sweeps home from a sweeping Barcelona attack as the ball is cut back to the penalty spot.

The teams are out on the pitch and after a brief presentation we’re set to get underway.

Charles Antaki writes in: ‘Ansu Fati in the starting XI? Amazing – he looks about 12 years old (actually 16 I think) and had one decent spell of 20 minutes the other day. Good luck to him of course, and what a terrific achievement; but it shows something is amiss in Barça when Messi and Suárez can’t play.’

You have a point Charles, it is a touch of Theo Walcott going to the 2006 World Cup.

Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Nélson Semedo, Gerard Piqué, Clément Lenglet, Jordi Alba, Frenkie De Jong, Sergio Busquets, Ansu Fati, Arthur, Carles Pérez, Antoine Griezmann.

Subs: Iñaki Peña, Junior Firpo, Todibo, Sergi Roberto, Rakitic, Arturo Vidal, Luis Suárez.

Valencia: Jasper Cillessen, Ezequiel Garay, Gabriel Paulista, José Gaya, Daniel Wass, Dani Parejo, Francis Coquelin, Ferran Torres, Gonçalo Guedes, Kevin Gameiro, Rodrigo Moreno.

Subs: Jaume Doménech, Jaume Costa, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Denis Cheryshev, Mouctar Diakhaby, Lee Kang-in, Maximiliano Gómez

Valencia arrive at the Camp Nou in a state of turmoil after their owner, Peter Lim, decided to axe head coach Marcelino García Toral just days before their visit to Barcelona. Marcelino has been replaced by the former Spain Under-21s manager Albert Celades, but even against a Barcelona side on the same number of points after an equally slow start to the season, a win for Los Ches under these circumstances would appear unlikely.

Marcelino’s exit ends an ugly power struggle with Lim, but given the veteran coach had returned a level of stability to the club the fans will probably wish there had been a different victor.

Valencia’s issues heading into the match are threatening to mask Barcelona’s own consistency issues. Only one win in their first three games means Barça are already four points behind leaders Atlético Madrid and the reigning champions will once again be without talisman Lionel Messi having also failing to secure the return of Neymar at the end of the European window.