Carles Puyol grabs draw for Barca

Barcelona salvaged a draw at Mestalla with a great header by Barca captain Carles Puyol.

Barca Central defender Carles Puyol saw the Spanish champions come from behind to draw 1-1 with Valencia in their Copa del Rey semi-final first leg match on Wednesday at the Mestalla stadium.

And Barca could have sown it up in the second-half on 55 minutes with a penalty from Leo Messi but was well saved by Diego Alves.

Valencia, who have won La Copa del Rey seven times, had taken a well deserved lead in the 27th minute thanks to Brazilian forward Jonas’s strike from just inside the penalty area.

Barcelona though, were back on level terms eight minutes later as captain Carles Puyol leapt like an NBA All-Star at the back post to head into the net and give Barca an invaluable away goal for next week’s second leg at the Camp Nou.

It was a valuable win for the Catalans as coach Josep Guardiola had to do without five of his first choice players due to injury including Pedro and Iniesta.

The other Copa del Rey semi-final had seen Athletic Bilbao take a 2-1 advantage into next week’s second leg after beating third division Mirandes away with two goals coming from Fernando Llorente.