Rakitic: Barcelona ended up dominating, it felt like we were playing handball LaLiga Santander Not happy with his side's start

Barcelona may not have been able to defeat Valencia on Saturday evening, but Ivan Rakitic believes the Blaugrana dominated towards the end.

The Croatian admitted that the start wasn't good, but felt like his team went on to take control.

"The first hour wasn't good, but after that we dominated," he said afterwards.

"It seemed like we were playing handball at times, the way we just kept moving the ball around their area.

"We put in a big effort.

"It's not easy to play against Valencia, who have grown in confidence in recent weeks."

Lionel Messi's brace was the 115th of his career and the Croatian was quick to praise his teammate for the impact he had.

"Hopefully he scores even more braces in the future," he said.

"He's the most important player for us and I hope he never stops being so."

February is set to be a gruelling month, but Rakitic believes the squad is in good shape.

"The team is currently living through the perfect conditions," he said.

"To come back here in this way after a big performance against Sevilla is hugely impressive, we're feeling perfect.

"We hope that the knocks to Gerard Pique and Messi are nothing serious and that they'll recover quickly."

Barcelona will be hoping to have those players available, as they take on Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.