Ernesto Valverde has praised his Barcelona players for 'putting the brakes' on the sense of gloom by seeing off Valencia 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.

The Catalan giants headed into the match on the back of a shock away goals defeat to Roma, ending their Champions League campaign at the quarter-final stage.

Barca are cruising towards the La Liga title, however, and also have a Copa del Rey final meeting with Sevilla on the horizon.

Valverde now wants his players to build momentum to see out the campaign, having set a record for the most games without defeat in the Spanish top flight.

"It was three important points really, for a lot of reasons," he told reporters at his post-match press conference. "First of all, because of the week we've had. The atmosphere around the club this week has been a bit gloomy and we needed to put the brakes on that. It was more important that we picked ourselves up after a difficult week and the players have showed great attitude today and stepped up.

"We have to look forward now. Obviously we are coming off the back of going out of a competition but we've still got a lot of things to win. This was a red-letter day for us. It was essential to take this major step forward. To win it we needed heart out there on the pitch and to take the initiative with the ball.

"These are three golden points, and now we only need seven to clinch the Liga title. We were able to regroup this week. And now we have the chance to win the Copa del Rey, and that's another trophy that means a lot to us. The unbeaten record is nice but the more important thing is that we have carried on winning."

Luis Suarez and Samuel Umtiti netted for Barca against Valencia to make it 39 matches unbeaten.