A poor performance on the road, and a lucky point
Barcelona will go into the first international break of the season in fourth place in the La Liga standings with seven points from their first three games thanks to a wild 1-1 draw away to Rayo Vallecano at the Vallecas Stadium in Madrid on Sunday night. A match filled with craziness from start to finish ended with a point for either side in a game Barça will probably feel lucky not to lose given how well Rayo played, and the Blaugrana deservedly dropped points for the first time this season.
FIRST HALF
The opening 45 minutes can be summed up in one word: chaos. The first half was messy and wild, with very little midfield play from either side, loads of transitions, and plenty of chances for both teams.
Lamine Yamal and Raphinha missed two good ones in the first six minutes, but Rayo were the better team in the opening 20 and constantly offered a threat on the wings as they got in behind Barça’s high line and sent crosses into the box.
Rayo’s best chance fell to Andrei Ratiu midway through the half when he was found all alone with only Joan Garcia to beat, but the Barça goalkeeper made a world-class save to stop a surefire goal for the full-back.
Barça tried to exercise some control but constantly lost the ball in dangerous positions, and Rayo continued to come close on multiple occasions but were stopped by Garcia and an inspired Andreas Christensen, who made quite a few crucial interventions inside the box.
The Catalans eventually started to have more of the ball inside the final third towards the end of the half, and should have scored the opener when Raphinha was played through on goal and tried to assist Ferran Torres but couldn’t connect on the pass.
But with five minutes to go came a golden chance as Lamine Yamal went down in the box under the challenge of Pep Chavarría and the referee pointed to the spot. It was a soft penalty, but VAR was disabled due to technical issues and the call stood. Yamal himself took a really good penalty, and Barça had the lead just before the break.
Dani Olmo then had another golden chance to find the net when the rebound from a shot by Jules Kounde fell right to him in perfect shooting position, but Olmo fired it over the bar and missed a huge opportunity.
The halftime whistle came to end a wild first half as Barça were lucky to still have a clean sheet, and with both the home crowd and the home team very aggravated by the penalty decision that went against them, the Catalans had to be ready for a very tough second half.
SECOND HALF
The second half remained just as crazy and chaotic as the first, with even more transition football between the two sides who stayed wide open with their high lines and offered the space for the other team to create chances.
Olmo missed another big one early in the period and Barça had several moments in which they were one pass away from breaking the Rayo backline open, but the final ball was missing and the Catalans failed to double their lead.
Rayo continued to threaten through the wings and had a goal disallowed for offside after a mistake by Barça, and that was just the warning sign: three minutes after Jorge de Frutos’ goal was ruled out, a corner by Isi Palazón found substitute Fran Pérez all alone at the far post, and the midfielder scored a very nice volley off the crossbar to make things all square with 25 minutes to go.
The hosts had a monster chance to take the lead five minutes later when De Frutos was played through on goal and was all alone in front of Garcia, but the Barça keeper made yet another sensational save to keep his team alive.
There were zero tactics or strategies in the dying minutes as both teams were exhausted and still trying to go for the win, and Rayo had another goal disallowed for offside while Barça struggled to create a clear-cut chance in the final moments. The final whistle came after six minutes of added time, and a wild and chaotic game ended with each team sharing a point.
For the third week in a row Barça struggled to play well for 90 minutes, and can consider themselves lucky to still be unbeaten after this one. The penalty that resulted in Yamal’s goal was very soft, and they were outplayed by a Rayo side that were more intense and sharper with and without the ball.
The international break is here and Barça are already two points behind leaders and main title rivals Real Madrid, and the Catalans must show a ton of improvement if they truly want to compete for the league. This, right now, isn’t good enough.
Rayo: Batalla; Ratiu, Felipe (Valentín 76’), Lejeune, Chavarría; De Frutos (Camello 76’), López (Pérez 59’), Ciss, García (Gumbau 90+3’); Isi (Espino 90+2’), Díaz
Goal: Pérez (67’)
Barcelona: Garcia; Kounde, Eric, Christensen, Balde (Martín 78’); De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo (Fermín 62’), Raphinha (Rashford 62’); Ferran (Lewandowski 78’)
Goal: Yamal (pen 40’)
Category: General Sports
