Barcelona maintained their 100% start to the season with a 2-1 win over a plucky Rayo Vallecano on Tuesday.
After Unai Lopez’s early opener, Pedri dragged the two teams level after the break, with the introduction of debutant Dani Olmo off the bench making an immediate impact.
Robert Lewandowski saw a goal controversially chalked off, but it did not matter in the end as Olmo steered home with ten minutes to go to cap off the perfect debut.
How the game unfolded
Rayo made a lively start to the game, charging at the Barca defence at every given opportunity, and they deservedly took the lead inside 10 minutes.
Lopez found space in the box and fired into Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s near post, with the German unable to get a strong-enough hand to keep the effort out.
The goal did inject some life into Barcelona but a handful of smart moves down the right wing all led to nothing, while Rayo continued to cause all sorts of problems with their lightning-fast counters.
It took close to half an hour for Barcelona to really stamp any sort of authority on proceedings, but clear-cut chances were at a premium. Lamine Yamal’s strike from range stung the gloves of Dani Cardenas but the Rayo stopper was always in control in the first 45 minutes.
Early in the second half, Raphinha sent a wicked low cross into the six-yard area which somehow eluded Lewandowski as the Poland international slid to try tap into an open goal.
Substitute Olmo soon started pulling the strings. He fired wide from a free-kick before crashing against the crossbar from all of 30 yards.
On the hour mark, Barca finally dragged themselves level. Raphinha’s cut-back found Pedri, who shifted the ball out from his feet and struck into the back of the net.
Lewandowski thought he had put his side ahead 11 minutes later with a composed finish, but a VAR check encouraged the referee to review a potential foul from Jules Kounde, who was incredibly unfortunate to be penalised for treading on the end of Pep Chavarria’s toes.
Barca would get their second soon after, however, and it came as no surprise to see Olmo celebrating. His excellent cameo was capped off by a smart finish into the bottom corner to steer the team to their third straight 2-1 victory.
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 5/10 – Getting beaten at your near post is never a good look for a goalkeeper. Got his hand to Lopez’s opener and probably should have kept it out.
RB: Jules Kounde – 5/10 – A lively showing which failed to yield a positive contribution at either end of the field. Didn’t offer enough support to Yamal in attack.
CB: Pau Cubarsi – 7/10 – Showed the composure that most of his senior teammates did not. Impressed with the ball at his feet.
CB: Inigo Martinez – 5/10 – Couldn’t keep up with Rayo’s speedy forwards, which left Cubarsi forced to try and tidy up behind him.
LB: Gerard Martin – 4/10 – His first La Liga start was not one which will be remembered fondly. Looked lost at times as Rayo quickly identified him as a weak point.
DM: Pedri – 7/10 – Played plenty of passes to try and keep Barcelona going forwards and capped off a solid showing with a smart equaliser.
DM: Marc Bernal – 6/10 – A little isolated at times by Pedri’s runs forwards, but the youngster held his own well both on the ball and in the tackle.
RM: Lamine Yamal – 7/10 – The obvious danger in attack. Barcelona sent nearly everything through Yamal, who found himself locked in a thoroughly entertaining battle with Alfonso Espino. Assisted Olmo’s winner.
AM: Raphinha – 7/10 – Grew into the game after a quiet first half. Caused all sorts of problems in the second half and grabbed the assist for Pedri’s equaliser.
LM: Ferran Torres – 4/10 – The left side of Barcelona’s team was noticeably weaker than the right. In attack, Ferran was quiet and ineffective, and it was no shock to see him hooked at the break.
ST: Robert Lewandowski – 5/10 – Lewandowski didn’t do much wrong on an individual level, but that’s largely because he didn’t do anything at all.
Substitutes
SUB: Dani Olmo (46′ for Ferran) – 8/10
SUB: Alejandro Balde (65′ for Martin) – 6/10
SUB: Fermin Lopez (90′ for Pedri) – N/A
SUB: Pau Victor (90′ for Yamal) – N/A
Subs not used: Ander Astralaga (GK), Inaki Pena (GK), Sergi Dominguez, Andreas Cuenca, Hector Fort, Marc Casado, Pablo Torre
Manager
Hansi Flick – 7/10 – Barcelona weren’t great here, particularly in the first half, but the introduction of Olmo undoubtedly changed proceedings as Flick’s substitutions made the difference.
Player of the match – Dani Olmo (Barcelona)
READ THE LATEST BARCELONA NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP
