FC Barcelona have made it three wins out of three, and all by the identical 2-1 scoreline, that means that no matter occurs on this third spherical of Liga matches, they are going to be sitting fairly on the high of the desk going into subsequent weekend’s matches.
Like in opposition to Valencia on the opening day, they did it the exhausting manner. 1-0 down after a considerably dour first half show, they turned up the warmth within the second, with Pedri bagging the equaliser and Dani Olmo attending to cap an exquisite debut by scoring the profitable aim.
The one draw back to the night was a doubtlessly nasty knee harm sustained by Marc Bernal in direction of the top of the sport. The precise extent will not be recognized till a full medical report is made, and all of us hope that it is not as dangerous because it appeared on the pitch.
Early setback
With only one win from the final six conferences, and none at Vallecas in three, Barça have struggled in opposition to Rayo lately. This sport proved to be no exception.
Not solely did the house facet take the lead after simply ten minutes, however in all equity, deservedly so. After thwarting a sequence of early assaults, the Barça defence made it far too straightforward for Jorge de Frutos to ship a cross from the fitting and for Unai López to fit it previous Ter Stegen.
A lot better
The Catalan response was an excellent one, however so had been Rayo’s makes an attempt to defend their lead. Barça had been now getting many of the ball, however apart from a terrific probability for Lamine Yamal that Cardenas did properly to avoid wasting, there wasn’t an excessive amount of to fret Vallecas.
An enormous enchancment was wanted within the second half, and the introduction of debutant Dani Olmo supplied simply that. The brand new signing instantly settled into his duties and very quickly was rifling the ball onto the crossbar from lengthy vary.
A extra impressed wanting Barça quickly discovered the aim they had been on the lookout for. Pedri to Raphinha, Raphniha again to Pedri, and the Canary Islander coolly levelled up the scores.
Robert Lewandowski appeared to have scored for the third sport in a row to place Barça 2-1 up, however VAR had noticed an earlier infringement by Jules Kounde, and the aim was irritatingly chalked off. The Frenchman did tread on an opponent’s toe, but it surely was nonetheless a really courageous name by the referee.
Justice served
No level arguing, the choice was made and we had been again to 1-1. Barça had been very a lot the group on high and there was nonetheless over 1 / 4 of an hour for justice to be served.
And served it was. First by Lamine Yamal’s help after which by Olmo‘s easy end, slotting the ball completely between the opposing keeper and the publish.
It had been a powerful debut from the previous Leipzig man, so comfy that it appeared like he’d performed for Barça for years, and he’d topped off an excellent night time by nabbing the profitable aim.
For regardless of how exhausting Rayo tried to battle their manner again into this sport, it will be to no avail. The right begin to Hansi Flick‘s tenure as Barça head coach has continued, and issues are wanting very, very candy certainly for Barça followers proper now!
Subsequent up is Actual Valladolid on Sunday.