Rayo Vallecano is hosting Barcelona at Estadio de Vallecas in round 11 of the Spanish LaLiga. Rayo Vallecano is doing surprisingly well this season, and even though they lost 4 games, they are in 8th place. Barcelona still doesn’t look well, they are not scoring a lot, and they just lost to Real Madrid.
Rayo has lost only 2 of their last 8 games, including their last game against Betis. Rayo was solid in that game with 54% of ball possession, 3 shots on goal, 4 corner kicks, 2 big chances created, and 85% of the correct passes. After losing 2-0 early in this game, Rayo Vallecano has tied the score in the 65th minute. Unfortunately for Rayo Vallecano, they conceded a penalty kick in the 75th minute, and they conceded a goal from it. Rayo has lost this game 3-2. Offensively, Rayo Vallecano has been outstanding with 17 scored goals, and their defense isn’t bad either with 12 conceded goals. There aren’t any injuries in Rayo, while their leading goalscorer is Garcia with 4 goals. Falcao and Nteka added 3 goals, and yes, that Falcao. If you told me before the season Rayo will be playing this well, I would have not trusted you, but we will see how long they can keep it up.
Barcelona is in a terrible situation right now, they are dominating games, but they are not scoring goals. In their last 2 games, Barcelona has scored 2 goals, conceded 2 goals as well, but they have won only 1 of those games. In the El Clasico this past weekend, Barcelona has had 52% of ball possession, 2 shots on goal, 7 corner kicks, 2 big chances created, and 89% of the correct passes. Barcelona conceded in the first half, and none of their chances were threatening to Real Madrid. In the 94th minute, Barcelona has conceded another goal, but they did get one back just before the end. The final score was 1-2 in favor of Real Madrid. So far in LaLiga, Barcelona has scored 15 goals, they have conceded 10 goals, and they are very far from the top, in 9th place with 15 points. Depay has scored 4 goals for Barcelona, but he hasn’t been playing well as of late. Braithwaite, Pedri, Wague, and De Jong are all injured, and they will miss this game. Barcelona must change something, and quickly, otherwise, the Champions League is in jeopardy, and LaLiga will be out of reach soon.
Rayo has barely had any success against Barcelona in the past, and even though they are scoring a lot, this will be a hard game for them. I’m not sure Barcelona can step up their game, but I hope they will, and I will put my faith in them.