(Rayo Vallecano-Barcelona 1–2) European champion Dani Olmo (26) made his debut in La Liga coming off the bench at halftime. It resulted in a late winning goal for Barcelona’s new star.
Tuesday, August 27 at 23:33
Unai López opened the scoring for the hosts when Jorge De Frutos went to the byline and laid it back to Rayo Vallecano’s number 17 early in the match.
Just under an hour into play, Barcelona’s Pedri equalized to 1–1 by placing the ball calmly in the corner.
The winning goal came as Lamine Yamal laid it back at a 45-degree angle and Olmo coolly slotted the ball into the net to make it 2–1.
Dani Olmo is back in Barcelona after impressing for Spain in the Euros. He was once part of Barcelona’s academy but moved on to Dinamo Zagreb and later RB Leipzig before he could play “adult football”.
It took time for the transfer to Barcelona to be finalized. He missed the club’s first two La Liga matches. Olmo was not registered because Barcelona did not meet the financial requirements.
Barcelona has released Ilkay Gündogan back to Manchester City, and defender Clement Lenglet has been loaned to Atlético Madrid. The club says that Danish player Andreas Christensen will be out for four months.
All three Barcelona matches this league season have ended with a 2–1 victory. First away against Valencia, then at home against Athletic Bilbao, and on Tuesday night against Rayo Vallecano.
Barcelona has not kept a clean sheet away against Rayo Vallecano since Claudio Bravo did so in October 2014 (but since Rayo has been relegated for several seasons, they haven’t met every year). The Madrid team stayed in the game well on Tuesday night, but ultimately had to give way due to Dani Olmo.