Barcelona’s great summer in the transfer window caused the team’s fans to be euphoric towards the start of the season, and last night (Saturday) they realized that it was going to be much more difficult than they thought. The Catalans finished with a disappointing 0:0 at the Camp Nou against Rayo and Icaño and lost points already in the opening round of the league.
On the sports websites in Spain, the game was of course in the headlines. “Barça crashed against Rayo” was written in “Sport”. In Mundo Deportivo they went for “Rayo cooled the euphoria. The team from Madrid showed that La Liga will not be a ‘bed of roses’ for Barcelona”. In “AS” it was written: “Fiasco of the new Barcelona in its official presentation”.
The game also brought with it some particularly interesting data. Rayo Vallecano became Barcelona’s first opponent in 30 years to keep a clean sheet in two consecutive games at Camp Nou, after winning there 0:1 last season. In addition, after not scoring in the last two games of last season, the Catalans failed to score a third game in a row for the first time in 19 years.
The one who received the title of man of the match is the North Macedonian goalkeeper of the Madrids, Stoll Dmitrievsky, who did not allow the Catalans to defeat him for the third game in a row and provided another great display against them. At the end of the game he said: “It’s always very difficult to keep a clean sheet here, but we did a tremendous defensive job and it’s always fun to do it here at Camp Nou.”
Just before the end of the game, Sergio Busquets was sent off after a second yellow when he hit Radamel Falcao, so he will not play against Real Sociedad in the next game. In addition, the Catalans could be worried after two of their most important players ended their part of the game with minor discomfort. Pedri in the groin and Dembele in the hamstring.
Xavi spoke after the game: “The team was more stressed than usual, I told the players that all the pressure at the moment is on me. It was a very disappointing draw. It wasn’t our best game, we managed to get into their box but we weren’t effective. We got one point, it’s not Enough. We must believe in the path and keep working.”
| Barcelona failed to win or score in the last three league games against Rayo Vallecano. #fcblive #BarçaRayo pic.twitter.com/AfRNW0ahuH
– BarçaTimes (@BarcaTimes) August 13, 2022