BarcelonaDisappointing draw for Barça in the official debut of Lewandowski and company in the League. Rayo Vallecano deservedly took a point from the Camp Nou on a night in which Busquets ended up sent off. Below, the hot notes (and never better said, because how hot, in the stadium) of the duel.
You can now sell the house in pieces. “Everything costs a lot”, said Pep Guardiola when his Barça ran over the opponents. And he was right. Because on the grass the budgets are equal if the rivals, no matter how small, are well worked. This is the case of Andoni Iraola’s Rayo Vallecano, the only team that scored two victories last season against the Blaugrana team. The Madrid proposal, a continuationist, clipped the wings of the new (and strengthened) Barça, which still has the pieces to assemble. You can now sell the house in pieces to buy good players who fill the stands with excitement, that if the collective does not beat in sync everything costs a little more than it usually costs.
The iron fist is back. Araujo, once again a right winger, exemplifies this imbalance between the group aspect and the individual. The Uruguayan, humble and professional, is a beast when it comes to correcting in defense thanks to a privileged physique, but he has positional gaps that weigh him down from time to time. In one of them, in addition to the first half, Álvaro García portrayed him in the space and left him sitting before trying to beat Ter Stegen, who responded in the one on one with a firm hand . That the German saves points with stops, already on the first day, is great news. That Rayo was closer than Barça to moving the scoreboard, not so much. Because Ter Stegen also avoided the 0-1 on the final whistle.
Revulsive on the way to eleven. Barça rushed to register Raphinha to make his debut and the Brazilian was not fine in his official debut. Starting on the right side, he played a football that was more spectacular than effective. Consequently, Xavi replaced him in the second half with Ansu Fati. From that moment on, the party asked Dimitrievski for more than wasting time. The Rayo goalkeeper responded with a great save to a shot from the Spanish Guinean, who also made his debut as a free-kick. Ansu wears the 10, is pure dynamite and is very motivated by the competition around him. If the injuries finally want to respect him, it will be Raphinha and Dembélé who are shocked, not him.
A distorting element. Frenkie de Jong has become a subject of debate. This is what Barça himself wanted, who for months have not hidden their intention to get rid of the Dutchman in order to win fair play finance and reduce the wage bill. The club has had no problem in negotiating a transfer on the back of the player, and has not been able to convey to the press that his contract was too high and indicatively fraudulent. The League has started, De Jong resists and the people, of course, have their say. There are those who believe that they are being unfair to the midfielder and choose to applaud him. And there are those who unload against him, with whistles and insults, the economic infamy of the Bartomeu era. Either way, it’s best to close the folder once and for all.