Date & Time: 27th August 2024, 9:30 PM CET
Venue: Estadio de Vallecas
Competition: La Liga 2024/25
As Barcelona have begun their 2024/25 La Liga campaign in impeccable fashion winning 6 out of 6 points. What stands in the way between the Catalans and another three points is an away fixture against Rayo Vallecano.
Barcelona’s imperious form has them as the clear favourites to emerge victorious in this matchup but Vallecano have started off their season in good form and could provide some degree of challenge to the Catalans.
Vallecano’s Style of Play
Inigo Perez’s team is highly reliant on maintaining an adept defensive structure. They prioritise their defensive structure to such an extent that they end up conceding a great deal of possession to the opposition. This is great news for Hansi Flick as it means that Barca’s possessional dominance will mostly go unchallenged.
Where Rayo Vallecano have the ability to win games is their proficiency in counter attacking. Despite giving up a great deal of possession, they are extremely skilled at exploiting the spaces that the opposition leaves in transition scenarios. However, what makes them different to other teams is that they create high quality chances.
Barcelona should ideally produce yet another dominant performance but with goals in abundance to show for it as well. They must be vary of the counter attacking threat and defend as they did against Bilbao.
Vallecano’s Recent Form
Vallecano have yet to taste defeat in their 2 league games. In their first game, they won 2-1 against Real Sociedad in what as impressive upset victory. Whereas in their second game, they met their defensive counterpart in Getafe which led to a predictable 0-0 draw.
However, Rayo’s form in pre season was highly concerning. Amongst their 6 games, they only had a marginal 1-0 victory against Wolves to show for it as they lost 4 other games and drew one.
Conceding a grand total of 11 goals while only scoring 4 themselves, the hosts look extremely beatable when tasked with facing established teams.
Vallecano’s Threatening Talents
While they lack offensively expressive talents, Vallecano’s center back pairing of Abdul Mumin and Florian Lejeune could pose problems for the Catalans. Lejeune and Mumin’s ability to consistently win the ball aerially could completely mitigate Barcelona’s attempts to cross the ball.
In midfield, the ball winning and possession retaining presence of Oscar Valentin is Barcelona’s only challenge in the most coveted area of the pitch. The Vallecano club captain could disrupt Barcelona’s possessional play if they grow complacent over phases within the game.
Dani Olmo officially registered with La Liga
Barcelona’s big summer signing was facing complications in being registered as a La Liga player due to the Catalan’s dire wage structure. This prevented Olmo from featuring in Barcelona’s first 2 league games.
However after many departures and fiddling with Christensen’s injury status, reports have emerged that Barca have finally registered Olmo and the Spaniard can be featured in the matchup tonight. This greatly strengthens the squad and adds to the options that Flick can deploy in the starting 11.
Barcelona’s Expected Starting 11
Ter Stegen
Kounde – Cubarsi – Inigo – Balde
Bernal – Pedri – Casado
Yamal – Lewandowski – Raphinha
Barcelona vs Rayo Vallecano Recent H2H Results
Barcelona 3-0 Vallecano (La Liga 2023/24)
Vallecano 1-1 Barcelona (La Liga 2023/24)
Vallecano 2-1 Barcelona (La Liga 2022/23)
Barcelona 0-0 Vallecano (La Liga 2022/23)
Barcelona 0-1 Vallecano (La Liga 2021/22)
