Falcao and Dimitrievski sink Barça without ideas (1-0)

The Rayo players, celebrating the victory
EFE / Javier Lizón

A goal from the Colombian Radamel Falcao in the first half and a stop by the Macedonian goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski to a penalty kick thrown in the second half by Memphis Depay have allowed the Vallecano Ray win one Barcelona without ideas that chains two consecutive defeats and that touches bottom. The visit to Vallecas del Barcelona has sparked anticipation in the Madrid district and the team has not wanted to disappoint its fans. From the beginning, the set led by Andoni Iraola has tried to subdue his rival with a high pressure that has despaired the Barça defense, which has not found holes to get the ball played as usual. In fact, in one of these errors in the exit of the ball the Argentine Oscar Trejo was quick to steal it and make a vacuum pass for Radamel Falcao, who haggled Gerard Piqué with a cut in front before throwing a strong shot with the left that has crashed the ball into a stick and has entered the bottom of the net.

In the second it was the defeat for Falcao, who previously tried his luck with a shot from the front that touched Piqué and came out rubbing a stick. On these two occasions, and another more thanAlvaro Garcia just before the break, Rayo’s dominance was translated in the first half, in which Barcelona was lost on the pitch. Sergio Busquets he has not been able to put order in the game of his team, the Brazilian Philippe Coutinho has not taken the opportunity to be a starter with any sparkle of his quality and Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero, unattended in attack, barely touched the ball. In the second half, Barcelona took a step forward due to needs and, at least, the approaches have multiplied, some of them with some danger such as a cross shot by the player from the youth team. Nico which has come out and another from Agüero has come out on top. With this new scenario, Rayo has had to change its approach and, instead of risking so much in attack, the midfielders have gained more prominence Oscar Valentine i Santi Comesaña, who have had to pause the game, and the central Alejandro Catena i Esteban Saveljich, who have exchanged the short pass for the effective rejections.

Barcelona could have equalized in the 71st minute, when Oscar Valentín knocked down Memphis Depay inside the area and Mateu Lahoz has decreed criminal. It was at this point, with the worst omens flying over Vallecas, when Stole Dimitrievski burst in, who guessed the Dutchman’s shot on his right side and caught him in two strokes. This mistake did not make Barcelona give up in its obstinacy to equalize the game but emotionally blamed the blow, especially when Iraola decided to bring in the French striker Randy Nteka and the Senegalese midfielder Pathé Ciss, two physical prodigies. The final minutes, with the game without a dominator, showed a Barcelona attacking desperately, but suffering from offensive power, and a Rayo defending with everything in his area a score that has not moved.