Rayo Vallecano held Barcelona to a one-one draw .

Barcelona’s manager, Xavi Hernandez came into this game hoping to get his long awaited win against Rayo Vallecano, it is one of two teams Xavi is yet to beat , the other been Granada. Xavi lined up a 4-3-3 formation, Inaki Pena was in goal replacing the injured Marc-Andre ter Stegen who is out due to injury, Iñigo Martínez and Andreas Christensen were at the center of defense, Oriol Romeu was in the middle of the pack and the phenomenal Robert Lewandoski led the line. Gavi and Sergi Roberto are out due to injury.

Rayo Vallecano‘s manager Francisco Rodríguez lined his side in a 4-4-2 formation, Stole Dimitrievski was in between the sticks, Abdul Mumin and Florian Lejeune were in the middle of defense and Sergio Camello led the line. Rayo Vallecano had to play without their highest goal scorer Alvaro Garcia who was out due to an accumulation of yellow cards.

Unai Lopez was the difference between both sides in the first half as his beautiful strike kept Rayo Vallecano ahead in the 39th minute, it was a moment of brilliance from the midfielder, a volley from 25 yards. Barcelona were poor in the first half as they hardly created chances and had only one shot on target. Rayo Vallecano were arguably the better side made the best use of their chances and we’re compact at the back.

The second half was better for Barcelona as they played on the front foot, applied pressure, and created chances with Cancelo, Torres, Pedri, and Lewandoski causing havoc in the Rayo Vallecano box. Barcelona’s pressure paid off in the 82nd minute when Barcelona got the equalizer, Blade charged down the left to meet Martinez’s long pass and put the ball into the penalty area Lewandoski ran to touch it but couldn’t get to it, but it hit Lejeune and it entered the post.

The match ended as a disappointment to Barcelona, the Blaugrana third Laliga. They face Porto on Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League.

Rayo Vallecano’s boss Francisco Rodríguez could be proud of his side’s defensive display, there are lots of positives to pick from Rayo Vallecano’s performance. They are 8th in Laliga and are in 19th points. They face Athletic Club on the 2nd of December in their next match.