Barcelona beats Rayo Vallecano and becomes leader of La Liga
Robert Lewandowski converted a penalty in the first half, scoring his 20th league goal
Barcelona did their homework and, this Monday (17), at Lluís Companys , defeated Rayo Vallecano 1-0, in the 24th round of LALIGA . Robert Lewandowski converted a penalty in the first half, scoring his 20th goal in the championship.
The Blaugrana took advantage of Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid’s stumbles over the weekend to steal the lead in LALIGA from their biggest rivals. Both clubs have 51 points, but Barça has a better goal difference. Next Saturday (22), the Catalans return to the field and visit Las Palmas .
The game between Barcelona and Rayo Vallecano
In the first half, the Catalan team had greater dominance, but went through moments of suffocation in the final minutes. The only goal of the match was scored by Robert Lewandowski , from a penalty awarded with the help of VAR, after Ciss pulled Iñigo Martínez .
The move that decided the match caused great dissatisfaction among Rayo Vallecano, who complained about the referee’s lack of criteria. Ciss himself , who committed the penalty on Iñigo Martínez, claimed to have been pulled twice inside the area in the first half, but in both cases the referee did not call a foul.
Furthermore, another controversial decision angered the visiting team. A goal by De Frutos was disallowed after a VAR review, further increasing Rayo Vallecano’s indignation.
In the second half, the Catalans continued to dominate, and the home team tried to kill the game quickly, with moves involving Lamine Yamal and Lewandowski. The young Barça star had a good chance in the 15th minute, after a beautiful backheel from Héctor Fort , but his left-footed shot was deflected off the marker and went out for a goal kick. The Madrid team came close in the 21st minute, but Sczesny saved De Frutos’s fine shot in two attempts.
Without hesitation, Barcelona responded five minutes later and only failed to extend their lead due to a small mistake. In his first move of the match, Dani Olmo received a pass inside the box and made a great turn, but was dispossessed by the goalkeeper. On the rebound, Raphinha took a shot with his left foot and the ball grazed the crossbar after Batalla deflected it with his fingertips. The Brazilian would pose another threat in the very next play, when he ran and came face to face with Batalla, but, when trying to lob him, he hit the ball too low and sent it over.
The Blaugrana grew into the game and gave Rayo Vallecano little space to create chances. In a good exchange of passes between Lewa and Balde , the Pole found himself in a position to finish, but was blocked at the time. Without suffering much pressure for the rest of the match, the home team confirmed the narrow but important victory.
