Barcelona return to La Liga action on Saturday with a trip to recent bogey team Rayo Vallecano.
A close to faultless start to the season results-wise has slipped after two defeats in Barca’s last four games, with losses to Real Madrid in Spain’s top flight and Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League puncturing the optimism around Catalonia.
Rayo have been in La Liga since their 2021 promotion and have a strong record against Barca in that time, though they’ve drawn a whopping six of their last eight league games coming into this fixture.
Here’s 90min’s preview for Saturday afternoon’s game.
Current form (all competitions)
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United Kingdom |
Viaplay Sports 2, Viaplay UK, LaLigaTV |
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United States |
ESPN+, ESPN Deportes |
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Canada |
TSN+ |
35-year-old attacking midfielder Oscar Trejo suffered a knee injury before the international break and isn’t expected to return to full fitness until late December.
Alvaro Garcia, who scored in Rayo’s 2-1 win over Barca last season, will serve a suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in La Liga, but manager Francisco Rodriguez has few injury worries elsewhere.
Isi Palazon is Rayo’s leading league goalscorer after Garcia’s four with two and will be their main creative outlet in attack.
Rayo Vallecano predicted lineup vs Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Dimitrievski; Ratiu, Lejeune, Mumin, Espino; Valentin, Lopez; Palazon, Nteka, Bebe; Camello.
The most striking piece of injury news for Barca over the international break was Gavi’s anterior cruciate ligament blow sustained for Spain which will rule him out for the remainder of the season.
There are also concerns for Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s fitness. The goalkeeper withdrew from Germany’s squad for the friendlies with Turkey and Austria with back pain and could be replaced by Inaki Pena if he doesn’t recover in time.
Head coach Xavi does at least have Pedri available again, while Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong is expected to return on Saturday, having not featured since the 3-2 win over Celta Vigo back in September. Sergi Roberto remains absent with a muscle strain in his leg.
Barcelona predicted lineup vs Rayo Vallecano (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Cancelo, Kounde, Araujo, Balde; Lopez, Gundogan, Pedri; Yamal, Lewandowski, Felix.
Xavi will hope his side can reset somewhat after the international break, having failed to hit the heights that saw Barca win La Liga last season.
Their trip to Rayo won’t be one for Barca’s squeamish fans as they have lost three of the past five meetings with the Madrid side. They boast an otherwise dominant record in this fixture aside from the recent four-game winless run.
Barca have the attacking quality in the starting lineup to be considered favourites and need to win to keep pace with Girona and Real Madrid ahead of them, but don’t be surprised if things get a little too close for comfort for the reigning Spanish champions.
Prediction: Rayo Vallecano 1-2 Barcelona
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90Mins
