Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde had visions of the ghosts of Leganés’ Estadio Butarque during the second half of their encounter at Rayo Vallecano.
The 25-time Spanish champions were heading towards a 2-1 defeat before substitute Ousmane Dembélé and Luis Suárez turned it around, giving Valverde’s men a 2-3 win.
Before completing their stunning comeback, Barça’s only defeat of this season, which came away to Leganés in September, was on Valverde’s mind.
“The ghost of Butarque appeared everywhere in moments like that second half,” he told reporters.
“But, in the end, we won by playing something else. When you play against a team who have turned the score around, a precedent always comes to mind and Rayo play and fight and do a lot of things well.”
The ghost of Butarque
Barcelona ended Valverde’s first season in charge with just one defeat under their belt. That came away to Levante: a nine-goal thriller which saw the hosts run out 5-4 winners.
Many have tipped them to defend their crown, but a nervy start saw them drop points at home to Girona before squandering all three at Estadio Municipal de Butarque, the home of Leganés.
Philippe Coutinho, assisted by Lionel Messi, would give the champions an early lead but two second-half goals in the span of a minute, by ex-Liverpool forward Nabil El Zhar and Óscar Rodríguez, gave Mauricio Pellegrino the bragging rights over his former club.
Barça, though, have since recovered and two draws and three wins from their subsequent five La Liga outings mean they lead the championship by four points from Sevilla, Atlético Madrid and Deportivo Alavés.
The post Ernesto Valverde ‘saw a ghost’ before Barcelona’s comeback win vs. Rayo appeared first on Squawka News.
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