In a stunning night of football, Barcelona came from behind to beat Rayo Vallecano 2-3.
Barça actually took the lead at the Vallecas, but Rayo stormed back with a sensational performance to take the lead. This lasted until the 87th minute when Barça pulled two late goals out of the bag to steal a victory. Who were the winners and losers?
Winner: Luis Suárez
Since Leo Messi went down with injury, Luis Suárez has well and truly stepped up to lead the side. He led the line with supreme confidence and intelligence against Inter, setting up the opening goal for Rafinha. He smashed a spectacular hat-trick to sink Real Madrid in El Clásico, and then tonight against Rayo, when his side needed a hero, Suárez stood tall.
He opened the scoring with a simple enough finish, slotting home Jordi Alba’s cross. Then as the match progressed and Barcelona saw less of the ball, Suárez appeared to vanish from the game. The truth was that he was still making runs, it’s just his service had dried up, when Munir played him through on goal he managed a weak shot on target. He looked physically spent.
Then came Sergi Roberto’s cross. Arcing into the box. With the Rayo defence drawn to Gerard Piqué like a magnet, the Uruguayan was able to run free at the back-post, meeting the cross completely unmarked to stab home a stunning volley to win Barça the game. The goal took Suárez to the top of the Pichichi scoring charts, and sees him head into the Inter clash in supreme form.
Loser: Sergi Roberto
Quite incredible, we are now four seasons deep into the whole “Sergi Roberto playing right-back” thing even though it only becomes more and more apparent with each passing year that Sergi Roberto cannot defend. Not in any traditional sense as required by a right-back.
Sure, Roberto can tackle and track back and make all those “effort” defensive plays that manager’s love; but positionally he is absolutely atrocious. He is consistently caught in the wrong place, which means that he has to rely exclusively on his effort to make up for it.
And this means that when Roberto’s effort fails him, it spells disaster. This happened for Rayo’s equaliser where he was shockingly slow to close Pozo down, giving the Rayo man plenty of time to measure his shot and rocket Rayo level.
And this also happened for Rayo’s go-ahead goal, where Roberto was sleeping at the back-post and allowed Alvaro Garcia to sneak in and tap home. Roberto partially made up for his indiscretions with a quality cross into the box in the 89th minute that Luis Suárez stabbed home.
This late, desperate play should not overshadow how terribly he was on the defensive end. Roberto is a great midfielder, but how he keeps getting into the side at right-back ahead of Nelson Semedo is baffling when he just can’t defend.
Winner: José Ángel Poz0
12 minutes before the game kicked-off, José Pozo was starting on the subs bench. Then a change forced him into a starting role against the champions Barcelona. This was a daunting task; Rayo have won just once in their eleven games played this season, losing six.
Pozo played with great energy and dynamism, however. And even though midway through the first half he screwed the ball wide when it was easier to score, he didn’t let his head drop. He kept his eyes up, focused on goal.
And just over half an hour in the game, he was rewarded. Pozo picked up on a sloppy clearance about 25 yards from goal. He took a touch to set himself and then curled a stunning shot through the Barcelona defence and right into the bottom corner of the net. Marc-André Ter Stegen stretched himself to his full height but couldn’t get a hand to the shot as it nestled into the bottom corner, drawing Rayo level.
Loser: Rafinha
This handsome man was the one chosen to step into the Barcelona XI once Leo Messi went down injured, and to be fair against Inter it worked. But that was mostly because Inter were a wet noodle at the Camp Nou. Against Real Madrid he was poor, and taking him off was the catalyst that allow Barcelona to thrash their rivals.
So it was odd that he ended up starting against Rayo tonight, because surely we had seen that he simply wasn’t up to it? Well, he started, and he sucked. Lost amid Rayo’s effort, Rafinha’s work-rate didn’t stand out at all, and so he was forced to rely on his technique and ability. And there, sad to say, he was found very much wanting. Rafinha contributed almost nothing to the game and the only miracle is that he came out for the second half (albeit just for seven minutes).
Winner: Ousmane Dembélé
Ousmane Dembélé starte dthe season in fine form, and rescued Barcelona in the Spanish Supercup, winning the game with his stunning strike. He then handed Barcelona two more enormous away wins against Valladolid and Real Sociedad. Despite these goals, he was the player chosen to be withdrawn when Ernesto Valverde went all conservative because he gives the ball away a lot.
Sure enough, without Dembélé, Barcelona were enormously reliant on Leo Messi to produce chances. And once Messi went down with injury? Yeah, the side looked sluggish. In El Clásico last weekend, Real Madrid were roaring back into the game when Dembélé came off the bench and, hey, one minute later played a key role in making sure Barça won comfortably.
Midweek in the Copa del Rey, Barcelona were heading for a tricky 0-0 draw until a stupendous free-kick from Dembélé allowed Clement Lenglet to score a winner. And today, Barça were a heaping mass of nonsense when Dembélé came off the bench early in the second half. Now, he didn’t change this game straight away, but there were a couple of tasty crosses that weren’t attacked.
Then, when Gerard Piqué nodded the ball his way in the 87th minute he struck a gorgeously balanced volley, slotting the ball home. It pulled the club level out of almost literally nothing, and set the stage for Suárez’s winner.
Yes, Dembélé does give the ball away at times, yes he can look sloppy, but what do you expect he’s only played one full season as a starter (and that wasn’t even at Barça)! He didn’t grow up in La Masia he needs time and patience as he adapts to the Barça way, with an understanding that his game-changing capabilities are something you simply cannot coach into a player. If a player of his talent is properly nurtured, he will become as good as any player on planet earth.
Loser: La Liga
The mayhem of this La Liga season has been a refreshing joy to witness, and right up to the 87th minute it looked like the wild ride was about to continue as Barcelona were 2-1 down Rayo Vallecano. The loss would have provided Alavés with the chance to go back to the top of the table tomorrow, and it would have kept the utterly woeful (thus far) Real Madrid just four points off their hated rivals.
And then Gerard Piqué turned into Fernando Llorente, Ousmane Dembélé and Luis Suárez played off his gigantic self, and Barcelona extended their lead at the top of the table. They are now four points ahead of Atleti, seven ahead of Madrid, and they will be at least one point ahead of anyone even if Alavés win tomorrow.
Could this be the start of the Blaugrana finally putting their foot down and streaking away from the pack at the top of the league? Let’s see.
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