Yesterday club football returned after a long week of international break. The break was not a good experience for most football fans as some players picked up injuries, while some made history and took their country into the Euros 2024 and some went into the backyard of the country and grabbed a win which has not happened for a long time. The weekend had some intense fixtures and one of them was Manchester City vs Liverpool which I predicted perfectly before it began.
There was a threadcast for this game and I predicted two things and the first was the game would end in a draw or Manchester City would win the game with a small goal margin and the outcome from the match was a 1-1 draw at the end of the 90 minutes, but I wouldn't expand my take into that match today. So yesterday Barcelona played away from home against Rayo Vallecano in Matchday 14 of the Laliga Santander.
Rayo Vallecano is an incredible team and since Xavi took over the role as Barcelona manager he has failed to beat Rayo Vallecano. In the last five matches between both sides Rayo Vallecano has won three, drawn one and lost one match against Barcelona. It's an impressive stats for the Rayo and Barcelona should have won the game yesterday because the three points was needed to close down the gab between Real Madrid and Girona.
Ter Stegen was missing from the lineups because was not fit to play and I saw a post from his official Twitter account that he decided not to play the two international games with Germany and yesterday game, but Barcelona statement was that he is out due to a back pain injury he picked up during training with Germany, so Inaki Pena the second goalkeeper for Barcelona had to start the match yesterday.
Inaki Pena is a good goalkeeper and if given more chances he will improve his skills and compete very much with Ter Stegen. Two seasons ago when he was on loan in Galatasaray he did well and when Barcelona faced Galatasaray in the Europa League he was in good form and denied Barcelona some many chances to score in that game. Inaki Pena's performance that day speaks volumes and the club decided to bring him back and extended his contract.
Barcelona's performance against Rayo Vallecano was another horrible performance from the team. The first goal they conceded I will call that luck because the movement of the ball was unpredictable as it entered the goalpost and I won't blame Inaki Pena for conceding the goal because he reacted well but his hands were a little close but could not stop the ball from going into the goalpost. The only player who was good on the field in the first half was Lamine Yamal and it's crazy because we got experienced players and none of them were doing anything on the pitch.
Barcelona found a late minute goal which was engineered by Lewandoski but was registered as an own goal. I don't understand why Barca decided to pressure during the last minute when they should have done that earlier in the first half. This pattern of play should change and if they keep on playing like this then there is no trophy for the team this season.
Barcelona has tough matches ahead till Christmas. This week Barca will face FC Porto on Tuesday and Atletico Madrid this weekend. It's going to be a long week for Xavi and the boys and I hope they come out strong this week. So guys that will be all for now. Thanks for stopping by and have a good day.