Barcelona’s poor start to the season continued with a 1-0 loss to Rayo Vallecano, who continued their perfect home record in La Liga this season with a fifth consecutive victory.
The hosts settled the better of the two sides, but the first chance of note went to ‘Barca’ when Memphis Depay’s snapshot from the edge of the area flew just wide of the left post after Nico González had done well to win the ball back. While the visitors were dominating possession as expected, ‘Los Franjirrojos’ were looking dangerous on the counter-attack, as Radamel Falcao provided a warning when his shot from just outside the area was deflected behind.
The Colombian’s warning was not heeded though as he was on target shortly after, as Óscar Trejo nicked the ball from Sergio Busquets and played the striker in on goal, allowing him to take the ball on his right foot before cutting inside and curling into the bottom left corner past the despairing Marc-André ter Stegen.
Barcelona went close to equalising early in the second half when a pinpoint pass over the top picked out Nico, who took a touch before firing agonisingly wide of the left post. Ronald Koeman’s side had not registered a shot on target as the hour mark approached, and they should have done when Sergio Aguero blazed over the bar from a tight angle after an exchange with Sergiño Dest.
The visitors were awarded a penalty when Óscar Valentín brought Depay down inside the area, but the Dutchman was denied by Stole Dimitrievski. This was as close as Koeman’s side came to equalising, as Andoni Iraola’s Rayo Vallecano celebrated ending a run of 14 consecutive defeats to Barcelona, who are yet to win away from home in all competitions this season.
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