Barcelona will hope to take one step closer to La Liga glory when they travel to face Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday.
An impressive 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid last time out sent a real statement to the chasing pack from Spain’s capital city and Xavi will expect another confident performance from his soon-to-be champions.
Standing in their way on Wednesday will be a Rayo side who have won just once in their last 11 games – a run which includes plenty of draws and enough narrow defeats to ensure they cannot be taken lightly.
Here’s all you need to know about this one.
Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona H2H Results (Last Five Games)
Current Form (Last Five Games)
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Country |
TV Channel/Live Stream |
|---|---|
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United Kingdom |
LaLigaTV / Viaplay Sports 2 |
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United States |
ESPN+ |
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Canada |
TSN3 / TSN+ |
Rayo Vallecano team news
Long-time Barcelona adversary Radamel Falcao is out through injury and will be sidelined alongside the suspended Santi Comesana.
Alejandro Catena and Alvaro Garcia have both served suspensions and will likely return to the starting lineup.
(4-2-3-1): Dimitrievski; Balliu, Lejeune, Catena, F. Garcia; Ciss, Valentin; Palazon, Trejo, A. Garcia; Camello
Barcelona team news
The fresh dilemma for Xavi concerns the suspension of midfielder Sergio Busquets, who heads to the stands after racking up too many yellow cards.
Ousmane Dembele, Sergi Roberto and Andreas Christensen are all out injured.
(4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Alonso, Balde; De Jong, Kessie, Gavi; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Torres
These are two teams who don’t tend to see a lot of goals during their games. Narrow results have defined both sides’ seasons and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see that trend continue here.
Rayo have ten wins, ten draws and ten defeats to their name, with a goal difference of zero, which shows just how tight things have been in Vallecas this season.
Barcelona know how to survive these tight affairs, and that experience should steer them to victory here.
Prediction: Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Barcelona
