Barcelona vs Rayo Vallecano

Barcelona kicked off their La Liga campaign vs Rayo Vallecano tonight in front of a near-sold out Camp Nou. Three new signings in the form of Robert ...

The Pole could have won a penalty in any other league, but it was not to be with La Liga’s referees. His off-the-ball runs caught Rayo off-guard often, and he even forced a solid save from Stole Dimitrievski. Garcia, on the contrary, was rather careless. Eventually, he was sent off in injury time. Christensen had the best game of all debutants tonight. Araujo started as a right-back, and looked unsurprisingly out of his depth in possession.

Despite a scramble to register its new star acquisitions the day before the La Liga season opener, they couldn't help FC Barcelona find the back of the net ...

10th min.: Quiet start to this one until Raphinha makes a run into the right side of the Rayo box and goes down on a challenge from the left back. 1st min.: Rayo kick off and they're aggressive from the start with a direct ball, and they're pressing high. 45th min.: Jordi Alba makes a key defensive intervention in the box to clear a cross that was heading to Rayo's Isi Palazon. Five minutes of stoppage time. He doesn't give them a chance to finish out the play and the bench is livid. Barcelona are aggressive, with and without the ball. He tried to make the best of a poor Raphinha cross in the first half, and then he had a chance to be the hero with six minutes remaining, but he could not contort his body quickly enough to take advantage of a rebound allowed by the Rayo 'keeper. That was the best chance of the game. 52nd min.: Another chance for Rayo! Sergio Camello runs onto a ball into space and it's chaos in the Barcelona defense. The Dutch do-it-all player gave Barcelona a lift when he came off the bench to play midfield. To add insult to injury, captain Sergio Busquets was sent off in stoppage time for a second yellow card after a high arm in the face of Rayo's Falcao. Lewandowski was the prize catch of the summer for Barcelona, and he was supposed to help resolve matches like these with opponents interested only in defending and countering. And there are plenty more of these matches left on the calendar.