Barcelona vs Rayo Vallecano Live: La Liga LIVE – BAR vs RAY LIVE – Barcelona travel to Madrid for their clash against Rayo Vallecano as club games return after the international break. La Blaugrana are approaching this match on the back of a 1-0 win against Alaves in La Liga. On the other hand, Los Franjirrojos are approaching the game on the back of a 1-2 defeat against Girona. The Catalan club will be looking to improve their situation with a comfortable win before their next clashes against Atletico Madrid and Girona.
Barcelona are in 3rd place in the La Liga table with 9 wins, 3 draws, and only a single defeat. However, even so, they are 2 points behind 2nd placed Real Madrid and 4 points behind Girona at the top of the table. Their performance in the last few weeks before the international break was not convincing at all.
They actually lost 2 of their last 4 matches including a 1-0 loss against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. The 2 wins came against Alaves and Real Sociedad in La Liga and they struggled in both matches.
Since returning to Spain’s top flight, Rayo Vallecano have ended their last 2 seasons in 11th and 12th positions. These have been decent runs with mid-table finishes. They’ve started this season on a good note as well with 4 wins, 6 draws, and 3 defeats from 13 La Liga games.
With 18 points, they are in 10th place, only 4 points behind the European competition qualification zone. They were on a 10-game unbeaten run when they faced table-toppers Girona in their last game and lost. They even held off Real Madrid to a goalless draw and will look to stop Barcelona on their tracks as well.
Barcelona La Liga Form
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Rayo Vallecano La Liga Form
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Barcelona Team News
- Rayo Vallecano will miss Oscar Trejo for this match. He will be sidelined for this weekend’s fixture with a knee injury that will take some time to recover. Meanwhile, Alvaro Garcia picked up his fifth yellow card in 13 matches against Girona. As a result, he will miss the match through a suspension.
- Los Franjirrojos lost their 1st match after a 10-game unbeaten run. Hence, the coach will be tempted to make some changes to the squad that started in that match. He will especially have to replace Trejo and Garcia. He could call up Jorge de Frutos and Randy Nteka as their replacements.
- The coach has an abundance of choices to line up his final third against the reigning champions. Bebe and Radamel Falcao are both available for this match. However, Isi Palazon and Sergio Camello should still be able to keep their places in the attack line.
Rayo Vallecano Team News
- Barcelona have had a number of injuries since the start of the season. However, concerns only seem to be adding up as Gavi has now joined the fray with a horrible ACL injury, he picked up during the international break in Spain’s last match of the Euro qualifiers against Georgia. The youngster is set to miss the rest of the season recovering from the injury.
- First-choice goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen also got injured during the international break. He sustained a back injury in a training session and was unable to participate in any of their 2 matches in November. He is now a major doubt in this match for Barcelona. Hence, Inaki Pena should start in his place under the bars.
- Barcelona are hoping Sergi Roberto and Frenkie de Jong, who had been suffering with respective injuries for some time now will be able to come back to the squad for this match. Alejandro Balde started their last match against Alaves on the bench. The coach should start him in this match.
- Oriol Romeu, Ferran Torres, and Raphinha will all be pushing to come back to the starting lineup for the match. However, their young wonderboy Lamine Yamal should take his place on the right side in the final third.
Match Details
Match – Barcelona vs Rayo Vallecano
Date – 25th November 2023
Time – 6:30 PM IST
Live Telecast – La Liga’s rights are owned by the Viacom18 Network. Hence the matches will be broadcast on Sports 18, Sports 18 HD, and MTV channels. The three-year partnership with India’s youngest and leading media conglomerate will bring the premier Spanish football league to fans in the country with a fresh and exciting feel.
Live Streaming – For Indian fans, the new season of La Liga will be live-streamed on FanCode, JioCinema, and Viacom18’s flagship OTT platform, Voot Select.
Barcelona Predicted XI: Pena; Cancelo, Araujo, Kounde, Balde; Gundogan, Pedri, F Lopez; Yamal, Lewandowski, Felix
Rayo Vallecano Predicted XI: Dimitrievski; Ratiu, Mumin, Lejeune, Espino; Palazon, Valentin, U Lopez, De Frutos; Nteka, Camello
Editors pick
