Having valiantly fought again from 2-0 all the way down to take residence a last-gasp 3-2 win over Levante final weekend, Barcelona will likely be desirous to get the job executed with out as many twists on Matchday 3.
That, nevertheless, is less complicated stated than executed, provided that they tackle Rayo Vallecano away on the Estadio de Vallecas – a venue identified to be considered one of La Liga’s most daunting away grounds to play at.
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Inigo Perez’s aspect have endured a blended begin to the season, profitable their first sport 3-1 towards Girona however then happening to lose towards Athletic Membership away from residence.
They did, nevertheless, win their UEFA Europa Convention League playoff fixture 5-0 on mixture and enter tomorrow’s conflict excessive on momentum after a superb second leg end result.
For Barcelona, the report is way cleaner as they enter on two straight wins. They, too, nevertheless, haven’t managed to finish a sport with out hiccups and can search for an evening of good execution.
Barça Common brings you three speaking factors forward of Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona.
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Classes from the earlier sport
Hansi Flick had an attention-grabbing shock up his sleeve in Barcelona’s latest sport towards Levante. However his plan didn’t fairly work as anticipated. The supervisor made stunning adjustments to his beginning lineup, significantly within the attacking midfield and left-wing positions.
Flick handed Marcus Rashford his first official begin for Barcelona and deployed the brand new signing as a left-winger. He then positioned Raphinha within the No. 10 place, hoping for the Brazilian to play via the strains.
What unfolded, nevertheless, was the forwards encroaching into one another’s areas and a state of disarray that noticed Levante go two objectives up.
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Whereas Rashford was promising and confirmed nice indicators with the ball, Raphinha stored drifting into Yamal’s area, and the duo negated one another’s presence.
Tomorrow, Flick should present that he has learnt from the errors he made within the earlier sport, and it is going to be attention-grabbing to see who he begins within the aforementioned positions.
All indicators level to Raphinha returning to his beginning place on the left flank, and the supervisor will doubtless choose considered one of Fermin Lopez or Dani Olmo to play because the No. 10.
A defensive shuffle?
Araujo to be dropped? (Photograph by Paul Miller/Getty Pictures)
The one frequent destructive takeaway from each of Barcelona’s video games thus far this season is the disarray in defence, significantly between Ronald Araujo and Pau Cubarsi.
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Whereas the latter has not fairly hit the identical stage as final season, the previous has struggled to function a stylistic match within the division and has usually come throughout because the weak hyperlink in holding the offside lure.
It’s clear that the scenario has come to Flick’s discover and that he’s actively engaged on sorting it out, and there’s a good likelihood the Uruguayan star could also be dropped tomorrow because the supervisor continues trying to find the best pairing.
Andreas Christensen stays an choice to start out alongside Cubarsi and it stays to be seen if the German coach sees the Dane prepared to start out.
, Flick additionally sees Eric Garcia as a doable profile to shift to centre-back with Jules Kounde returning to right-back. Given the previous’s good type out large, it may effectively be an choice to shift Kounde to centre-back as effectively.
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Who the supervisor picks to start out in defence, thus, stays an enormous query whose reply followers will eagerly be ready for previous to kick-off.
The Vallecas wrestle
The delay in renovation works on the Spotify Camp Nou pressured Barcelona to play the primary three video games of the brand new season away from residence.
These three being Mallorca, Levante, and Rayo Vallecano means the membership face three of essentially the most difficult away grounds early on within the season.
Having already conquered two of the three aforementioned golf equipment’ fortresses, the Catalans now head to the Estadio de Vallecas, a venue that has traditionally been an enormous hurdle on their calendars.
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Flick has led Barcelona as soon as on the venue earlier than, and it was solely a slender 2-1 win that his aspect managed on the venue final season, courtesy of a late Dani Olmo strike. Notably, they needed to struggle again from 1-0 down on the night time.
Previous to final season’s league assembly, nevertheless, Barcelona have been winless in three appearances on the Vallecas – a testomony to how difficult enjoying there could be. Of the three video games have been two losses and a draw.
The final time Barcelona received on the venue with a aim distinction of multiple was again in 2016 after they performed towards 9 males in La Liga. Tomorrow’s sport, thus, will likely be considered one of their most difficult away fixtures of the season.
A win at Vallecas would cap off the proper begin to the league – three wins in three video games, all at extraordinarily difficult grounds. A defeat, nevertheless, would drop the spirits simply earlier than the worldwide break.