"We are lucky to have you", "He's back" - Fans hail Barcelona star's performance in 3-0 win over Rayo Vallecano

Barcelona fans on social media have praised Pedri for his display in their win over Rayo Vallecano. The Catalans beat Vallecano 3-0 at the Estadi Lluis Companys in their final home game of the season on Sunday, May 19.

The victory confirmed a second-place finish in La Liga and participation in next season's Supercopa de Espana. Xavi Hernandez's side are four points clear of third-placed Girona, who beat Valencia 3-1 on Sunday.

Pedri was the star of the show for his team in the second half. He scored just 10 minutes after replacing Fermin Lopez in the 62nd minute, smashing in a half-volley via a deflection after Joao Felix's initial effort was saved by Stole Dimitrievski. Pedri struck again three minutes later, collecting Ronald Araujo's ball over the top before fending off a couple of defenders and firing home to make it 3-0.

Barcelona fans on X were visibly impressed with his display, with one of them tweeting:

"We are lucky to have u ❤️"

Another fan wrote:

"He's back 😭 It's been so long"

Here are some more reactions from fans:

Apart from his twin strikes, Pedri completed 21 of his 27 passes, laid out two key passes and made a clearance against Vallecano. This was notably just his 23rd La Liga appearance of the season, as he has missed 14 league games (and 19 across competitions) due to hamstring injuries and muscular issues.

Earlier in the game, Robert Lewandowski handed Barcelona the lead just three minutes after kick-off, scoring from a Lamine Yamal cross.

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"I wanted to score a hat-trick" - Pedri after guiding Barcelona to 3-0 win over Rayo Vallecano

Following the match on Sunday, Pedri reflected on his performance. When questioned about how he feels physically given his injury woes, the Spaniard said (as quoted by Barca Universal):

“Personally, I feel good. I have security on the pitch and we can see the results.

“The truth is that I wanted to score a hat-trick [against Rayo Vallecano] but I couldn’t.”

The 21-year-old added that Barcelona are not satisfied with their league campaign, but that the team wanted to secure second place in the league at all costs. Xavi Hernandez's side are guaranteed to finish at least nine points behind arch-rivals and champions Real Madrid, who are also in the UEFA Champions League final.

“It was not a good season, but we did our job today. Today we had to win and achieve our goal, which was to finish in second place. It’s true that it was not what we expected, but we had to do it and qualify for the Super Cup,” Pedri said.

Barcelona will close out their season on May 25 with their final La Liga game, away to 13th-placed Sevilla.