Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona - No possession no problem

Pedro Rodriguez (2ndL) of FC Barcelona celebrates with his team-mates after scoring his team’s second goal during the La Liga match between Rayo Vallecano de Madrid and FC Barcelona at Estadio Teresa Rivero on September 21, 2013 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

If somebody would have predicted last night that Barcelona‘s streak of having more possession than the opposition would end, I would have laughed at the plausibility of it. The incredible record of 316 matches did end though. I even thought that Barcelona might be the other team on the pitch.

Was I dreaming?

I mean, I have never seen Valdes thump out the ball so many times out of his penalty box. Tata Martino, the coach of Barcelona, justified the long ball approach by mentioning the fact that playing ‘tiki-taka’ is not always possible in smaller stadiums like the “Campo de Vallecás”.

Coming to the game review, there was no Busquets in the match squad, and I think Song did a good job in his absence. Iniesta and Alves were on the bench, with Xavi and Montoya coming into the line-up in their place. I like the rotation policy brought in by the coach, but may be this is the reason why the team has been struggling to get their A-game together after the 7-0 demolition of Levante on the opening weekend.

The match started with a great move by Rayo on the left hand side, leading to a header being brilliantly saved by Victor Valdes. The home crowd vehemently cheered every play made by the home team as the champions got slowly off the blocks. Around the nine minute mark, there was a brilliant chance carved out for Neymar who hit a first time shot that was saved on the goal line.

Barcelona continued to probe, but this was not the vintage performance that we expect to see every time they step on the field. Messi started to make a impact on the game and in the 18th minute, he went on one of his customary slalom runs and passed the ball to Neymar, who missed the target with his curling effort.

Montoya, in his first league start, was having a torrid time against Mojica and his night could have been worse if his back pass had led to an own goal. The pass was on Valdes’s wrong foot and completely flat footed him. The expression on Valdes’s face must have scared the young lad, but he maintained his composure and ended the game on a strong note.

32 minutes in, Messi was again instrumental and this time his pass to Pedro resulted in a cool finish at the far post. I thought that this goal would lead to a better phase for Barca but just 2 minutes later Rayo were awarded a penalty courtesy Adriano’s clumsy challenge. Trashorras stepped to take the penalty kick, but his weak effort was comfortably saved by Valdes. It seems nothing can get past Valdes these days, as he is in a rich vein of form. The half ended with Barcelona just edging the possession stats and leading by a single goal.

Rayo coach Paco must have praised his troops at half time for their wonderful effort, but he wouldn’t have been pleased with the defence, which led to the second goal scored by Pedro. Fabregas recorded his sixth assist in the league as Vallecano were handed a sucker punch just as the second half started. From there on, it was Neymar who displayed his skills as he hit the post and then played a wonderful one-two with Fabregas before setting up Pedro for his hat-trick.

Neymar then brilliantly linked up with Messi, but this time the goalkeeper was up to the task and prevented Messi from scoring in a league game. The last time that happened was on 3rd November, 2012 against Celta at Camp Nou. The game slowly tapered off and the Rayo defence gifted the 4th goal, scored by Fabregas.

Based on the evidence last night, Rayo are a good team who like to pass the ball, but they will have to improve their defence if they want to repeat their superb performance last season. Currently, they have the worst defensive record, which needs to change to make their possession count. For Barcelona, they continue with their 100% record even when not at their best. Great teams have this knack of getting the results, and I hope Barcelona are in better form at the end of the season.