Barcelona beat Rayo Vallecano with doubles from Rafinha and Yamal

Catalan giants Barcelona have had quite an interesting summer transfer campaign, so everyone is looking forward to seeing how effectively Hans-Dieter Flick will be able to utilize his own newcomers. Meanwhile, the "Blaugranas" have already started the defense of the championship title with two consecutive victories over Elche and Basque Athletic with a total score of 7:0, so they additionally heated up the public's interest in themselves. Barca's next challenger in the league was Rayo Vallecano Madrid, who were forcibly evicted from their home arena at the start of the season until the club brought it up to par with the modern Spanish top flight, rather than feigning a facelift for years. And against the background of the change of head coach, Beñata San Jose's team did not start very confidently, drawing against Alaves (1:1) and losing to Andalusian Sevilla (1:2). Coming to the Camp Nou with such results behind them was always a bad idea, but the "Lightnings" well understood what they could do to create problems for a powerful opponent. And they did, when they withstood the opening wave of Barcelona attacks, after which, in the 12th minute, Alvaro Garcia made a dash past Kunde to the left flank of the counterattack, after which he made a cross to Camellio in the penalty area, and he put an end to it with a strong shot in touch under the crossbar. Barça before and after the conceded goal are two different teams. As if Flick's team didn't wake up on time late Monday night, and when he was painfully punished for it, then the real football in the performance of the "Blaugranas" began. Literally in two minutes in the middle of the half, Rafinha and Yamal completely changed the course of events in spectacular style with kicks from the penalty area, after which it was difficult for the Madrid team to stop the opponents from continuing the extravaganza. And Barça eventually scored a third goal at the end of the first half, when Kunde played on a rebound from Cardenas, who before that parried a low kick from Gordon to complete the shift from the left wing of the penalty box. However, the defender was offside at the time, so the third goal of Flick's team had to wait until the second half of the match, which began with an own goal from Lejeune at the end of another cross from Gordon. In fact, timely for the Catalans, because already in the 59th minute they demonstrated that during a random corner they can still miss easy balls. Unai Lopez served from the right wing, and Camellio closed on the near post and made a double - everything is simple. And a little intrigue was added to the course of events of the second half. Because already in the next attack of the guests, Kubarsi only miraculously managed to close the goal from the attempt of the same Camelio to encroach on a hat-trick while collecting a rebound from Joan, who clumsily played to intercept a header from Fran Perez from the right wing of the penalty area. It's certain that leaving Rayo with opportunities to escape on the counter-attack would have been suicidal for Barcelona, ​​so Flick's side closed out the game with two extra goals just in case at the end of normal time. First, Gordon assisted Rafinha's left-wing free-kick with a back-heel, then Yamal scored a goal from fellow rookie Adeyemi when he fired into the bottom-left corner from mid-range in front of the visitors' possession. It seems impressive, but there are still too many gaps in the defense. In the next round, Catalan Barcelona will visit Valencia, while Madrid's Rayo Vallecano will host Racing. Barcelona - Rayo Vallecano 5:2 Goals: Rafinha, 19, 71, Yamal, 21, 90, Lejeune, 51 (auto) — Camellio, 12, 59 Barcelona: J. Garcia - Kunde, Kubarsi, Christensen, Espart - Bernal (Rodri, 64), Pedri (Cancelou, 77) - Yamal, Olmo (F. Lopez, 64), Gordon (Adeyemi, 77) - Rafinha (Abdelkarim, 85). Rayo Vallecano: Cardenas - Balliu, Lejeune, Siss, Vertraud (Pedrosa, 33) - Bouaret (P. Diaz, 57), Valentin, U. Lopez (Nteca, 75) - De Frutos (F. Perez, 58), Camellio (Aleman, 75), A. Garcia. Warning: Pedrosa