Barcelona – Rayo Vallecano: The Catalans accepted Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid’s gifts (1-0)

Swift diagonal combinations were Barcelona's go-to patterns to progress and set runners free behind Rayo Vallecano's block, but efficiency was lacking. Lewandowski scored from a penalty kick after Iñigo Martínez was fouled inside the box. After that, the visitors stood toe-to-toe, exploiting the Catalans' offside trap and bypassing their high press. Amid that, Pedri was dancing like a butterfly, running the show for his team.

Tactical analysis and match report by Achraf Lamdarhri.

Who would have thought that Barcelona still had chances of winning LaLiga's title after they were seven points adrift from Real Madrid? Nonetheless, in the world of football, there is no room for logical things to happen, especially with the level of the rivals across Madrid that kept fluctuating.

Mysterious things happened to revive Barcelona's hopes for the title challenge. Real Madrid lost seven points out of nine in the last three fixtures, and Diego Simeone's men squandered four in the last two games to reignite Barcelona's flames. All that Hansi Flick's players have to do is win the game against Rayo Vallecano to jump up to the top of the table.

The German manager made two changes to the away game against Sevilla. Pau Cubarsí replaced Ronald Araújo in the defense due to injury. Héctor Fort operated in Jules Koundé's position due to disciplinary matters that Hansi Flick had to take against the Frenchman. The rest of the team remained intact.

Rayo Vallecano started with Augusto Batalla in goal. Andrei Rațiu, Florian Lejeune, Abdul Mumin, and Pep Chavarría formed the defense . . .