Monday night saw Barcelona keep pace at the top of the table by beating Rayo Vallecano 5-2 at Camp Nou thanks to braces from Lamine Yamal and Raphinha and a Florian Lejeune own goal. Anthony Gordon also impressed for the hosts, particularly with his great backheel to set up Raphinha for his second of the night.
Hansi Flick named a strong squad for the visit of the Lightning, so let’s take a look at three talking points from the game…
Kounde’s heading back to the bench
Jules Kounde has lost his place in the Barcelona starting XI and
showed why on Monday. His defending for Rayo’s early goal was as amateurish as it could be, from the amount of space that the winger was given when he picked up the ball initially, to the way in which the Frenchman also excused himself from a tackle instead of clattering the opponent and stopping the chance at source.
He can get forward and supplement the attack, as he showed when almost adding a third goal, but his primary concern is defending – and he’s just not very good at it unless he’s playing more centrally in a back four.
There’s no reason for Hansi Flick not to make Eric Garcia or even Joao Cancelo the No.1 choice in that position moving forward.
Relentless work ethic
Over the course of the season, another team may well finish ahead of Barca as they attempt to three-peat in La Liga.
Were any clubs to do just that, it won’t be because the Catalans handed the title to them.
That’s because if there’s one thing that has already defined the Barca of 2026/27, perhaps even more than the last season or two, it is the incredible work ethic from each player.
Everyone is playing as though their life depended on it, and against Rayo’s low block and back five, where once Barca may have toiled, on Monday they simply cut through them like a knife through butter.
If they can keep up such relentlessness in each game, there won’t be many other teams that can live with them.
Power, pace and penetration…
Set-piece woe
If there’s one issue that Flick hasn’t been able to solve since he took over in the dugout, it’s Barca’s inability to defend corners.
It’s a real Achilles heel for the team, and has caused so many problems before now that it really should’ve been addressed properly.
On the occasion of Rayo’s second goal, having one of the smaller players on the pitch in Xavi Espart trying to man-mark Sergio Camello was clearly an oversight, and one which might’ve cost them the game on another day.
It shouldn’t be difficult to pick up runners and aggressively attack any balls being fired in at pace, and yet that’s seemingly beyond the Catalans at present.
