La Liga giants Barcelona, who performed poorly at the beginning of the season, after Xavi returned to Camp Nou as the team's firefighting manager, the overall performance of the team has improved significantly, and it has also returned to the top four of the table, firmly holding the initiative of the Champions League qualification battle in its own hands, but if you want to reverse the sworn enemy Galaxy to win the league championship, there is only a theoretical possibility now, although there is no hope of winning the championship, in the case of the team only one league event, as far as possible to get higher points, Thus delaying Real Madrid's early victory has become the most important goal of Barcelona this season!
In the 21st round of La Liga, Barcelona sat at Camp Nou to meet the challenge of Vallecano, although the latter ranked in the middle and lower reaches of the table, but in the first leg of the two teams, Vallecano won a small victory over Barcelona at home, so this match was also a revenge battle for the latter, after the game began, Barcelona firmly suppressed the opponent on the scene, but the goal was not good, plus the 2 suspected penalties created by Garvey were ignored by the referee, Barcelona eventually lost 1-0 to Vallecano, suffering a double kill in the season and suffering three consecutive home defeats!
With the referee's whistle, Barcelona firmly controlled the ball under their feet, and Vallecano recycled all three lines to his own side of the half for defense, taking the stabilization of the team's defense as the first priority, and then looking for opportunities to play the opponent's counterattack, which proved the correctness of this strategy, just after the start of the game, Vallecano scored at Camp Nou, Palasson sent a very imaginative long pass under the siege of multiple Barca players in midfield, Alvaro Garcia stepped forward to get a chance to kick in, and a burst from inside the box rewrote the score and helped Rayo Vallecano take a 1-0 lead, the only shot they hit in the first half.
After taking the lead, it also greatly enhanced the enthusiasm of Vallecano's defensive end, the numerical advantage and the active defense on the field made it difficult for Barcelona to create a threatening attack, in the 27th minute Garvey fell into the box, the referee did not award a penalty caused Xavi's dissatisfaction, his complaint made him eat a yellow card, in the last moments of the first half, Garvey's shot was unlucky to be rejected by the crossbar, Although Ferrantore's supplementary shot was broken, it was a pity that the offside was cancelled first, Barca, who played at home, returned to half-time after a goal behind.
After the start of the second half, Barcelona attacked the opponent's goal for a long time, but the United Vallecano defense made the home team fruitless again and again, in the 60th minute Xavi replaced De Jong, who was trapped in the transfer rumors, the unpopular Dutch midfielder, who was very dissatisfied with his being replaced, did not choose to sit on the bench, but directly returned to the dressing room, dared to challenge Xavi's authority, so that de Jong's probability of leaving camp Nou became more and more likely, in the last moments of the game's regular time, Garvey was knocked down in the penalty area by a Vallecano defender for the second time, and the referee still did not show any indication, which directly triggered the dissatisfaction of Barca's players on the field!
Although the injuries of many core players, coupled with the team's loss of hope of winning the title, are the reasons for Barcelona's unsatisfactory performance, but through the three consecutive defeats at home, we can also see the huge gap between them and their peak, Xavi led the team back to the ranks of Europe's top giants, there is still a long way to go!