Barca have no excuses for this defeat
Barça are begging for the league to be over. To win it, of course. But also to get some oxygen. The Blaugrana team is exhausted. Both in a footballing sense and psychologically. It is fused. And it has run out of ideas. And goals. They have only scored two goals in the last five games (four games in La Liga and one in the cup), in which they have only managed one victory (the decisive one against Atlético last Sunday). The title, of course, is not in danger. They maintain their 11-point lead over a Madrid side focused on the Champions League with seven games to go.
Barça will be champions. And it will have a lot of value to conquer this League coming from where we come from. But the image that Xavi's team is offering in this final stretch of the competition invites, undoubtedly, to reflect. And, of course, it forces us to make important signings for next season.
COMPARISON WITH CITY
This Barça side that is being built is still a long way from the big names in Europe. Watching Guardiola's Manchester City thrash Arsenal in the Premier League on Wednesday, the comparisons were odious. Because the defeat against Rayo is not numerically worrying. I insist, the league is won. However, it is painful because it highlights all the shortcomings that the Blaugrana team still has.
Xavi had already warned that the game in Vallecas would be very difficult, but hardly anyone could have imagined the blow of an unmitigated KO. Rayo played better and better than Barça and deservedly won a game that the Culés never competed in. And that is unacceptable. Being +14 was enough incentive to give their lives. And they didn't. And it is unforgivable. There are no excuses to justify such a disaster.
A DATE WITH HISTORY
Alexia returns to make this afternoon's party at the Spotify Camp Nou complete. Barça will be looking to qualify for their third Champions League final in a row in front of a focused stadium with the added incentive of the return of the captain after 295 days out through injury. The best player in the world is now fully recovered from the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee and although she is not fit, far from it, to be a starter, her presence in the squad is an added incentive for this historic match. The Blaugranas, who already won at Stamford Bridge (1-0), are aiming to regain the continental title to prove once again that they are a legendary team.
