Barcelona vs Rayo Vallecano 10/03/19

10 March 2019

La Liga toppers and the relegation battlers go head-to-head at Camp Nou as Barcelona tackle in-trouble Rayo Vallecano.

The hosts have put back-to-back wins over arch-rivals Real Madrid together as they look to run away with the second successive La Liga title. The reigning holders sit at the top of the table with a seven-point lead over second-placed Atletico Madrid after pulling off three consecutive LL wins – two with the identical 1-0 scoreline. Only Atletico (32) beat Barca’s impressive home tally of 30 points after 13 league home outings (W9, D3, L1), but, nonetheless, the Catalans boast by far the best goalscoring home record in the Spanish top tier having bagged 39 goals so far, on an average of 3 goals scored per match. What’s more, the Blaugrana have racked up a 12-game LL winning run against Rayo Vallecano, scoring 2+ match goals in every single victory in the process.

Meanwhile, rooted deep in the relegation territory, the visitors are desperate to bring a disastrous five-game LL losing streak to an end, as they chase 17th-placed Celta Vigo by two points. Not only Rayo lost five straight LL clashes, but they’ve conceded over 1.5 goals per match four times along the way while failing to find the back of the net in the last three encounters. Although won two of their previous four LL road meetings (W2, L2), Los Franjirrojos are still dealing with immense attacking problems having scored exactly one goal per match in each. Furthermore, Michel’s men have notched one goal or less on nine consecutive LL road trips, as their tally of eight goals scored in 12 LL away fixtures remain the league’s low.