It was only 24 hours ago that Barcelona could register all of their new signings except one, Jules Kounde.
They aired all their available star signings in the La Liga opener against Rayo Vallecano at Camp Nou on Saturday night.
Something that didn’t help much as “Barça” only got one point in the end.
Superstar Robert Lewandowski, centre-back Andreas Christensen and Raphinha started. Franck Kessie had to jump in with a little more than a quarter of an hour left.
Rayo Vallecano hottest
In usual fashion, Barcelona had most of the possession but the first half lacked class scoring chances. Instead, it was Rayo Vallecano who had the hottest chance of the match in stoppage time in the first half.
Alvaro Garcia ran loose on the edge and deliciously feinted Ronald Araujo on the ass. He chose to finish himself but Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the Barça goal did not want to see himself cheated and saved. Had he passed instead, teammate Sergio Camello would have had an open goal.
In the end, Barcelona got a hole in Rayo Vallecano, they thought.
Ball in net
Kessie got free behind the backline and served young Ansu Fati whose finish was saved. But the Ivorian took care of the return and netted – only to see that he was offside in the first stage and the goal was thus removed.
In the final stages of the match, midfield engine Sergio Busquets was sent off. He received his second yellow card when he elbowed Radamel Falcao in the face.
There was drama when Rayo Vallecano also had a ball in the net which was waved off for offside shortly after the expulsion.
A sloppy 0-0 result for Barcelona, but it was the away team that had the hottest scoring chances.