Barcelona's Pyrrhic Victory makes it three wins on the spin
Rayo 1-2 Barcelona - La Liga
For the first time since the 2018/19 season, Barcelona have opened La Liga with three consecutive wins by beating Rayo Vallecano.
Back then Barça were managed by Ernesto Valverde and had an attack led by Leo Messi and Luis Suárez. The only survivor from that side in the current team is goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen, everyone else wasn’t there.
2018/19 is also the last time the Blaugrana won at Estadio Vallecas in La Liga, when they scored twice in the last four minutes of the game to sneak a 2-3 win.
So it’s been almost six years since Barcelona won at this ground, if you want a bit of context for how big this victory actually was.
DANI OLMO’S DREAM DEBUT
In terms of performance it was much like the first win, away to Valencia. Barça suffered a lot in the first-half as they got to grips with their opponent’s frenetic intensity. Rayo scored early, and the less said about Ter Stegen’s attempts to save what was honestly a fairly tame shot, the better.
Still, it was a deserved lead as Rayo had been swarming Barcelona, whose midfield components were all too far away from each other. The cooling break allowed Hansi Flick to correct this, and from this point on Barça were the better side.
Though Flick had to sub new signing Dani Olmo on for the difference to really tell.
The Spaniard has finally been registered and went straight into the no. 10 slot and instantly took over the game along with Pedri.
"Yeah I felt good. I was so determined to do well. I felt well prepared physically to play." — Dani Olmo on his performance at Rayo
Rayo had no answer to Olmo’s control, movement and physical persistence. He should have won a penalty with his first touches as a Barcelona player, then later rattled a barely believable 30 yard rocket shot off the bar after some quick thinking from Pedri.
Speaking of Pedri, he was the one to bag the equaliser after exchanging passes with Raphinha (who really is great anywhere except right-wing, eh?) and then picking his spot beautifully with his left-foot to draw Barça level.
Pedri, Jules Kounde and Lamine Yamal thought they had combined to create the game-winner for Robert Lewandowski, but the Pole’s effort was ruled out for incidental contact from Jules Kounde (after he’d won the ball, no less). It was an abysmal decision but then Cesar Soto Grande was the ref so what did you expect?
Barcelona were undeterred, however, and Lamine Yamal later found Dani Olmo in space in the box. The new man shifted the ball onto his left foot and with no hesitation planted a delicious shot low into the far corner of the net.
"I always look to score goals […] Lamine find me really well on the 16 metres. The keeper is my friend from my city in Terrassa, so I'm very happy I could score on him." — Dani Olmo on his goal
It was a sensational goal that capped an almost dream debut for Dani Olmo. Come on at half-time with your team losing and then score the winning goal late in the day.
A winning goal that took Barcelona top of La Liga with a perfect three wins out of three games played. But the ultimate sensation is not of elation, of pride, of hope for what is to come, but of heartbreak.
MARC BERNAL IS A YOUNG GENIUS
That is because Marc Bernal left the pitch before the end of the game after what looked like a routine slide tackle to regain possession. The teenage sensation lay on the turf for a long time before being helped to the side by the physical trainers.
Having made subs at three separate intervals, Barcelona could not replace Bernal and had to try and see the game out with 10-men, which they just about managed. At the full-time whistle Flick’s first reaction was not to run to Dani Olmo, or Pedri, or Robert Lewandowski or even the fans, but to head straight to Marc Bernal.
"We have to wait. We hope that it's not so heavy, but it looks not good." — Hansi Flick on Marc Bernal’s injury.
Bernal was helped off the pitch by physical trainers, limping quite severely. Later he left the arena on crutches. Flick reported the mood in the dressing room as completely down and deflated as everyone is simply concerned for this fabulous teenager.
And not that it matters — because any young player having their dreams shattered by injury is a tragedy whether they’re a world beater or a lower league nobody — but Marc Bernal was once again sensational for Barcelona.
The 17 year-old manned the pivot spot with effortless excellence. His reading of the game, his ability to be physical, his distribution with the ball at his feet… just excellent. Of course he wasn’t perfect, but in a difficult arena against a tough opponent he really shone.
"He made a fantastic match. What he performed, he was unbelievable for a 17 years-old guy.” — Hansi Flick on Marc Bernal’s performance
He was nerveless in a way one hasn’t seen at that position since Sergio Busquets. Hell, as the game wound down he even took a yellow card with a Busquets-esque cynical foul to stop a counter. The comparisons were about to be comparisoning, y’know?
But a routine slide tackle left him a crumpled heap, and Barcelona a miserable winner.
THE WOES OF KING PYRRHUS
In 280 BC and 279 BC, King Pyrrhus of Epirus won two battles against the mighty Roman Empire. However his army suffered such devastating casualities from these wins that he had to withdraw to Sicily as the Romans easily replenished their numbers.
It was a victory that, due to the damage he suffered, did not feel like a victory. It was tantamount to defeat. And henceforth, through all of human history, any such win has been known as a Pyrrhic Victory.
That is a story Barcelona can relate to very much here. They beat Rayo and made it three wins from three, but at what cost? Marc Bernal’s season may well be done as he suffered what is suspected to be an ACL injury. And if Marc Bernal’s season is gone, rest assured a large part of Barcelona’s brilliance and their ability to mount any kind of sustained title challenge is going to go too.
Yes, Bernal is only 17, but he is a rare prodigy even coming from La Masia which is a whole academy full of rare prodigies. He emerged a year later but this is a talent on par with Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi. A rocketship destined for the stars.
He’ll still get there. Oh, it’ll take a bit longer now, but his quality is so undeniable that this injury will one day be seen as a set-back on his way to greatness (and could even give him more time to make that Goretzka-esque physical transformation).
But in the short-term, for Barcelona? This is really, really bad.
They had to use all kinds of wage trickery and bureaucratic loopholes to get Dani Olmo registered despite shedding millions in salary.
Now they don’t have a starting defensive midfielder. Marc Bernal was a cheat code. A rare La Masia graduate that was physically imposing too (he’s 1.9 metres tall!) and could handle the rough stuff. Bernal was going to allow Barcelona to not rush Frenkie de Jong or Gavi back from long-term injury lay-offs, to not have to spend upwards of €60m to get a starter-quality defensive midfielder.
Well, now they have to.
Except they can’t spend €60m!
And even if they could, it’s highly unlikely they could generate the salary margin to register any new signing given the FFP situation they find themselves in.
Marc Casado will step up at the weekend against Real Valladolid (he probably would have done anyway) and for a lot of games, the 20 year-old La Masia graduate may be good enough. But for the bigger games against the better and/or more physical opponents? They were going to need Bernal, and now they don’t have him.
Barring Nike coming through some portals like the flipping Avengers, Barcelona’s season could be over just as it had started to begin!