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Raphinha and Lamine Yamal scored twice each as Barcelona came from behind to beat Rayo Vallecano 5-2 at the Spotify Camp Nou and make it three league wins from three. Sergio Camello scored both Rayo goals, the first inside 12 minutes and the second from a corner on 59. Yamal’s opener was his 50th for the first team, a mark no Barcelona player has reached at a younger age. Anthony Gordon forced the own goal that made it 3-1 and set up Raphinha’s second.
Barcelona, Spain: Barcelona had not conceded a league goal this season before Monday night. They conceded two, both against the run of play, and still won by three.
That is roughly the shape of the evening. Hansi Flick’s side had the ball, the chances and eventually the goals, and Rayo kept finding ways to make it uncomfortable anyway.
Camello Twice Against the Run of Play
Barcelona started as though this would be routine. Yamal was lively immediately, Raphinha was into everything, and the chances came quickly.
Then Alvaro Garcia got away down the left with the Barcelona defence caught out, and his cutback found Sergio Camello, who beat Joan Garcia at his near post on 12 minutes.
The lead lasted seven. Xavi Espart found Raphinha, who shifted past Pathe Ciss on the edge of the box and drilled a low finish across Dani Cardenas. Two minutes after that it was turned around: appeals for handball were waved away, Marc Bernal kept the move alive and slid the ball to Yamal on the right, and the winger cut inside and curled a left-footed shot into the top corner.
Yamal’s Fiftieth
It was his first league goal of the season and, according to the club, his 50th for Barcelona’s first team — a number no player in their history has reached younger.
ALSO READ: Bellingham scores one, forces another as Real Madrid’s eleven-minute burst buries Malaga
Barcelona should have had a third before the break. Cardenas saved from Gordon, Jules Kounde turned in the rebound, and VAR ruled the defender offside. The third arrived six minutes after the restart instead, and it came off a Rayo boot: Gordon was released down the left and tried to pull it back for Raphinha, only for Florian Lejeune to divert it into his own net.
The Corner Problem
Rayo were not finished. Unai Lopez delivered a corner on 59 and Camello rose above the defence to head into the bottom corner.
Espart, one of the smallest players on the pitch, had been left to track him. The goal began a nervous quarter of an hour in which Rayo kept breaking and Barcelona could not hold the ball. Flick sent on Rodri and Fermin Lopez to steady the midfield, and it worked.
Gordon’s Backheel
The fourth settled it and was the best goal of the night. Gordon, who had driven at the Rayo defence all evening, backheeled the ball into Raphinha’s path and the Brazilian hammered it in on 71 for his second.
Yamal added a fifth in the 90th, set up by Karim Adeyemi, finishing from the edge of the area.
Barcelona have won all three of their league matches. Pedri ran the midfield, Espart appeared everywhere, and Gordon finished with a goal made and an own goal forced. The concern is at the other end: two goals conceded from moments Rayo barely earned, one of them from a corner, on a night when Barcelona had otherwise controlled almost everything.
Barcelona 5 (Raphinha 19′, 71′, Yamal 21′, 90′, Lejeune 51′ og) beat Rayo Vallecano 2 (Camello 12′, 59′)
Half-time: Barcelona 2-1 Rayo Vallecano · Venue: Spotify Camp Nou, Barcelona
