FC Barcelona go into the final international break of the season with another three points in their collection, but they were made to suffer in a fiercely intense contest with Rayo Vallecano this Sunday.

A solitary first half goal from Ronald Araujo split the teams in a game where Hansi Flick’s side never quite found top gear. Barça struggled to create chances, and even more so convert them, and as the minutes ticked by, the possibility of the visitors sneaking an equaliser was a little to close for comfort.

Barça were far from thie best today, but they still did enough to get the win, making their position at the top of the table even stronger than ever.

Araujo heads home

Rayo forced a great save out of Joan García in the very first move of the match, but from then on for most of the game Barça were comfortably dominant without ever truly dazzling.

Raphinha was the liveliest man on the pitch, with three particularly good chances in the first half. He will feel he could have done better with the first two, while the third was brilliantly parried onto the crossbar by Rayo keeper Augusto Batalla.

What would turn out to be the only goal of the game arrived on 24 minutes. Araujo stood out among the crowd lingering at the far post following a corner, and his header bounded unstoppably off the woodwork and into the net to get Barça deservedly off the mark.

That’s eleven league goals that Barça have scored from corners this season, four more than any other team in the competition.

Worrying moments

Unconverted half-chances meant that Barça were unable to extend their lead, and had it not been for some splendid interventions from Joan García, as well as an awful miss by Pacha Espino, things could have been even more worrying.

The Catalans were living dangerously. Their own chances had dried up and for the final half hour, Rayo Vallecano were doing most of the talking. The Barça defence were expertly coping with the pressure and real moments of fear were few and far between, but the uncertainty remained all the way through to the final whistle.

That’s fourteen wins from fourteen home games in La Liga this season, but most of those have been far more convincing than this one. But three points are three points, and FC Barcelona momentarily go seven points clear of Real Madrid, pending the outcome of the Madrid derby this evening.

Força Barça