Barcelona, April 25 (BNA): With an unprecedented defeat at home for the third time in a row, Barcelona inadvertently paves the way for Real Madrid to win the Spanish League title.
Barcelona lost 1-0 to Rayo Vallecano on Sunday, the first time they had lost three consecutive home runs in all competitions in the same season, leaving leaders Real Madrid just one point away from winning their second league title in three seasons, The Associated Press reports. reports.
Real Madrid will have their first chance to lift the trophy on Saturday when they host Espanyol. Real Madrid is 15 points ahead of second-placed Barcelona, with five rounds remaining. The Catalan club has the best player in the tiebreak.
Fans at the Camp Nou booed the team after the final whistle.
“We were fighting at home,” Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets said. “We conceded early goals and then it becomes difficult to recover. We are in a bad dynamic now.”
Barcelona won seven consecutive matches at home in the league against Rayo, who scored the winning goal with a shot from Alvaro Garcia after a long pass inside the area in the seventh minute.
Barcelona pressed forward until the end of the match but could not take advantage of his many scoring opportunities.
The loss left Barcelona tied on points with third-placed Sevilla and just two points behind Atletico Madrid in last place in the Champions League. A second place is also important as it secures a place in the lucrative Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia.
“We are in a difficult situation now,” Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said. “We are still in the Champions League qualification zone, but we are making it difficult for ourselves.”
Barcelona won at Real Sociedad on Thursday but was losing to Cadiz in the league and Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League. He hasn’t lost two in a row at home since 2003, and he’s lost three in a row only once, between the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons.
It was Rayo’s second straight win after enduring 13 consecutive league games without wins. And the Madridista club moved from fifteenth to eleventh place with its second victory over Barcelona this season. Rayo’s victory also came on Thursday in Barcelona at the Espanyol stadium.
Only Bayern Munich beat Barcelona twice this season, in the group stage of the Champions League.
The result practically guaranteed Rayo a place in the first division next season.
The match was postponed from January. No other league matches were played this weekend. Real Betis beat Valencia on penalties on Saturday to win the King’s Cup.