Madrid, April 27 (BNA): Barcelona missed a golden opportunity to extend their lead at the top of La Liga after suffering a shock 2-1 defeat at Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday, thanks to goals in each half from Alvaro Garcia and Fran Garcia.
And before seven matches, Barcelona leads the league standings with 76 points, 11 points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid, who also surprised 4-2 at home to modest Girona on Tuesday. Rayo Vallecano ranks ninth with 43 points, four points behind the European qualification places.
Rayo halted Barcelona’s seven-match unbeaten run in the league with a daring performance in front of their home fans at a sold-out Estadio de Vallecas, as reported by Reuters.
They were the better team for most of the match against Barcelona, opening the scoring in the 19th minute after he challenged Sergio Camilo Jaffe and quickly blasted Álvaro García who fired an unstoppable low shot past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
The hosts continued to press and squandered two chances, but were dismayed when Robert Lewandowski scored the equalizer in the 40th minute, before his attempt was disallowed after a video assistant referee replay showed that he was partly offside.
Rayo were back on top in the second half and extended their lead in the 52nd minute thanks to a great effort from Fran Garcia, who stole the ball from Frenkie de Jong in midfield and ran through Barcelona’s central defense to score a neat goal. It ends after Ter Stegen.
Camilo missed another great chance in the 64th minute and Unai Lopez also missed another chance to extend Rayo’s lead shortly afterwards.
However, Barcelona cut the deficit through Lewandowski, who grabbed a loose ball inside the penalty area and drilled it into the net in the 83rd minute.
However, it proved to be a consolation, as Rayo hung on to secure the win.
“Rayo played a great game. They deserved to win and we weren’t up to the task tonight,” defender Ronald Araujo told DAZN.
“Good thing we have a good advantage in the standings and we play the next two games at home, it’s our turn to play at home.”
WWA