There is no justice in football.
This afternoon at Vallecas, Rayo Vallecano was fast, fighting for every ball, not giving the Barcelona forwards the luxury of time on the ball.
It was a beautiful fast paced game. Initially Barcelona was beginning to exert control, then Rayo reversed the tide and ended the 45 minutes spending more and more time in the Barcelona half.
In the first half, Rayo created one clear chance of goal of where Victor Valdes had to make a tremendous save and then Victor saved a penalty taken by the Rayo Captain - Treshorras.
Messi's skills were on display for a couple of dribbles and on one occasion he laid off a beautiful pass to the right to Pedro who made no mistake in scoring. Barcelona also tried to get Neymar, playing on the left wing, into the game, but today was not Neymar's afternoon. He did not take advantage of any balls passed to him nor did he pose much of a danger.
Barcelona went into the changing room at half time, thanking the Footballing Gods, for retaining their slender one goal lead.
The second half was totally different.
Rayo Vallecano had lost all its fight as soon as Pedro scored his second goal - which may have been offside. But it did not matter. Pedro completed his hattrick and Cesc Fabrigas scored the fourth goal.
Barcelona won 4-0.
Its a pity that Rayo does not have a couple of quality players. I believe that had Rayo Vallecano taken its chances and scored a couple of goals in the first half, the result of the match would had been quite different.
Barcelona is not the same Barcelona of old. They are not playing their attractive football nor are they being tested.
I would like to see how this Barcelona team reacts to a situation when they are behind say 1-0 or even 2-0. It will be a test of their character.
