Barcelona started La Liga in terrible fashion, as Rayo Vallecano held them to a goalless stalemate at the Camp Nou. For the first time in years, the home attendance touched 80,000 for a non-El Clasico game, but they left the stadium in sour taste.
While the game was extremely frustrating, Barça’s offensive performance was especially terrible tonight. Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski each had a debut to forget, while Ousmane Dembele struggled to create anything substantial.
Statistically, he ended the game with five key passes, but none of them were particularly clear-cut chances. And by the time the referee blew for full-time after a gruelling 98 minutes, Dembele was seen limping, as per Toni Juanmarti.
This could easily be the impact of playing nearly 100 minutes, on opening day no less, but if there is any deeper problem, we will likely get to know about it tomorrow morning.
All said and done, losing Dembele this early in the season could be very problematic for Xavi, despite having Raphinha fit and ready on the right-wing