Raphinha and Lamine Yamal Dominate Rayo, Gabriel Jesus Arrives | 5 Headlines
Raphinha and Lamine Yamal both make history with two goals each in a 5-2 win over Rayo Vallecano. For Lamine Yamal, he becomes the youngest player to 50 goals in the top five leagues, while Raphinha's hot start puts him in rare company. Plus, Gabriel Jesus is a Barcelona player, Messi is retiring from Argentina, and Deco continues to explore the market for opportunites. 0:00 Barcelona 5-2 Rayo 1:11 Season's First Adversity 3:39 50 Goals at 19 6:22 Rayo Never Quits 8:45 Kubala to Messi to Raphinha 13:14 No. 9 Signing and Messi Goodbye Check out our merch in our store! - https://the-barcelona-podcast.creator-spring.com/ Listen to the full podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast ... Follow Me: Instagram ➔ https://www.instagram.com/thebarcelon ... Twitter ➔ https://twitter.com/TheBarcelonaPod Facebook ➔ https://www.facebook.com/barcablog TikTok ➔ https://www.tiktok.com/@barcelonapodcast BlueWireVideo
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Five goals against Rayo Vallecano, another two from Raphinha, Lamine Yamal has one that makes history. All good stuff from the attacking end of things for Barca today. Defensively, yeah, definitely some stuff that Hansi Flick is going to want to work out before Champions League nights begin. Also, Messi is retiring from international competition, but still that is huge news along with the arrival of Gabriel Jesus from Arsenal, the newest member of Hansi Flick's squad. But we're going to get to all that at the end because welcome to episode 847 of The Barcelona Podcast brought to you by the Blue Wire Podcast Network. I am Dan Hilton. We're still off for a few more weeks on big up for those watch longs, so in case you don't want to miss anything else though in the entire Barcelona Podcast ecosystem or sphere of influence, whatever you want to call it, you can subscribe to the YouTube channel, follow on the podcast apps. Patreon is the best way to help me make new shows. Thank you so, so much to all my new Patreons. I actually did recently release a Patreon-only video over the weekend, so head on over to Patreon to get that exclusive content over there. I also have the merch store, all that good stuff, social media, you know where to find me. So now, let's dive in. Here are the five headlines from Barcelona's 5-2 victory over Rayo Vallecano. Headline one is season's first adversity or the first adversity of the season, which is the first goal that the team has scored in La Liga in their third match. A little bit of rotation from Hansi Flick with the starting 11 here. Eric Garcia gets his spot rotated. Aspar keeps his spot, and Gerard Moreno also drops to the bench. As the 11 is, Juan Garcia, Aspar, Christensen, Cubarsi, Kounde starting at right back, Bernal, Pedri, Olmo, then Gordan, Raphinha, Lamine Yamal up top. For Rayo Vallecano, no easy Pevel Zone today, and that's a pretty big loss for them. You could feel that they were missing him in the early going as it was one-way traffic for Barcelona, who had a ton of possession early, and that would also be the theme throughout the match. But not too many big highlights to talk about early on. Eighth minute, Lamine Yamal getting some space, maybe a bit too unselfish, probably should have been the first goal of the contest. And then on the other side, Barcelona get beat for not taking their early chance. In the 12th minute, it's 1-0 to Rayo Vallecano on the counter. And this is what Xavi Flick is not going to like. How often do I tell you, things that frustrate managers is when you are scored against in transition when the other team just had a throw-in. And that's exactly what this is. It's a throw-in from Rayo in their own half after a header back into their half from Espar. They're able to switch the field. Alvaro Garcia gets past Kounde. This is the big mistake here from Kounde. He thought he could get to the ball, completely judging this wrong. And because he didn't want to get a red card, smart, Alvaro Garcia gets past him with a ton of room. He gets it back to Camello who got goal side on Christensen. It is still a good finish from Camello, but again, this is all mistakes from the guys that jumped into the starting lineup for Eric and for Gerard Martin in Kounde and Christensen. As Camello finishes the one-timer, finding Joan Garcia's near post. That said, after the goal, Barcelona, of course, what they were going to do at home, they were going to continue to pepper Rayo's goals with chances. Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, they had some mis-hits. Bernal slices one, too. And all of that pressure did turn into the first goal in the 19th minute. This is a really well-built goal from Barcelona. Ansu goes wide, and so Pedri dribbles through the pressure to move Rayo horizontally across that mid-block. Pedri to Espar in the half space. As Espar, when Pedri's in that deeper spot, tends to jump forward on that left side. And so Espar in the half space immediately one-touch to Raphinha. Then Raphinha does the rest. The quick turn, and he's free into goal, gets his fourth of the season. Good stuff from Raphinha. Good stuff by Espar. Good stuff from Pedri. And good stuff all around from Barcelona. Headline two is 50 goals at 19. I feel like this start this season, I've been a bit quiet on the history. I have made sure that nobody's been able to miss nap time. So, yeah, I want to give the opportunity for you to take your naps now because just two minutes later, the second goal for Barcelona comes and history is made, Lamine Yamal. Raphinha drove into Rayo's back line and after not getting the handball call, everybody kind of stops, some Rayo players and Raphinha all pleading or asking for something and the Rayo players not totally clearing their lines, but Bernal stayed with it, didn't stop because he didn't hear a whistle. It's a poor deflection for Rayo as well, but he keeps it in, finds Lamine Yamal and with a perfect winner for goal with his left foot that he's usually not going to get dealing with that double team when Rayo defenders are engaged, finds that space, no doubt about it, puts it upper 90. Now, Lamine Yamal with that strike becomes the youngest player in the history of Europe's top five leagues to reach 50 goals. He surpassed Haaland and Mbappé and he did all that as a player that we don't really consider a goal scorer. I don't say we, I mean, especially those outside of Barcelona do not consider him a goal scoring threat. And if we're just talking about Spanish football, he manages to beat Raúl by 200 days and Fernando Torres by a little bit more than that because Fernando Torres was 20 years old as Lamine Yamal and Raúl both 19. The record for Barcelona for the youngest to 50 goals was Josep Escolà who scored his 50th official goal October 20th, 1935. So, yes, 89 years ago. He did it in the Catalan regional championship. He did it at 20 years old, 356 days. But for a record to stand for 89 years, yeah, Lamine Yamal, love that bit of history. And finishing off this terrific history found by Mr. Chip, Messi scored his 50th at the age of 21 years and 120 days. He did it in the Champions League against Basel. So, yeah, 2 years past where Lamine Yamal is right now. After that second goal was scored, I think Rayo were kind of taken it back a little bit. Not much to talk about through most of the rest of that first half until, of course, we get to stoppage time, but a lot of it was Barcelona just trying things on their wings, not losing their shape in the middle, basically controlling that match by defending in narrow ways and then attacking in space on the wings. In the 40th minute, Bernal forces a save at a long shot. I do love his willingness to shoot. There's a reason why he is more of an eight and he is not the six that we all hope he is. In the 40th minute, Lamine Yamal does what no younger player should do, and he dribbles two players near his own box, but it's Lamine Yamal, so he gets away with it. 45 + 1, it's pressure around the Rayo box. Cardona spills, Gordon shot, and Kunde smashed in the rebound, but VAR says offside to the goal. Nothing to it. And then before halftime, some fun in the stadium. Olé, olé, you could hear it. Skill moves from Gordon, Pedri, and Kunde, and we're heading to halftime. Headline three is Rayo never quits. Now, what we know of Rayo this season and last season and the year before is that their ownership structure has completely given up. They're the only team in the Liga where the fans cannot order their tickets online. They have to go to the actual booth to order tickets for both home and away matches, and that is just scratching the surface when we're talking about their actual pitch. You talk about their training pitch. You talk about the accommodations. All these different problems and cost-cutting that's going on at Rayo Vallecano. And yet, and yet, over the last few seasons, when they lose managers, when they lose players, this is a group that still will not quit. And a credit to them. And they did not quit when Barcelona scored the third goal of the game. For them, the 3-1 is an own goal caused by Anthony Gordon. Flick won't have liked the Rayo goal, but he will be pleased with the effort from Barça on the press. It is good rest defense from Bernal. Second time today where he's in the right spot on the rest defense, and it leads to a goal for Barcelona. Almost threads the needle to Gordon. It's a really good pass from Olmo, too. And his cross gets sent in the net by Rayo defender. Tough break for Rayo Vallecano. Now, they're down 3-1. 59th minute, so eight minutes later, that 3-1 lead would not last because Rayo get another one to make this game interesting. After mistake by Christensen to concede the corner, it's Cameo with a brace. And this is just a classic set piece. Why is it Cameo, the center forward, against Aspar, one of the more diminutive, if not the shortest player on the field for Barcelona? Why is that the matchup? Because Cameo just big bodies, I'm an adult man, goes up in the air, gets a header on it, and Joao Cancelo is wrong-footed for Rayo's second goal. 61st minute, for as terrific as Aspar was, because Aspar did all those other things, I didn't really talk about him too much in a positive way, but I will say at this moment, he, of course, is now first on the depth chart, even at left back, in front of Cancelo and Balde. Maybe Flick really does think it is Cancelo, but Aspar has done everything that Hansi Flick has asked him to do, including going into the midfield to end the last two matches, so that Pedri winds up getting a rest, and Rodri hasn't had to start. Yeah, that is really great stuff from Aspar. So, the only other moment that you'd be concerned with comes again on the defensive end of things when he gets caught ball-watching at the back post. Joao Cancelo can't handle it, either, but Pau Cubarsi comes to the rescue with his chest. Pau Cubarsi, very quietly, which is what you want to see from a center back, very quietly, he had a really good day. Headline four is Cubarsi to Messi to Raphinha. Now, before we talk more about Raphinha, it's time in the 64th minute to enter Rodri into the game, along with Fermin Lopez coming on for Oriol Romeu and Bernal. And for the now second time we've seen this, Hansi Flick transitioning from that 4-2-3-1 into a 4-3-3, with Fermin Lopez as the high right interior, Pedri as the high left interior, and Aspar being a bit more at home, with Rodri now being the number six in a deeper spot, shielding that back line. 69th minute, there's a chance for the exclamation point, Rodri to Pedri to Raphinha to Lamine Yamal directly through the lines, one-touch stuff, the cutback to Fermin, and his shot is blocked. In the 71st minute, though, all of that pressure for Barcelona leads to their fourth. It's Raphinha's brace after Gündoğan's backheel pass, after Kounde's terrific diagonal. We've been ragging on Kounde a little bit here, but this pass, I think, is why Hansi Flick still sees some quality in him. It is route one football that you love to see, keeping Raphinha healthy, as I keep saying, continues to be, when you watch this brace today, continues to, I think, be the most important thing for Barcelona this season. And if he doesn't stay healthy, here's also looking at you, Gabriel Jesus. And while the goal itself was not something totally special, it was just him and the goalkeeper, points out that corner, finds it again. But before Hansi Flick arrived at Barcelona, again, this is more historical data from Mr. Chip, so credit here, Raphinha before Hansi Flick, 20 goals in 87 games. Raphinha under Hansi Flick, 59 goals in 92 games. So, yes, almost three times more goals for Hansi Flick in almost the same number of games. With the five goals in three matches in La Liga, he joins a list of only eight other Barcelona players to accomplish that feat. The last one to do it was Messi, and the one before that was Kubala. So, yes, when it comes to this hot of a start in La Liga, in terms of the goal-scoring charts, you really are just talking about Kubala, who's got a statue, Messi, who definitely is probably going to get a statue, and Raphinha. In the 77th minute, it's more subs for Barcelona, Gordan and Pedri out for Adeyemi and Cancelo, as I said, a spark into the midfield. After that point in the game, though, and I know Rodri was the best midfielder on the market, I'm really glad that he has arrived, he might be the key piece to a Champions League trophy this season. But I'm going to be a bit of a contrarian here, and just add that it's going to take a little bit of time with Rodri there, for a team that have been playing in a 4-2-3-1, and been defending with a double pivot now under Hansi Flick for the last two seasons, to acclimate to the space that having just a single pivot allows the opposition, especially late in the game, when the press is starting to slow a little bit, because you're not usually taking out all three of your front attackers. So, I didn't love the way I'm not saying this is Rodri, I'm saying the team as a unit has got to get used to Rodri in a deeper position, and playing in a different system. I'm not sure how that is affecting Barcelona in the macro. I have to kind of check to see, well, when there are runners, whose job is it in that 4-3-3 now to track those runners? Who is Rodri supposed to be tracking? Who is that high left interior in Pedri or if it's Bernal or it's Gavi, whoever the {quote} and {unquote} eight is. And then the player who's playing as a 10, but a little bit deeper when Rodri's on the field as again another high right interior, if it's Fermín or it's Olmo, is he supposed to be tracking one of those runners, one of the fullbacks not going to be doing as opposed to coming inside. So, all those little things are just I want to put it on your radar or things that Barcelona I think are working through as this early season is happening and Rodri is getting used to his teammates. Let's finish off this game now in the 80th minute, Cárdenas denies Adeyemi with Barça in transition. Then a fantastic tackle in transition for Rayo by Barça. As I said, he had a really nice night. And then in the 85th minute, Hamza Albacarim gets to join the party for Raphinha. Raphinha gets the ovation and Hamza gets his first team debut. Missing out on being part of the prolific 2007 class by just one day, being born on January 1st, 2008. So, no, unfortunately, he's an honorable member of the 2007 class. He is, hopefully, the first member of a terrific 2008 class as well. And in the 90th minute, it's the 5-2 Lamine Yamal. He's the one with the exclamation point, starts the play, works through Espart and Adeyemi, and finds the corner with perfect precision on the placement. Good stuff from Lamine Yamal. And for everything that people were already saying, I told you, give it a moment. I said give him even a month or two, but yeah, he looks just fine to me. He looks like he's enjoying his football. So, I, as I said before, was not worried and I'm still not worried about Lamine Yamal. And then headline five is number nine signing and Messi goodbye. We'll be quick with this because I think there's still more things to say and obviously this week I'm going going to be having an individual podcast about Gabriel Jesus and what the attacker who's not a starter, but what another one of these depth pieces is going to be adding to Barcelona and Hansi Flick. And coming from Arsenal is Gabriel Jesus for 10 mil plus the add-ons. Again, we're getting into all those details shortly. Maybe by the time you're watching or listening to this in a few hours from now about Gabriel Jesus. Again, just make sure you subscribe to YouTube and all that jazz. And speaking of jazz, this is a weird transition, but having made beautiful music, I don't know actually about Argentinian football. When we're talking about the Argentina national team, I'm not sure if you can call that beautiful football, but Messi's football was certainly beautiful for all this time with Argentina and he bid adieu to his national team. It might have had a little to do, of course, with that heavy heart where his father, Jorge Messi, has passed away recently in the last few weeks. And you could just feel like after the World Cup, it was going to be time anyway. And now again, his personal life, things are changing as well. So, he's saying goodbye to Argentina. And I think I speak for hopefully you, but obviously for most culés and myself included, that that World Cup in 2022, even not being an Argentina fan, I and so many of us are Messi fans who will always be Messi fans. The joy that he's brought us over the decades now, not just years, but decades now. Of course, it is a sad day, but as they say, it is better to have loved and lost than have never loved at all. And to love watching Messi capture international glory with Argentina was so, so, so enjoyable. So, thank you, Messi. And I will continue to watch Messi week in and week out with MLS. And yes, that's a plug that I do work with MLS. But, Messi is still Messi in MLS. Don't get that twisted. Continue to watch him. Last thing before we go, there are two new youth signings that have taken place in the last 48 hours or so. Two Germans, German midfielder Katavic and German center-back Mikael Bata. Katavic is a six that is probably not ready for the first team just yet. I'll get into more on him in detail later. But, the young center-back, 16-year-old in Bata, is certainly not ready for the first team but he is a left footed center back. That deal is done. So these are two in theory for the future. Let's see how they fit with Barca Athletic. So those are the questions to be answered. Again, how will Giver Jesus fit? All that good stuff that I will look to answer the rest of this week and then we'll see you again on Sunday for another edition of these five headlines. So thanks so much for everybody, especially you new patrons and as always until next time, forca Barca.