MADRID —
After the bitterness of watching the first two league games from the stands, Dani Olmo enjoyed a dream debut with Barça.
Olmo scored in the final stretch of the second half, the goal with which Barcelona completed the comeback to beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1 on Tuesday and remain the only team with a perfect record in the tournament.
Olmo received a diagonal from the end line from Lamine Yamal and sent it across the far post to score the winning goal in the 82nd minute.
Pedri had equalised for the visitors in the 60th minute, after combining with Raphinha to break through the lines and finish with a shot from inside the area.
Unai López put the Vallecas team ahead in the 10th minute, after finishing off a diagonal pass from Jorge de Frutos inside the area.
Referee César Soto Grado disallowed what could have been Robert Lewandowski’s fourth goal of the championship after validating a video replay (VAR) for a foul by Jules Koundé at the start of the play that ended with the Pole’s goal.
With their third win of the championship (all by 2-1), Barça are the only team in the championship with a full record of victories and have nine points at the top.
This was the first win for the Catalans at Vallecas since their 1-0 victory on January 27, 2021 in the Copa del Rey. Since then, they had lost two and drawn one in league matches.
The reigning champions Real Madrid will be in action until Thursday when they visit Las Palmas, with the pressure of not letting points slip away if they do not want to get away from the Catalans in the fight for the lead.
Barcelona underwent a transformation after an erratic first half when Olmo, their new summer signing, came on and was finally able to make his debut after being registered against La Liga hours before the match.
The former Leipzig midfielder gave a clear indication that he wanted to celebrate his goal when he fired a long-range right-footed shot that hit the crossbar at the height of the siege.
With control of the match, Pedri combined in a triangle with Raphinha, who returned the ball to him so that he could send it into the net with a cross shot at medium height.
Olmo did not waste another opportunity to shine after receiving a pass from Yamal and firing a left-footed cross into the net.
Colombian midfielder James Rodríguez watched the match from the stands of the stadium just days after joining Rayo.
In another result, Mallorca drew 0-0 against Sevilla.
The Andalusian team is in 13th place with two points; the Vermilion team is in 14th place with the same number of points.
