Barcelona’s focus turns to Rayo Vallecano

Barcelona were back in training on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s La Liga clash against Rayo Vallecano.

The majority of the first team have enjoyed a bit of time off after last week’s double Clasico and sat out Wednesday’s Supercopa de Catalunya defeat to Girona.

However, the whole squad was back together on Thursday to prepare for the Liga clash and then next week’s visit from Lyon in the Champions League.

Barca have a seven-point lead in La Liga and will be confident of victory over Rayo who are just a point and a place off the bottom of the table.

However, it’s worth remembering Barca needed two late goals from Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele to beat Rayo Vallecano at Vallecas in a 3-2 thriller in November.

Gerard Pique also warned his side after victory over Real Madrid that they need to back up their win.

“We’ve made a statement [beating Madrid] but it’s not definitive by any means,” he said.

“It allows us a certain amount of calm for the final games of the season but it won’t mean anything if we mess up against Rayo Vallecano next week.”

Source | ESPN

The imminent return of the Champions League may be something of a distraction, particularly given Real Madrid and PSG’s exits this week, but Barca need to retain their focus against Rayo.