Rayo Vallecano, Xavi's 'bogey team'

Vallecas is the venue for this Saturday's Liga fixture, and Xavi Hernández will be hoping things go better than in his three previous games in charge against Rayo Vallecano, which have ended in two defeats and one draw. Rayo Vallecano are one of two teams that he has yet to beat, the other being Granada, against whom he drew twice.

One draw and two losses

Andoni Iraola, now at Bournemouth, was the Rayo manager in those three games. The first was a shock win for the team with the famous red stripe at Spotify Camp Nou, Álvaro García netting the only goal.

They met again at the same stadium on the opening day of the 2022/23 season and that one ended 0-0.

The return at Vallecas was a midweek fixture, and Álvaro Garcia scored once again, with his namesake Fran García getting the other, meaning that Lewandowski's 83rd minute goal counted for nothing in a 2-1 defeat.

Good record against Francisco

There's a new man in charge at Rayo now, Francisco Rodríguez, against whom Xavi has a far more positive record, having won in all three previous meetings. Those were when Francisco was coach of Elche, with Barça scoring seven goals to the opposition's four.

The last of those three games was just over a year ago and ended 3-0 to Barça.