Barcelona vs. Rayo Vallecano: Complete La Liga Preview

In a weird way, Barca's win against AC Milan saved their season.

If they had failed to overturn the first-leg deficit from Italy, they would have played out the rest of the season in a sort of nothingness.

With the intensity back and a quarterfinal place in the Champions League confirmed, there are smiles back on Catalan faces.

Truth be told, it's all been a bit strange, considering throughout the whole drama around their recent form they have maintained a double-figure lead in La Liga.

This weekend, Rayo Vallecano are the visitors to Camp Nou.

Appointed in the summer, Paco Jemez saw the performances of Jose Ramon Sandoval—his predecessor—and improved upon them.

They're eighth in the table, three points away from the Champions League places, and playing with excitement and a real freedom.

Team News

Xavi's return to orchestrate the midfield on Tuesday night will be short lived.

Having got through 90 minutes, he won't be risked again as he struggles to fully recover from an injury picked up at the beginning of February—he was named in the Spain squad on Friday morning though.

Carles Puyol is also out, and could be out for the rest of the season.

Jose Pinto will continue in goal as Victor Valdes serves the second match of his four-match ban.

Elsewhere, there will be an air of unpredictability about the Barca side with Tito Vilanova and Jordi Roura deciding who could do with a break after the midweek exertions.

Rayo have plenty of injury concerns of their own.

They are likely to be without striker Leo Baptistao—a summer target for Atletico Madrid—who has a slight knock.

If Leo doesn't make it, Raul Tamudo or Andrija Delibasic could replace him. The former famously denied Barca the title in 2007.

Midfielder Javi Fuego, who is on Valencia's radar, and defender Jose Casado are also unlikely to feature in Catalunya on Sunday.

Form

Barcelona catapulted all doubts over their recent form into oblivion on Tuesday night.

A series of defeats and draws—since they lost to Real Sociedad in January—had people talking about them losing their reliability in the absence of Vilanova.

A win last weekend against Deportivo La Coruna, though, and the emphatic nature in which they thumped Milan demonstrates they're not folding their hand just yet.

Rayo picked up three points against Barcelona's other side last weekend; they beat Espanyol 2-0.

It ended a run of three games without a win which dated back to the beginning of February when they beat Atletico Madrid 2-1.

Last Time

Paco Jemez's comment before the last meeting is one of the more memorable aspects of the fixture:

“I could play like Celtic did [when the Scottish side lost 2-1 at Camp Nou], but I would drop my head in shame when I looked in the eyes of fans.”

Unfortunately, they didn't play like Celtic; they played like Rayo and were smashed 5-0—Lionel Messi twice, David Villa, Xavi and Cesc Fabregas the scorers.

It followed up 7-0 and 4-0 defeats against La Blaugrana last season. Not good omens.

Predictions

Barcelona: Pinto; Alves, Puyol, Mascherano, Adriano; Busquets, Thiago, Fabregas; Messi, Villa, Alexis

Rayo Vallecano: Martinez; Tito, Figueras, Amat, Arbilla; Trashorras, Galvez; Lass, Dominguez, Piti; Tamudo

Barcelona 4-0 Rayo Vallecano (Messi 2, Fabregas, Adriano)