Robert Lewandowski’s penalty in the first half proved to be the decisive moment at the Estadi OlÃmpic LluÃs Companys, as Barcelona climbed to the top of the La Liga table, surpassing both Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid.
Raphinha had Barcelona’s first real opportunity of the match in the 24th minute, racing onto a brilliant pass from Pedri, only for his shot to be saved by goalkeeper Augusto Batalla.
The pressure from Barcelona continued, and in the 28th minute, they were awarded a penalty when Pathe Cisse was judged to have fouled Inigo Martinez inside the box. Lewandowski, the league’s top scorer, confidently stepped up and struck his 20th league goal of the season, hitting the inside of the post with his shot.
Minutes later, Barcelona nearly doubled their lead when Lamine Yamal found space in the area but saw his shot saved by Batalla.
Rayo Vallecano threatened toward the end of the first half and thought they had equalized when Jorge de Frutos finished past goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, but the goal was ruled out for offside after Randy Nteka was deemed to have interfered with play by blocking Martinez from an offside position.
In the second half, Raphinha had another golden chance to extend Barcelona’s lead. A brilliant through ball from Dani Olmo sent the Brazilian clear on goal, but he lifted his shot over the bar when one-on-one with Batalla.
Rayo Vallecano almost snatched a late equalizer in stoppage time when Adrian Embarba delivered a perfect cross to De Frutos, who could only head wide with just Szczesny to beat.
With the 1-0 victory, Barcelona moved to the top of La Liga for the first time in two months, overtaking both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
