Barcelona veteran was an absolute rock at the back against Rayo Vallecano | OneFootball

FC Barcelona took on Rayo Vallecano in La Liga at the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium last night in what was an important game for the Catalan club. Hansi Flick’s men huffed and puffed on the night, eventually securing a slender 1-0 victory.

The three points see them returning to the top of the La Liga table after a while, level on points with Real Madrid but having a far superior goal difference and H2H record. As ugly as it might have been, it could be a season-defining three points.

Robert Lewandowski scored the only goal of the night from the penalty spot. He is one of those rare strikers who has an excellent record from the spot and yet his stuttering run-up doesn’t always inspire confidence in fans.

Barcelona’s victory over Rayo last night could largely be attributed to two players who were absolutely incredible on the night – Pedri and Inigo Martinez. The latter has returned from injury like he never left and did not put a foot wrong in the entire 90 minutes.

Inigo Martinez was an absolute rock at the back for Barcelona last night and was involved in so many successful defensive actions. The stats paint a picture and as per Sofascore, here are the numbers from the 33-year-old against Rayo.

Inigo played 90 minutes on the night, recording 7 clearances. He had one interception and one tackle. He won three out of 6 attempted ground duels and every single one of his 4 attempted aerial duels.

He was dribbled past just once in the entire game, and even completed a dribble of his own. He recorded 67 touches on the ball, completing 44 of his 53 attempted passes and successfully pulling off three out of 7 attempted long balls.

It is also worth mentioning that Inigo won the penalty for Barcelona’s only goal of the game. After missing a few weeks through injury, the Spanish veteran could not have hoped for a better return to the team and his performances in the past couple of games have been fantastic, and let’s hope he can continue in a similar vein going forward.