Rayo Vallecano – Barcelona. Mark O’Haire’s prediction

Rayo Vallecano are one of the most romantic clubs in Spain. Hailing from Madrid and playing in the shadows of the Bernabéu and the Vicente Calderon, the club represent the working-class surroundings of Vallecas.

Head coach Paco Jemez is the brains behind the operation and the charismatic boss has kept Los Franjirrojos in the top tier thanks to his astute leadership and joyful style of football. Rayo fear no one and look to implement their attractive possession-based ideology in each fixture, often to great success.

It’s quite a remarkable stat but since Paco pitched up at Vallecas, only Barcelona (69%) have averaged more ball possession in La Liga than Rayo (58%). They’ll send everything through midfield general Roberto Trashorras and obsessively look to play out from the back; it’s brilliant.

However, Jemez’s rigid approach has its pitfalls. Los Franjirrojos, unwilling to remodel themselves to suit La Liga’s big-hitters, attempt to go toe-to-toe with Barcelona and Real Madrid and always end up on the wrong end of a battering. It’s a brave but often head-banging philosophy as Rayo’s clutch of free transfers and loans get blown away by the planet’s best.

Last season, Rayo were slaughtered 6-1 at the Camp Nou. This season they were beaten 10-2 at the Bernabeu, and their past 10 matches with Barca have resulted in 10 defeats by an aggregate score of 4-45. The minnows have leaked at least three goals in all bar one of those contests and been trailing at the break in all bar one defeat.

Rayo arrive on a seven-match unbeaten streak (W2-D5-L0) and they’ve never managed an eight-match unbeaten run in the Spanish top-flight in their history. They won’t be breaking that record on Thursday night, sadly.

The hosts have a few knocks and injury doubts to contend with, most notably in-form marksman Miku. Nevertheless, it’s hard not to fancy their chances of grabbing a goal – in that seven-match spell, Los Franjirrojos have scored at least twice in each fixture.

Barcelona have enjoyed just a solitary shutout in seven league outings, kept their sheets clean in just three of their most recent 12 across all competitions and showed signs of being jaded in Sunday’s 2-1 win over Sevilla. So with only Barca, Real Madrid and Sevilla averaging more on-target attempts than Rayo, the home side will create chances and should be capable of snatching a goal.

Unfortunately, Luis Enrique’s record-breaking runaway express train are likely to notch more than just once. Rayo have leaked at least twice in 12 of their past 14 in La Liga and so Barcelona should comfortably extend their W28-D6-L0 run of results here, making the Barca win and Both Teams To Score attractive at 2.10.