Manchester United vs Rayo 2022 (MU-Rayo Friendly)
Final score and result: United vs Rayo 1-1 (Diallo/Alvaro Garcia)
Old Trafford, Manchester- 31 July, 2022- Club Friendly
After playing Atleti in Oslo in front of a 26129 strong crowd, United face another Spanish opponent in pre-season, and this game ends in a 1-1 draw. New defensive signing Lisandro started alongside Varane in defence.
Here is a look at the xG (expected goals) stats from Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona in October 2021. This was also Ronald Koeman’s last game as Barca manager- he was sacked by the Blaugrana after this 1-0 loss. Interestingly, Barca dominated on the expected goals xG metric and probably created enough to have scored at least three goals, but didn’t find the back of the net.
xG Rayo 0.79-2.96 Barcelona shots map (Actual score Rayo 1-0 Barca)
Here’s a nice table courtesy the Spanish press that talks about the impact of VAR on La Liga. It shows the league table as on April 24, 2019 with and without VAR.
Some interesting observations
Without VAR, Rayo Vallecano would not be in the relegation zone- they’d in fact be 17th, five points more than their current tally.
Without VAR, Valencia would be fourth in the league (occupying a CL qualifying spot). With VAR that spot is currently occupied by Getafe.
Barcelona are not impacted by VAR- their position and points tally remains the same.
Check out the table below