Gordon made two of Barcelona’s five, and Rayo led at Camp Nou for seven minutes

Rayo Vallecano led at the Spotify Camp Nou for seven minutes on Monday night. Sergio Camello turned in Alvaro Garcia’s cutback in the 12th minute, Raphinha equalised in the 19th, and Lamine Yamal cut in from the right and curled one into the top corner two minutes after that. By full time Barcelona had scored five, Raphinha and Yamal had two apiece, and Hansi Flick’s side had three wins from three at the start of a season in which they are going for a third straight title.

Anthony Gordon had a hand in two of them

Gordon, playing on the left, sent in the cutback that Florian Lejeune turned into his own net just after half-time for 3-1. Twenty minutes later he ran onto a ball played over the top and, rather than shoot, flicked it back across for Raphinha to finish from the left side of the area. That made it 4-2.

Barcelona paid Newcastle close to 70 million pounds for Gordon in May, and ESPN was still running the question on Monday of whether he was the right winger to spend it on. Two assists in a five-goal night is a decent answer. Yamal closed the scoring in the 90th minute, curling a left-footed shot into the far corner after Karim Adeyemi rolled it back to him.

Camello scored twice and Rayo still lost by three

Camello’s second, in the 59th minute, was a header from Unai Lopez’s corner. It made the score 3-2, and that was as close as Rayo got.

Defending corners is the one part of this Barcelona side that Flick has not sorted out. Conceding one in a game you win 5-2 is the kind of thing that gets forgotten by Tuesday. Against a side that can hold on to a lead, it will cost them something.

Rayo set up with a back five and sat deep, and for 12 minutes it worked well enough that they were in front. After that Barcelona kept finding a way through. Rayo have one point from three games and sit 18th, inside the relegation places, level on points with the two clubs below them, Elche and Malaga.

Barcelona are top on goal difference

Three games, three wins, 12 goals scored and two conceded. Both of those two came on Monday, which means nobody had scored against Barcelona at all until Camello did. Real Madrid have the same nine points from the same three games, and Barcelona lead them only on goal difference, plus 10 against plus eight. Atletico Madrid are third on seven.

Yamal is 19 and already the player the rest of the league has to build a plan around. Raphinha is 29, an age at which wingers are usually being asked to adapt, and he is scoring in pairs. Flick has won the last two Liga titles with a squad that keeps getting younger at the top end and more expensive on the wings. On this evidence the third is not going to be given away.

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