Lamine Yamal urges Barcelona to up the intensity and 'learn' from costly Rayo Vallecano equaliser as Hansi Flick bemoans 'many mistakes' in La Liga draw

Barca played out a 1-1 draw against Rayo Vallecano in La Liga yesterday. While Yamal gave the Catalans a good start in the first half by winning and converting a penalty, his team conceded a goal in the second half to share the spoils. After the fixture, both Yamal and manager Flick handed out critical notes from the game, with the winger urging his team to escalate their intensity. Flick, meanwhile, was not happy with his team's sharpness.

Barca started their La Liga campaign on a high, earning a 3-0 victory against Mallorca in their opener. In their second game, they defeated Levante 3-2. However, with their draw on Sunday, they sacrificed pole position in the table, and have dropped to the fourth place. El Casico rivals Real Madrid, meanwhile, moved into the top spot with victory over Mallorca.

Yamal said to DAZN: "In the end, it's a very difficult pitch, and we lacked intensity, just like in the rest of the matches at the start of La Liga. We have to learn from this to get back to playing with the intensity we had last year after the break."

Flick commented: "Joan García, Eric [Garcia], and [Andreas] Christensen were good. The problem was in midfield and attack. We made so many mistakes. I’m not happy with my team. We did not play well. We didn’t play to our usual sharpness, we didn’t dominate as we should have, and we made many mistakes. When you play against a team that plays well, you have to play in different ways, and not make many mistakes. We should have played better."

Barca will play their first home game of the season on September 14, against Valencia, where they appear set to make their long-awaited Camp Nou return despite fears they would not receive the necessary permit.