No one really expected Barcelona to draw against Rayo Vallecano. Barcelona might have lost the match today if it wasn't for Rayo Vallecano's own goal at the last minute.
When a team starts missing opportunities like this to get ahead in the league, it is not a good sign to show seriousness to win the league. Barcelona completely disappointed me and many other supporters and sports bettors that expected them to win the game because of what they stand to gain, but they shared points in this game. Barcelona started this season looking promising, but right now, Real Madrid look like a better challenger to Girona than they are.
With an Atletico Madrid win, they will be closer to passing Barcelona.
That's the truth, I completely agree with what you said about Barcelona. Xavi squad needed a Rayo own goal to save their face this time, reportedly Xavi has not been able to break his curse of beating Rayo Vallecano since taking charge of Barcelona. Xavi has a lot of work to do in the future, Porto will be their next test at UCL.
According to calculations, ATM can shift Barcelona position to fourth in the standings if they can win the match against Mallorca, and another postponed match against Sevilla. I think this is a reality that Barcelona must be very aware of, otherwise it will create a significant points gap in the future.
Girona will be very rampant at the top of the La Liga standings by taking advantage of the bad situation of the elite teams. Don't let us take back what we have said about Girona that, when faced with a big team, Girona will lose. But in reality, these big teams put themselves in a difficult position.