BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Lamine Yamal scored from the penalty spot but Barcelona needed goalkeeper Joan García to ensure it left Rayo Vallecano with a point after a 1-1 draw in the Spanish league on Sunday.
The defending champions were largely outplayed by the modest side from Madrid with its speed and ability to break Barcelona’s offside trap.
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Barcelona's goalkeeper Joan García makes a save from Rayo's Andrei Ratiu during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Rayo Vallecano and FC Barcelona at the Vallecas stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Barcelona's Lamine Yamal celebrates after scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Rayo Vallecano and FC Barcelona at the Vallecas stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Barcelona's Lamine Yamal scores the opening goal from the penalty spot during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Rayo Vallecano and FC Barcelona at the Vallecas stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Barcelona's goalkeeper Joan García makes a save from Rayo's Andrei Ratiu during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Rayo Vallecano and FC Barcelona at the Vallecas stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Barcelona's Lamine Yamal celebrates after scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Rayo Vallecano and FC Barcelona at the Vallecas stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
It was Barcelona’s first slip of the season after it started with a pair of wins at Mallorca and Levante.
Yamal got the penalty after he dribbled past a defender and was knocked down by Pep Chavarría in a foul that was fiercely protested by Rayo’s players and staff.
Yamal stepped up and fired in the 40th-minute spot kick, before celebrating by gesturing as if he were placing a crown on his head. It was the 18-year-old’s second goal of the campaign and his first penalty for Barcelona. He converted a penalty for Spain earlier this year.
“They had fouled me, I felt confident and I always am ready to put the team on my back,” Yamal said.
Rayo’s pressure and the quickness of Jorge de Frutos, Álvaro García and Isi Palazón repeatedly created space behind Barcelona’s high defensive line.
García made five key saves, including denying De Frutos and Andrei Ratiu one-on-one. But the former Espanyol goalie could do nothing to stop substitute Fran Pérez from blasting in a volley off a corner kick when left completely unmarked at the far post in the 67th.
“We have to control the ball better. We have to be happy with the point,” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said. “Joan García played a fantastic match today.”
Fermín López played as a second-half substitute amid speculation that Chelsea wants to sign the Barcelona midfielder before the summer transfer window closes on Monday.
The game was marked by an apparent malfunction to the video review service for referees.
The referee informed team captains midway through the first half that it was not working. That meant there was no review of Chavarría's foul of Yamal.
Rayo coach Íñigo Pérez got a yellow card for his vehement protest, which included him knocking over a stand that held a tablet of his coaching staff in the dugout.
After the game, he apologized for what he called his “embarrassing behavior."
“I am a firm defender of the referee’s right to make mistakes,” Pérez said. “The referee is a key figure in this sport who gets little support, and he can commit errors.”
He added: “What made me lose my cool was that you can’t start playing with video review and then be told that now you are playing without it. The video review affects how you play, how the referees work.”
Borja Iglesias scored with a header in second-half injury time to snatch Celta Vigo a 1-1 draw with Villarreal, dealing the “Yellow Submarine” its first setback of the season after two victories.
Athletic Bilbao made it three wins in as many rounds after beating Real Betis 2-1 in Seville.
The Basque Country club got an own-goal by Marc Bartra before Aitor Paredes got the second. Cedric Bakambú pulled one very late goal back for the hosts.
Espanyol remained unbeaten after defender Carlos Romero scored in a 1-0 win against Osasuna.
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Barcelona's goalkeeper Joan García makes a save from Rayo's Andrei Ratiu during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Rayo Vallecano and FC Barcelona at the Vallecas stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Barcelona's Lamine Yamal celebrates after scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Rayo Vallecano and FC Barcelona at the Vallecas stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Barcelona's Lamine Yamal scores the opening goal from the penalty spot during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Rayo Vallecano and FC Barcelona at the Vallecas stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Barcelona's goalkeeper Joan García makes a save from Rayo's Andrei Ratiu during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Rayo Vallecano and FC Barcelona at the Vallecas stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Barcelona's Lamine Yamal celebrates after scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Rayo Vallecano and FC Barcelona at the Vallecas stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Iran fired missiles at Israel and some Gulf nations while explosions could be heard around Tehran and the central Iranian city of Isfahan on Friday, as the United States prepared to further reinforce its already significant military forces in the Middle East.
As the war that began Feb. 28 was to enter its sixth week, Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait warned about incoming missile fire, although it was unclear if anything was struck. Activists reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan but it wasn’t immediately clear what was hit.
Iran’s attacks on Gulf region energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing.
Oil prices surged while Asian financial markets rose moderately during cautious trading. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 11.4% to $111.54 a barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 7.8% to $109.03 per barrel.
U.S. President Donald Trump said U.S. forces will keep hitting Iran “very hard” in the next two or three weeks.
The largest American aircraft carrier in service sailed out of Split, in Croatia and “remains poised for full mission tasking in support of national objectives in any area of operation,” the Navy’s 6th Fleet announced.
It was unclear where it was going. The USS Abraham Lincoln remains in the Arabian Sea and the USS George H. W. Bush aircraft carrier departed Norfolk on Wednesday to head to the Mideast.
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Oil prices continued to surge on worries of a prolonged Iran war but the Asian markets that were open Friday rose moderately in cautious trading, while others were closed for the Good Friday holidays.
Benchmark U.S. crude rose 11.4% to $111.54 a barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 7.8% to $109.03 per barrel.
The U.S. only relies on the Persian Gulf for a fraction of the oil it imports, but oil is a commodity and prices are set in a global market.
The situation is very different in Asia. Japan, for example, relies on access to the Strait of Hormuz for much of the nation’s oil import needs and would need to rely on alternative routes. But some analysts say Japan and oher nations are counting on an agreement with Iran to allow transports.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.9% in Friday morning trading to 52,938.62. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.1% to 5,344.41. The Shanghai Composite sank 0.5% to 3,899.57. Trading was closed in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Indonesia and India.
Wall Street, where trading is closed Friday, finished its first winning week since the start of the Iran war, although trading started out with a decline driven by a surge in oil prices.
Bangladesh is curtailing office hours and enforcing early closure of malls and shops beginning Friday to handle its energy crisis related to the war.
The country’s cabinet ordered 30% spending cuts for fuel and power at government offices, suspended some staff training and stopped purchases of new vehicles, ships and aircraft. Decorative lighting will not be allowed for celebrations.
Bangladesh, a nation of more than 170 million people, is seeking alternative fuel sources and $2.5 billion in external financing for imports, which account for 95% of its fuel.
Australian Energy Minister Chris Bowen on Friday urged motorists getting away for a long weekend during the Easter holiday to fill up in cities because most of the nation’s fuel shortages are in rural areas.
Among 2,400 gas stations in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, 182 had run out of diesel by Friday.
In Australia’s second-most populous state, Victoria, 76 gas stations were out of diesel. In the remaining states ranked by the most populous first, Queensland had 75 stations without diesel, Western Australia had 37, South Australia had 28 and in Tasmania there were seven.
“For those Australians planning a road trip this weekend, given our shortages are predominantly in rural and regional Australia, it makes sense to fill up in the city to help the country if you can,” Bowen said in Sydney.
The government, which blamed regional shortages on panic buying and distribution problems, is concentrating on delivering fuel to farmers for planting crops.
Palestinian Muslims attend Friday prayers outside Jerusalem's Old City due to restrictions linked to the Iran war, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Tamara and her sister Amal color pictures on the floor as their parents, Sara and Ahmed, who fled their village of Khiyam in southern Lebanon due to Israeli bombardment, sit inside a tent used as a shelter in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A painting lies on the floor of a residential building damaged by recent U.S.-Israeli strikes in Fardis, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Journalists from foreign media based in Tehran document damage from U.S.-Israeli strikes in a residential area of the town of Fardis, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Mohammad Qubaisi, 53, with burn wounds from an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon undergoes surgery by Dr. Mohammed Ziara, left, and his team, at the Sidon Government Hospital in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel,Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A newly constructed bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes Thursday is seen in Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A newly constructed bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes Thursday is seen in Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel,Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Members from the Popular Mobilization Forces attend a funeral of fighters who were killed in a U.S. airstrike, in Tal Afar, Nineveh province, north of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A man with burn wounds from an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon sits on a bed at the Sidon Government Hospital in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A boy who fled with his family following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sits inside the van they are using as shelter in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
President Donald Trump arrives from the Blue Room to speak about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
