Skip to main content

Resuscitating a career - Diego Costa and Sandoval (22nd March, 2017)

It's funny to think that Diego Costa was once a backup at Atlético Madrid.

In June 2011, he was packing his bags. Beşiktaş had agreed a deal, and he was going to leave. All the papers had been signed. The team had four non-EU players and Eduardo Salvio was being favored over Costa.

Costa was going to Turkey.

However, in July, Diego Costa tore his anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus, which meant not only was the deal to Turkey off, but he would also be out for six months and unregistered for an entire year.

Closer to recovery, in January, Sandoval insisted he come to Rayo. Costa was nowhere near full fitness, but Sandoval believed in him. He would later say that Costa was the best striker in the world.

He was right.

Diego Costa scored four in three games, which became six in seven, and eventually ten in sixteen as Rayo Vallecano survived in La Liga. 

Diego Costa went on to score 20 goals in the 2012-13 season and 35 in the next. He would win the Copa del Rey and the league with Atlético, earn a move to Chelsea, and win the league with them too.

A legend was born - and Vallekas was a part of that story.
Manucho won't be available for the game against Numancia. He has been called up to the Angola national team by new coach Beto Bianchi. The former Brazilian defender played mostly in Spain and has worked as a manager Jordan, Spain, Montenegro and Indonesia.

Some stats: the top 11 players at Rayo in terms of game time are (in order): Paulo Gazzaniga, Trashorras, Quini, Amaya, Zé Castro, A. Embarba, Javi Guerra, Álex Moreno, Ebert, José Antonio Dorado and Manucho.

Also, Ebert averages 2.0 shots a game, followed by Guerra with 1.7. For context, Manucho is at a lowly 1.1.

Speaking of stats, here are the players who stayed on after the 2002-03 La Liga relegation for the 2003-04 Segunda season: Sergio Segura, Imanol Etxeberria, Diego Mainz, Patricio Graff, Mario Gómez, Hélder, Pablo Sanz, Jorge Azkoitia, Roberto Peragón, Sergio Corino, Iriney Santos, Luis Cembranos and José Fernando Marqués. That's 13.

This season, we had 17 stay on - Zé Castro, Roberto Trashorras, Quini, Raúl Baena, Javi Guerra, Toño, Adrián Embarba, Nacho, Miku, Manucho, Antonio Amaya, Lass Bangoura, Răzvan Raț, José Antonio Dorado, Patrick Ebert, Piti and Jonathan Montiel.

If Rayo go down it will not be unexpected. But it will be embarrasing.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Non-league Incider: St Helens Town 3-0 Atherton Laburnum Rovers

Last game: 8th August: Dulwich Hamlet 2-1 East Thurrock United The previous day, I was blown away by my first ever football match experience. Dulwich Hamlet impressed me, but what impressed me more was the journey. The travel to the stadium was just as enjoyable as the football itself. I had caught the groundhopping bug. There were no games scheduled for the 9th of August. There was one, near Wigan, and all I had booked earlier was a refundable bus ticket from Manchester Airport leaving at quarter past midnight. I should have refunded it. This was a mistake. This whole day was a mistake. I was only slightly hungover from the previous night, but that was nothing compared to this feeling of loss - I couldn't handle the fact that there was a game happening. And I wasn't too far away. Just three hours and a bit. They'll fly by , I thought. I was in autopilot. Something within me made me get up, grab a bag, and get out the door. This wasn't me. I wasn't trave
2 comments
Read more

Who is Raúl Martín Presa, the Mickey Mouse? Part 1. (20th August, 2017)

José María Ruiz-Mateos was the head and main shareholder of Nueva Rumasa - the company that owned Rayo and other companies - mainly specializing in dairy products. (He wasn't the president of Rayo though - his wife, Teresa Rivero, was Rayo's president). In early 2011, the directors announced a debt of over 700 million euros, that it was on the verge of bankruptcy and that staff wouldn't be paid. And the players were visibly angry about it - captain Míchel assured the press that the club would continue fighting on the pitch, but the day after the announcement was made, six key players didn’t attend training. Veteran midfielder José María Movilla spoke on radio station SER about the situation, about the fact that he had only received seven of the last eighteen months of pay, about the fact that there were a few players who couldn't even afford car repairs. When Rayo Vallecano were about to earn promotion to La Liga despite all the odds - the players not being paid,
Post a Comment
Read more

Non-league Incider: Cray Valley Paper Mills 4-4 Punjab United Gravesend

Last game: 9th August: St Helens Town 3-0 Atherton Laburnum Rovers After ripping up my groundhopping calendar, mostly because I was determined to avoid overnight travel, and partly due to other commitments, there was a period of time where non-league football took a backseat. But that period did not last long. Because of course it didn't. Secretly, I'd loved travelling over ten hours back-and-forth to watch some 10th division football. And this was 9th division football in London. When I had gone to East Dulwich exactly a week back , I had commented on how the amount of graffiti struck me as I watched from on board a southeastern train. I was going the exact same way, but much further this time - then I had stopped at Denmark Hill, now I would have to go six stations further. The graffiti I had thought was so emblematic of south London quickly disappeared, as did the tall buildings desperately cluttered together. We, and by we I mean me, were going to the suburb
Post a Comment
Read more