The Pride of Vallekas

Rayo Vallecano vs Sporting Gijón. Starting lineups. Míchel made several changes to the rotated side that won 2-0 at Reus Deportiu, reverting to the lineup that won 1-0 against Almería the jornada before - the only change compared to that game was Sergio Akieme being replaced by regular left-back Álex Moreno. Paco Herrera made one change to the side that drew 1-1 against Huesca, with Michael Santos came on as the lone striker for Carlos Castro. This was a frantic, hectic, evenly matched game - a 1-1 draw was a fair result - but it was also characterized by another Míchel experiment. First half setups Míchel's tactic was clear here - overload the left wing. Unai López, Adrián Embarba, Óscar Trejo, and Raúl de Tomás all played on the left side of the pitch, with Santi Comesaña asked to cover the entire right side. This was puzzling for two reasons - firstly, because Sporting Gijón are an incredibly balanced side and putting out an imbalanced team was defensively comprom...

Three of Álex Bergantiños' four goals in La Liga for Depor have been against Barcelona. Here are those goals. Scene 1: 12th May, 2017. Riazor. In the 74th minute, a corner is whipped in from the left wing to the far post, and Jordi Alba, who is marking Álex, watches him rise above him and head the ball into the net. And this just days after Barcelona overturned a 4-0 deficit and won 6-1 against PSG. Scene 2: 20th October, 2012. Riazor. Barcelona were 3-0 up after 17 minutes and cruising, but it went from 0-3 to 2-3 to 2-4 to 3-4 to 3-5 to 4-5 with 12 heart-stopping minutes left. That game had literally everything: a ludicrously good Leo Messi hat-trick, a yellow card for the least offensive man ever - Juan Carlos Valerón, and the finest own goal ever by Jordi Alba - a delicate volleyed lob over his keeper. And it was Bergantiños who scored the second for Depor to inspire the comeback. Scene 3: 12th December, 2015. Camp Nou. Barcelona are 2-0 u...