The Pride of Vallekas

11 minutes. 11 minutes decided the fate of three teams, who had competed over the entire season with ferocity and were all set for a nail-biting finish. In third, fourth, and fifth, heading into the final game of the season, Fuenlabrada, Rayo Majadahonda and Leioa were all on 60 points. The head-to-head records of the teams were pretty clear - Fuenlabrada would win any hypothetical matchup, and Rayo would win in a matchup against Leioa. Entering the 78th minute, Leioa were 2-0 down at Arenas, Rayo were 1-0 down at Barakaldo, and Fuenlabrada were winning 2-0 at already relegated Sestao River. Then all hell broke lose. Arenas scored in the 78th minute. Almost in unison, Leioa scored in the next minute, but so did Rayo - which meant Leioa had to win. In the 81st minute, Leioa scored and then four minutes later Leioa scored again. But it wasn't over. Aitor Córdoba was sent off, exposing the Leioa back line, and Arenas' Nacho Pérez scored to kill all hopes of a comeback....

Jordi Agusti, 34, is the Chief Operations Officer of a shop displays company. You can follow him on Twitter: @Totocompos He also recommends the Twitter account of Penya Jandrista - @losjandristas - as a great place to follow the club's day to day workings. How long have you been a fan of Girona and what made you support them in the first place? I've been a Girona fan since I was about 10 years ago, I started to support Girona because it is the team of our province and at that moment the team was playing in the Segunda B with the possibility to go to the 2nd division. Also in that moment it was one of my friends playing in the team (Albert Dorca, now playing at Alcorcón) Describe your first experience of watching Girona play? I don't remember the first experience but I remember the first season Girona played in the 2nd division because they played against some first division teams I used to watch on TV (Zaragoza, Rayo, Tenerife, Real Sociedad, Celta) and at that ...

Tapani writes about Spanish and English football, including Huddersfield and Rayo, on his Finnish blog Mania Fútbol. You can read it here . Also, you can follow Tapani on Twitter here . A bit about yourself and your background I'm your average Joe, living in Finland, aged 35, having watched football since Italia 90. I watch a lot of local football, but have also always followed the English game (Huddersfield being my club in England since mid-90s). Football in Spain was, for a long time, something I had an interest in but didn't really see too much of. I always liked the national team but didn't really get to grips with the league until 2014 when I got to spend the spring in Madrid as part of my study leave from work. How long have you been a fan of Rayo and what made you support them in the first place? One distinction has to be made first: I don't think I can really call myself a "fan". I see the Bukaneros, and all the others, supporting Rayo, follow...

I spent hours coming up with a name. I didn't want it to be the same. I wanted something that rhymes with Rayo. So welcome to my new project, the Rayo aficionado . Obviously, this project is about interviewing Rayo fans. And obviously, this project is about bringing Rayo fans from around the world together. But there is much more. Much, much more. This project is about building this profile of the Rayo fan, capturing local and international similarities and differences in thought. Not every Rayo fan is the same. Sure, most have something similar to say about Presa. Most love la vida pirata - to be fair, it's a spectacular display of passion. Most have only good things to say about Juande Ramos and Trashorras. And most consume Rayo news from similar sources. But many topics divide opinion. Paco Jémez, for instance. Or Léo Baptistão. Or the way Rayo uses its youth teams. Or...you get the idea. So welcome to the Rayo aficionado . I invite you to join me as I ask these...

Given that now Baena has also signed for Granada - that's three Rayo players to the club in two years - you can excuse the frustration that I feel. And it may not even be the end - Manucho, Ebert, Nacho, Dorado, Dovale and Miku, among others I'm surely forgetting, are all free to sign for other clubs.  Granada have taken legends from Rayo - Juan José Collantes, Piti, Tito, and now Baena too. And what makes it even more painful is that it's so simple. Money talks. TL;DR: I hate Granada. He was just one of three players to stay with the club from 2004 all the way till 2008, when Rayo jumped out of the well and into the Segunda. The name? Juan José Collantes, who joined Rayo midway through the 2004-05 season also at the age of 21 after roaming around in Villareal (Juvenil), CD Onda, Palamos CF, and Racing de Santander B. A right winger, he would score 12 goals in the 2007-08 Segunda B, and along with Sergio Pachón (16 goals), Míchel (10 goals) and Piti (7 goals) g...

They called him el ultrahéroe de Vallecas at Rayo. In hell, he was their ray of hope. Born in Madrid, Pachón started his career in the fifth division of Spanish football, playing for Rayo Alúa in the 1995-96 season. He went on to play for Parla in the Tercera for the following two season, and was signed by Segunda club Leganés. After helping the club retain their division two status, in 2000 he moved to La Liga outfit Real Valladolid. He would go on to play 31 games in his first year and 24 in the 2002–03 campaign, but only seven in the other two seasons combined. Failing to make an impact, he was released in January 2004 and moved to Segunda outfit Getafe, proving an essential offensive unit in the club's first ever promotion to the top division - on 19 June, he scored all five goals in the decisive 5–3 away win against Tenerife. He was mainly used as a substitute in the following three seasons and also helping the side to the 2007 final of the Copa del Rey. Immed...

Yesterday was part 1 of the Pride of Vallekas End of Season Awards! This is part 2... Best goal So many contenders - Fran Beltrán goal against Tenerife was shocking. If you hear closely, you can hear the Tenerife stadium go "woah!". It was his only goal of the season. Embarba's goal against Gimnàstic was perfectly threaded - it went through four players and somehow hit none of them. This one by Javi Guerra at UCAM Murcia was vital - Rayo didn't deserve the three points - and harder than it looks - Patrick Ebert's cross was amazingly precise. But this pass by Pablo Íñiguez, along with Embarba's run, makes it the winner . No contest. Best player Any one of Patrick Ebert, Embarba and Javi Guerra could take the plaudits here. I'm going to give it to Ebert though - in many games, everything went through him. Which leads me to award... Best performance Patrick Ebert. Against Oviedo no less . Best save by a goalkeeper Gazzaniga's save...

Rumors here, rumors there, rumors everyw...CAN WE PLEASE HAVE LESS RUMORS! As you can guess,  I hate silly season. It's just rumors and rumors - all talk and no action. So welcome to my new series, called the Silly Season Accumulator. Where I list all the rumors that have ever been mentioned on the internet about Rayo.  Yes - all of them. Just to show you how ridiculous this machine is - a machine that creates meaningless content masquerading as journalism. If that's harsh, that's because the irony is that more rumors gives me more material. And that material gets in the way of the stories that matter. Here's all the rumors so far: Marco Sangalli from Mirandés is interested in joining Rayo, who is also linked to Valladolid, Numancia and Reus.  Embarba is being courted by Granada, Sporting and Pumas in Mexico.  Alberto Martín from Leganés has his contract expiring this summer, and has been linked too. Córdoba are also interested. Rayo...

In February 2009, de la Vega was arrested in connection with an anti-drug operation in the Spanish capital. After eight days, he paid €30.000 in order to be released from custody. Former footballers Predrag Stanković and Txutxi were also involved in the plot, among others. In 2014 (confirmation in 2015) de la Vega was one of two persons acquitted, as five other people received sentences that ranged from four to 12 years. Predrag and Txutxi were condemned to nine years in 2014 (confirmation in 2015) for smuggling 950 kg of cocaine into the country. After emerging through Rayo Vallecano's youth system, right-back Carlos de la Vega went on to play with amateur sides Alcalá and Alcorcón, also from his hometown of Madrid, until well into his 20's. He did not have his first taste of full professional football until the 2008–09 season (he had only played one match with Rayo's first team in 2002–03's La Liga, two minutes) when, after returning to Rayo in the previous ye...

After writing about  Diego Cascón  and his crazy story ( here ), I thought it might be worth a look at the other ten players who started in the Alcorcónazo. It’s a great quiz question: which lawyer has scored against Real Madrid, twice in the same match, whilst playing for a third tier team on a wage of less than 40,000 euros a year? Hint: this player has scored six goals past Real Madrid, yet has never played a game in La Liga. Poetically enough, he is a Real Madrid youth graduate. Answer?  Borja Pérez . In the 2003-04 Copa del Rey, Segunda outfit Leganés were up against Real Madrid in the round of 32. At the Butarque, Real Madrid were cruising - 2-0 up thanks to goals from Beckham and Raúl. In ten minutes, they were 3-2 down from two Borja Pérez goals and a Pavón own goal. In the 88th minute, midfielder Solari scored to equalize, and Raúl scored a 110th minute extra time goal to send Madrid through. Four years later, Segunda B outfi...

One of my first ever posts was about Raúl Baena and his important to Rayo. (You can read it here ). This week, Baena, who is out of contract this summer, was linked to Alcorcón. The team is short of midfielders, since  Víctor Pérez and Bakic will be returning to Valladolid and Sporting Braga respectively. Pep Guardiola was revered by Barcelona fans because he achieved something believed to be impossible - winning trophies consistently whilst playing beautiful, attacking football. But beauty is subjective - and it isn't just of one type. It's hard to justify how a tough-tackling, yellow-card accumulating player who barely ever scores or assists goals can be described as beautiful. It's hard to see the importance of a player like that in a system that rewards passing and movement. But there is something beautiful, something heroic, something almost poetic, about a La Masia youth graduate, his hair flying in the air, his eyes determined, his brow tensed, his speed, ...

One of those days. And yes - that title is not clickbait. I wrote about the story of van Gaal reject Diego Cascón - a story that involves warding off the evil eye and slaying Real Madrid and Villarreal. It was published on 19Spains.com ( here ) and on BarcaBlaugranes.com ( here ).

A player who we all love at the club. Fran has more maturity than his age says -Paco Jémez, in 2015 I was wrong. Fran Beltrán has been linked with Barcelona many times. His talent is unquestionable and his desire to make it at Rayo undeniable. But his desire to stay at Rayo was always in doubt. Despite signing a new contract that kept him at the club till 2020, a eight million euro release clause seemed like the board were looking to make a quick buck. It's important to know his history - at the tender age of 16, Fran made his Rayo B debut against CD San Fernando in December 2015. A tireless midfielder with excellent technique and ball-winning capabilities, he has also been called up for the U-17 Spanish national football team, and regularly plays for the first team. But in an interview with Marca this week, Fran said this: "I  was clear that if another team came, Madrid or Barça, I wanted to stay here. I can not think of a better place than Rayo" Obvio...

You can read part 1 here  and part 2 here . Part 1 dealt with the players who stuck by the club through two consecutive relegations in 2003 and 2004. Part 2 dealt with the players who stayed with the club until they went up in 2008. Part 3 deals with players who took the club from the Segunda B to La Liga. These players realized a dream - a dream to take Rayo back to La Liga. The dream took eight years in total, but it happened. And these players made it happen. Let us first acknowledge that there is a player who makes more than one list - Javier Monsálvez Carazo , aka Yuma, whose praises have been sung in part 2. And he is literally a true Rayista - his cousins are Iván and Antonio Amaya and he even played for Rayo OKC. Speaking of the Amaya brothers, Antonio Amaya makes this list too. He should have made the previous list (a mistake which has now been corrected). But let's sing his praises here. Born in the capital of Madrid, Amaya began his career at local San...