The Pride of Vallekas

Years have passed but his record remains. And it will remain for many more years. Santi Castillejo took his first steps in senior football in the ranks of Tudelano, but would be soon recruited by Osasuna to play for the Promesas for the 1991-92 season. In his first year in Segunda B and only 20 years old, the Valtierra native would score ten goals. He would double that tally the following season, scoring 20 goals with Osasuna's B team, and earned himself a debut with the first team in La Liga. It was to be his only appearance for the first team that season - 17 minutes against Real Zaragoza in a 1-0 victory. In the 1993-94 season Santi would alternate between the first and second teams, but - uncertain of the relevance of the role he had carved for himself at the club, he would go our on loan to Segunda B side Deportivo Alavés. He would, once again, show that he may be playing in the Segunda B but he was in a league of his own, scoring 21 goals and helping the Basque side earn...

In 2012, a defender, a midfielder and a striker, all playing for Levante, made the bold leap to a country no Spaniard had ever been before. In late January, 2012, center-back Nano Rivas was sold to Guizhou Renhe. Two months later, in March, striker Rafael Jordà was on his way. And three months later still, in June, diminutive midfielder Rubén Suárez was on his way.... You can read part 1, featuring Nano Rivas, here. Rafael Jordà was born in Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, Catalonia, and started his youth career at Damm. In 2001, at the age of 17, he moved to Valencia, and a year later to Numancia, where he graduated and made his senior debut with the B team. He was loaned to Segunda B side CM Peralta in the first half of the 2004-05 season, and to Benidorm, also in the Segunda B, in the second half of the 2005-06 season. Jordà would stay with Numancia until 2008 - in his last season, he contributed with six goals in 27 matches as the club returned to the top flight as champions. In...

On the second match-day of the 2009-10 season, an 18-year-old warmed up to step onto the pitch of the Estadio Vicente Calderón for the last 27 minutes of the match. Racing Santander were playing for the win, despite a 1-1 scoreline being historic enough. The most exciting canterano from the Atléti youth system, the hard-working right midfielder, was on. He was calm. And he did wait for what the coach would decide. Unfortunately, he would never played for the first team again. He was farmed out - six-months to each of Valladolid, Cartagena and Girona - until in the summer of 2011 when his contract was up. He was never valued for his defensive industry - teams wanted him to create, to score. To lead. He decided to try the shores of Italy, signing for Catania. But the scenario was no different - in three seasons he played just 26 times and even a loan move to second division side Grosseto didn’t help. Yet again, his hard work was never fully appreciated. Last summer, Albacete sign...

Donning the number 9 shirt, José Carlos had the ball at his feet on the right wing. He dribbled the ball infield towards the edge of the box, faked a shot and fooled the entire defense - all with his left foot. He then shifted the ball to his right and took a shot from outside the box that goalkeeper Manu Herrera saved at the near post. His left foot was deadly. A Recreativo academy player and Sevilla graduate, he was ousted - despite his value to the Sevilla team, and despite his speed and trickery making him the perfect impact sub - by new coach Gregorio Manzano. Cartagena in the second division took him for six months, before AEK Athens signed him permanently - along with Juan Cala - in the summer of 2011; another new coach, Marcelino, refused to put his faith in him. Reuniting with Sevilla coach Manuel Jiménez, José Carlos gained his form, and some versatility too - whether in central midfield, the wings or just behind the striker, José Carlos was playing with a renewed vigor. ...

Follow Druso on Twitter here . A bit about yourself and your background My name is Druso Lopez, I am a 20 year old International Football Business at UCFB in Wembley, so is not hard to guess that I am a huge football fan and I would like to develop a career within the sport industry. I know live in London but I moved to the UK when I was 15, to a small town in Lancashire called Fleetwood and that's how I become a Fleetwood town fan. Also I like Manchester City, I am a huge football fan and watch a lot of football every week; English, Spain, Italy... I don't mind as long as the game is good, but I've to admit I'm a Premier League fan, I'm aiming to visit every football ground in London before 2018! How long have you been a fan of Tenerife and what made you support them in the first place? I was born and raised in Tenerife capital Santa Cruz and my house was just a 10 minutes walk from the Stadium; my dad and my grandad as most of my families were huge Teneri...

Some statistics after the 3-1 win at Girona: Míchel's Rayo have now only conceded three goals (one of them, against Getafe, was an own goal by Dorado) and has kept a clean sheet in its last three games.  Moreover, the franjirrojos have scored five goals in the last three games, two of them from Guerra. The last times Rayo scored three goals this season were the 3-0 win against Cádiz and the 3-3 draw with Numancia). The last time Rayo scored three away from home and won was on April 26, 2014, when Saúl, Larrivey and Seba Fernández gave Rayo a 3-0 win at Granada. There was some good news in Girona - UE Llagostera, the team that underwent six promotions in 10 years but was relegated last season to the Segunda B, earned a 2-0 win at home against Levante B, which seems them move five points clear of the relegation playoff spot in the Segunda B Group 3, easing relegation fears just a little. This win reminded me of the 3-1 win against Almería. In the 2013-14 season Rayo had...

I've been compiling some stats for a long time - so watch out in the coming days for them This season, every team in the Segunda has won at least one game away from home. In light of that, I compiled of teams that never won away in the top three divisions since 1990. There's the team that survived on goals scored, after head-to-head and goal difference were futile (Marino de Luanco). There's the team that is called Andorra, and won no away games in the 1997-98 Segunda B in Group 3, and plays in Andorra la Vella, Andorra, which is different from the team called Andorra, which won no away games two years earlier in the same group, which plays in Andorra, Teruel, Aragon. There's the team that didn't even pick up a single point away from home (Cieza). There's the team that survived relegation by one point and then survived the two-legged relegation playoff by penalties (Cádiz). And then there's Sevilla, who, inexplicably, defied all the odds and won the E...