The Pride of Vallekas

Oscar has been a lifelong Rayo fan, and is  @salto_acevedo on Twitter - give him a follow! A bit about yourself and your background My name is Oscar, I am 37 years old. I am married thanks to the promotion - of the last promotion - to La Liga and the celebration that we had. I am the father of two twin girls who do not know who Cristiano, Messi or Griezmann are. We carry rayismo in our DNA. How long have you been a fan of Rayo and what made you support them in the first place? I have been a fan of Rayo for more than 30 years, specifically since 1984, because of my grandfather's heritage. Describe your first visit ever to Vallecas and the stadium? How would you describe the fans in the stadium, and how intimidating is the stadium for opposition fans and players? My first time in the stadium was a long time ago - I think it was against Valencia C.F who at that time competed in the second division. The stadium was a "pass" mark, as the phrase says: this i...

My new series,  called the Silly Season Accumulator, lists 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 for this week. It's less this time, because the actual news took precedent: Baena has reportedly accepted a better offer from Osasuna over Rayo. Manucho has rejected the first offer on the table but the desire to renew is still there. Dorado's renewal is all but closed - an official announcement is imminent. Huesca striker Borja Lázaro is reportedly linked to a move to Rayo. He has a contract till 2019, but José Luis Ortas, Huesca's general director, has said there are no offers on the table. Paulo Gazzaniga has been ...

Miguel Bastón was a goalkeeper who played for Atlético - but only with its reserves - and spent most of his career with Real Burgos CF. His dream of playing for the first team of the club that he graduated from never materialized. Born in Madrid, Borja arrived in his hometown club Atlético Madrid's youth system at the age of four. He began as a goalkeeper, the position which his father played professionally, but he converted him to a forward so that he could enjoy the game more. He made his senior debuts in the 2009–10 season, scoring 12 goals for the reserve team in the third division. On 15 May 2010, in the campaign's last round, Borja made his first-team and La Liga debut, coming on as a substitute for Tiago in the 58th minute of the game against Getafe CF. He had fulfilled his father's dream. That dream, however, faded quickly. Twenty minutes later, he was stretchered off with a serious anterior cruciate ligament injury on his left knee, in an eventual...

Zero. Rayo had zero shots on goal. None. Zilch. Na-da. Meanwhile, Cádiz had a shot cleared off the line, a misplaced back-pass that should've gone in but was miraculously saved by Paulo Gazzaniga, and a deserved goal scored after a through ball that split the defense while at the same time nutmegging Antonio Amaya - and that was just the first 36 minutes. They then also hit the post and generally expose Rayo time and again, while Cádiz's goalkeeper made zero saves - 37-year-old Alberto Cifuentes barely moved the whole game. With this result, Rayo are now 21st out of 22 teams, joint-bottom, and just generally out of ideas. Creating chances isn't the problem - Rayo and Cádiz both had nine shots. The problem is when Patrick Ebert, the attacking midfielder, is shooting from 25+ yards while Manucho barely even tries to make a run. In a 2 vs 3 situation.  Pablo Clavería came on for Trashorras at half-time, with Jordi Gómez being replaced by M...

Spanish football is always criticized for being a two horse race. That is a blanket statement - it doesn't capture the competitiveness of the Segunda, the fiery relegation and European spot battles of La Liga, the shocking frequency at which clubs in the lower leagues disappear. But there is one, and only one, context in which I believe that statement - and it's not the one you expect. The 2007-08 season of women's football was dominated by two teams - Rayo Vallecano and Levante. Before then, Levante had always come in the top 3 since 2000; they had won four league titles and six Copa de la Reina's. In contrast, Rayo Vallecano had only started existing since 2000 and had never been in the top 3, and had reached the semifinal stage in each of the previous three Copa de la Reina's. It wasn't even close - Levante were flying in the league table, and Rayo were not far behind. But it wasn't just the fact that Rayo were posing a serious challege and running...