The Pride of Vallekas

Exactly a week ago, the post for the day was " From Rayo to Rayo - the story of Alberto García ". It was the story of a goalkeeper who started at Rayo (Rayo Majadahonda) and is now at Rayo (Rayo Vallecano). It was the story of two Madrid-based clubs named Rayo, who gave him a clear shot and helped him advance his career. But this is a story of someone literally going from Rayo to Rayo. And, at the age of just 28, his story is only just being written. Arribas' story is a mixture of opportunity and luck, achievement at an early age partly due to hard work and partly due to circumstance. It started in his hometown of Madrid, where he rose the ranks of Rayo Majadahonda, and where he made his Tercera debut during the 2007-08 campaign. What followed was a rapid rise into professional football. In 2008, he was signed by Rayo's reserves, also in the Tercera. However, his talent earned him a loan move to Segunda B side Navalcarnero in the second half of the 2008-09 seaso...

Chris Ramos, a young striker from San Fernando, was linked with Rayo but has signed for Valladolid. Today's article is about the exact opposite - an old goalkeeper from San Fernando moving to distant shores... This winter, Toni Doblas, a 37-year-old goalkeeper has moved from Spain to the Philippines, playing for Ceres–Negros. It is not the first time that he has moved abroad - but it might be the last time, in a career that has seen luck very rarely on his side. Born in Seville, Doblas graduated from local Real Betis, and was part of the famous 1999 team that won the juvenil Copa del Rey - a team that also contained future Betis legends like Joaquín, Arzu and Dani. He would spend four seasons with local Real Betis's B-team, where he was the undisputed starter, before moving on loan to Andalusian neighbors Xerez for the 2003-04 season. He made only four appearances in the second division and returned to Betis' first side the year after, being called into immediate main-...

Five years apart, two defenders made the journey from Mérida to Madrid, from the capital of Extremadura to the capital of España. Here are their stories. It's a national record - a record of how unlucky a player can be. Ramón de Quintana , a center-back, holds the record for the most number of relegations as a player. Eight, to be exact - and one of them wasn't even a sporting relegation. It's a painful reminder of the player and his legacy - a calm, composed, tall, strong center-back who stood calm, composed, tall and strong through numerous team disappointments. The Girona native graduated from Damm and made his first team debut with Figueres in the Segunda in 1991. In 1992, the team came 3rd - a record high for the club, qualifying for the promotion playoffs but losing to Cádiz. But it is there where the heroics end. In 1993, Figueres went down on goal difference, tied with Eibar on head-to-head. Subsequently, Quintana went to La Liga club Osasuna, but was re...

"It was an agreement between clubs. What happened was that I did not want to leave, I was very comfortable at Rayo; we were going to play in Europe and I wanted to stay in Vallecas. I identified with the club and I felt important inside. But they had already reached an agreement and I had to leave; The truth is that it was the saddest moment I had while at Rayo. " -Carlos Llorens It was a painful year for Atlético Madrid. The second top goalscorer in the league, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, belonged to the team second from bottom. Ranieri was dismissed after matchday 26 with the club in administration due to accumulated debts, Radomir Antić took over a squad that was already in a tailspin, sitting in 17th league spot and barely hovering above relegation zone. The team fell into the relegation zone and never came back, they were eliminated from the UEFA Cup in the quarterfinals by Lens, and Antić was fired after matchday 37 after Atlético was already mathematically relegat...

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...

What is it about Spaniards plying their trade abroad that excites me? Is it the sense of adventure? Is it the story of a risk taken? Or is it that, on players who venture outside Spain, there is simply more material available to write about? Whatever it is, one thing is clear - Barcelona have way too much talent. And most of it ends up on the sidelines... Ilie Sánchez He played for Martinenc FC between 1996-98, for Barcelona between 1998-00, C.E. APA Poble Sec between 2000-01, UB Catalónia between 2001-03, Collblanc between 2003-05 (the last three clubs being part of the Agrupació de Penyas del Barça), Cornellà between 2005-07 and Barcelona again between 2007-09 - and that's just his youth career! Ilie Sánchez was born in Barcelona, and represented several Catalan clubs as a youth, including FC Barcelona from ages 7-9. He would return to La Masia in 2007, and make his Barcelona B debut with in the 2009-10 season in the Segunda B. He played 22 times that season, scoring...

Barcelona may have had a transfer ban in 2015, but that didn't stop them from making new signings. But it wasn't just the first team, it was every youth team too - and Barcelona B was no exception. Barcelona B’s new recruits included attacking midfielder Xemi, who had stepped onto the pitch of his club’s stadium, the Camp Nou, and has defeated Barcelona and Valencia. They also brought in Dani Romera, a striker who has played Córdoba in the league twice in the space of five weeks and won 2-1 both times. Finally, they have signed Jokin Ezkieta, a goalkeeper who has played for the Spain U-19 team but hadn't played a single professional match in Spanish football. Ever. Xemi was currently playing for UE Cornellà, a team that plays in the 1,500-seater Nou Camp Municipal. Their first game of the 2015-16 season was at home against Barcelona B, which they won 2-1. And nearly a month later, again at home, Cornellà defeated Valencia Mestalla 3-2. 20-year-old Xemi is highly energ...

Following his retirement as a player in 1989, which included 15 first-team seasons at Real Madrid, Camacho began coaching in Real Madrid's coaching staff. His first professional experiences were spent at Rayo Vallecano (1992-93) and Espanyol (1994-96), both of which he helped promote to the top division. After a spell at Sevilla (1996-97), and another spell at Espanyol (1997-98) where he led Espanyol to a Europa League spot, in the summer of 1998, Camacho took over Real Madrid's first team, but left after only 22 days over disagreements with the club's management. Camacho succeeded Javier Clemente as national team manager in September 1998, after a shock 2-3 loss in Cyprus in a Euro 2000 qualifier. The tide quickly turned under the new boss, who led the side to the final stages, where it bowed out to eventual champions France in the quarter-finals. Two years later, Camacho's team lost in the same stages to South Korea, now in the 2002 World Cup; following the contro...

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. ...

Rayo Vallecano vs Osasuna. Starting lineups. Rayo and Osasuna were both coming off midweek Copa del Rey games - Osasuna went on to need extra-time to defeat Albacete. Míchel made just one change from the previous league game - a goalless draw at Lorca - with Unai López coming off for Fran Beltrán. Diego Martínez is still figuring out his Osasuna side. He has made changes from game to game, fine-tuning his preferred eleven - and he seems to have struck gold this week! Compared to the 1-1 draw against Huesca, Fran Mérida was replaced by Lucas Torró, Oier came into central defense for Unai García, and Coris was replaced by Mateu. Rayo started this game brightly in the first five minutes, but were quickly undone by themselves - their poor passing and defensive play came back to hurt them. The Diego Martínez 4-4-2 It was fascinating once again to see a Diego Martínez side in action - predictably hardworking, positionally excellent and incredibly dangerous on the counter. Few e...

13th May, 2012. 7:00pm. The league table reads 15th Granada (42 points), 16th Villarreal (41), 17th Rayo Vallecano (40), 18th Zaragoza (40). As Villarreal entertain Atlético Madrid at El Madrigal and Zaragoza visit Getafe, Rayo Vallecano play Granada at the Vallekas, arguably the crunch game; both know that most probably, the loser will go down to play in La Segunda. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. Rayo Vallecano were in eighth place after match day 27, and were two points off a Europa League place. Four points off a Champions League place. But a poor record of three points - a solitary, albeit impressive, 6-0 win over Osasuna - from nine games, left them relegation candidates and needing a win. Only a win could save them. On the polar opposite side were Zaragoza, who had given up mid-season, but an impressive run of six wins and a draw in nine had helped them remain in 18th, needing a win. Granada had been in poor form all along - five points in their last six games hadn’...

That's right! Give the Facebook page a like here for updates on blog posts and sneak peaks on future posts! A while back  I spoke to NUFCBlog.co.uk about Mohamed Diamé and how at Rayo he developed into the most sought-after prospect in world football: "They had Danny Drinkwater – we had 33-year-old club legend and pass master Míchel. They had Christian Fuchs and we had 39-year-old left-back Carles Llorens. They had Kasper Schmeichel and we had David Cobeño. They had Mark Albrighton and we had Jofre. They had Riyad Mahrez and we had Miguel Albiol. They had N’Golo Kanté, and we had Mohamed Diamé. And while each of those players have stories that are worth sharing, the last one sticks out the most." Now that I've spoken about Mo Diamé, it's time. Here are the other stories. "It was an agreement between clubs. What happened was that I did not want to leave, I was very comfortable at Rayo; we were going to play in Europe and I wanted ...

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 ...

Estadio El Collao. A stadium that has been in operation since 1929, and has hosted matches for Alcoyano in La Liga, Segunda, Segunda B, Tercera and even the Regional Preferente. It has seen Alcoyano thrash Sporting Gijon 6-1 in the first division and beaten 9-1 in the third (then the Tercera). And it has seen it’s pitch being initially made by soldiers from Alcoy, covered by snow every winter and became the symbol of socialism and anarcho-syndicalism during the Spanish Civil War. But through all those times - the sporting success and failure, the destruction of Alcoy during the war and it’s rebuilding, the balance between industrial success in textiles, paper and metal and the immediate threat of desertification - one thing has remained intact. Untouched. Non-negotiable. CD Alcoyano’s philosophy. They are a team that will never lose their attacking mentality. A team that will never stop fighting. A team that, almost senselessly, will throw men forward from the first minute to th...

Yesterday, I wrote an article about Carlos Aranda, who holds the record for playing in La Liga for the most number of clubs - eight. If you consider just playing for a La Liga club, not actually playing in La Liga with them, that figure becomes nine. But I dug deeper, and found out that if you look at professional clubs (La Liga and Segunda), Carlos Aranda holds that record jointly with Moisés García - an astonishing 12 clubs.  Obviously, only if you use the second metric - by the first metric  Moisés García is top with 12 and Aranda comes joint second with 11 with a couple of other players. That record will be broken soon though - there are quite a few players who are at 11, and they still have a couple of seasons in the tank. So today, I look at a player whose records are unlikely to be broken anytime soon - Elche's Nino.  Even his name has the word modest in it. Juan Francisco Martínez Modesto, aka Nino, was born in Vera, Almería, and first appeared p...

I would like to start with an apology. On two different occasions on this blog ( here and here ), I mentioned something to this effect: "Jordi Gómez, Cristaldo, Gazzaniga, Tomás Mejías and Pablo Iñiguez will return to their parent clubs, and Miku, Baena, Ebert, Embarba, Lass Bangoura, Quini, Nacho, Raț, Manucho, Amaya, Aguirre, Dorado, Dovale and Toño are all out of contract. Basically, unless there are any contract extensions, we have no goalkeepers, a center-back (Zé Castro), a left-back (Johan Mojica), a right-back (Ernesto Galán), two central midfielders (Fran Beltrán and Roberto Trashorras), an attacking midfielder (Santi Comesaña), a left winger (Álex Moreno) and a striker (Javi Guerra)." I naively used transfermarkt.com in writing that - never doing that again. Marca recently came up with a list of contracts expiring at the end of the season, and it reads more like this: " Cristaldo, Gazzaniga, Tomás Mejías and Pablo Iñiguez will return to...

You see that logo above this blog post? The one that looks amazing? It was designed by this guy, Ignasi Torné.  Aka Naxto, he is a blogger, writer, traveler...you name it. Check out his blog here , and follow him on Twitter here and on Instagram here . A bit about yourself and your background As I use to say, born and bred in Barcelona. I studied Marketing, Advertisement and Tourism Management. What I do? Travel, loving art in its several expressions, read fast literature and link my life with football. This is how I discovered my vision of life, travel for football. As easy as that. How long have you been a fan of Osasuna and what made you support them in the first place? It is not the first team I supported. Since 4 years ago, I can say that it currently is the team that I follow in Spain, because it’s interesting how passionate every game is for an Osasuna fan. Besides, I am very linked with Navarra, its traditions and people. I really love Iruña (Pamplona in Ba...

When did you make the decision to pursue football and what motivated you to do so? I never thought I would have been good enough to become a professional player. In fact, from 19 to 20 years old, I played for a team called “Caprabo” (neigbourhood supermarket) 7 divisons below La Liga. Two years later, when I was 22 I played for Barça, I played two "El Clasico” games against Real Madrid in front of 100.000 people in the stadium and 400.000.000 live in TV. We also won La Liga,…. as much as I remember it I still feel it wasn’t real. I mean, I was focused on my Physical trainer Degree, when some Tercera teams (similar to League two) paid attention on me. From there everything went so fast, intense and quite crazy. How did it feel like making your debut with Figueres? That was so nice. I’m from Figueres, I always lived there and it's where I live now. That was a kind of little dream made true, In addition I had a very good season which allowed me to sign for FC Barcelona...