The Pride of Vallekas

You can read part 1, about Sergio Matabuena, here . And part 2, about Javi Fuego, here . 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, stamina and strength all summoned, into a ridiculous tackle that looks impossible yet he emerges with the ball cleanly. And he does it again. And again. And again. If Espanyol fans came up a with a list of player...

Juan Sánchez is a lifelong Rayo fan...and is @MitaADRV24 on Twitter, give him a follow! A bit about yourself and your background I am a rayista through and through, I have tattooed the shield of Rayo on my skin, am very eager to see Rayo at all times...if you ever have the chance to travel to Spain and Madrid, I invite you to go and see a match in Vallecas. It is incredible, you will really like it! I am a subscriber of the club and I love it. How long have you been a fan of Rayo and what made you support them in the first place? I supported the club since I was 5, since Rayo was in the Segunda B (similar to the English 3rd division), my father took me from a very young age, and I loved to go and enjoy the team play. 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? It was great! As I said, it was when I was very small and I saw so much madness for...

I love plotting a player's career on Google Maps and seeing how many years it took them to travel the distance it did. Obviously, for players who travel internationally, the fun quickly goes away. For example, Joan Verdú, the ex-Real Betis playmaker left for Baniyas (in the UAE) in 2014 - only to go all the way back to Fiorentina in the summer on 2015. Or Ricardo Quaresma, who in two-and-a-half years went from Besiktas to Al-Ahli (Dubai) to Porto, and back to Besiktas again. But sometimes, a player can impact just small communities with small clubs with even smaller ambitions. And their entire career, from when they were a little boy to when they're playing now at 41, can look like this. The stadiums of UDA Gramenet - CF Damm - UDA Gramenet - Torre Baró - FC Santboià - CE Mataró - Terrassa FC - UE Sant Andreu - CF Badalona That, right there, is a 182 kilometer journey, that would take 3 hours 17 minutes on road. It is also the journey of a man who loved Catalunya so mu...

Yesterday, I talked about Granada taking Rayo players away, but I actually didn't mention one of Granada's biggest signings from the club - Paco Jémez. So here it is. Paco refused to hear the scores when Rayo were 1-0 down. Nor when Rayo were 2-0 down. Nor when Rayo were 2-1 down. He turned to his bench, to the coaches who had supported him all season when criticism was at its zenith, to the coaches who had seen their players pull out for the season one by one, to the coaches who couldn’t hide their emotions as they responded. Granada? Safe. Getafe-Sporting? Draw. His head hung low, his eyes lost - searching for reason in a season that has been unreasonable to Rayo - his mind made up: "We are dead". We were dead. There was no hope - Sporting were playing Villarreal, who were coached by a Sporting fan, and Getafe were playing Betis, a team whose fan base has been friendly to Sporting for years. Out of Getafe, Rayo and Sporting, only Sporting were goi...

During the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Ramón Calderé suffered from a case of traveler's diarrhea, and was prescribed antibiotics by the national team physician. After the win against Northern Ireland he was summoned for a doping test, which came out positive. Calderé, however, was not sanctioned, as the medical staff argued successfully the medication was administered to fight the condition, lest a severe risk of dehydration. He scored twice against Algeria in the following match. After anti-doping control was implemented in football in 1990, well... The first ever player to give a positive test in Spanish football was Dragan Panusic, from Castellón, gave the first positive in Spanish football, on January 26, 1992, for taking Bisolvon. In February 1992, Albacete's Soler tested positive for testosterone. However, there was only one urine sample taken and so the tests were defective - he was sanctioned anyways. Shortly after, in March, a player from Racing Santan...

I see what he was doing. Pep Guardiola used to bring on Keita, a defensive midfielder, for David Villa to defend the left flank. In the 2009-10 seasons, Mourinho played Chivu, a midfielder, on the left wing for a suspended Pandev to - successfully - block Dani Alves' runs in the second leg of the Champions League. So when Míchel put Fran Beltrán on the left-wing, it wasn't totally without reason. Suso Santana had to be stopped. It was the only major surprise of the evening - Jordi Gómez and Zé Castro replaced suspended Ebert and Amaya. But despite the creativity of Jordi and the talent of Trashorras, they were defensively weak and on the left wing Aarón Ñíguez wrecked havoc - it was his pass that set up Amath Ndiaye for the first goal. And that was just three minutes in. Slowly, but surely, Rayo grew into the game and the players grew into their roles, but it was a first half to forget - even if Embarba equalized after a Santi diagonal pass to Ernesto was blocked. ...

Yes, Getafe just won 1-0 against Rayo, but because Raúl Baena was injured (soleus rupture in the right leg, 4-6 weeks out), I thought it was worth talking about a player who is unsung but hugely important nevertheless. If Espanyol fans came up a with a list of players who have one-uped Barcelona, Raúl Baena would be high on that list. Born in Málaga and raised at the club with the same name, he was signed by Barcelona at the age of 14, and went on to progress through the youth ranks. However, at the age of 18, he was picked up by Espanyol, which led to a legal battle as Barcelona sued Baena for 3.5 million euros. And yes, that meant it was Laporta vs Baena, which meant Felipe Izquierdo, Baena's lawyer, could accuse Laporta of "knowing nothing of the matter" and that his presence in Barcelona was only "to make protocolic travels". And Laporta could look at Baena and sarcastically say, "good luck, lad". Also, its interesting to point out that this w...