The Pride of Vallekas

On a small football field in Madrid, Alfredo Di Stefano stepped on for a veterans match. He was retiring, and this was his sendoff. Used to large crowds and noisy football stadiums, he probably was thinking - where am I? Spain's districts are divided into neighborhoods, or barrios . South west to Puente de Vallecas is the working class district of Villaverde, where a small barrio of about 18,000 inhabitants resides. It has historically been isolated, from the north and east by the railroad, to the south by the old Army Car Park and to the west by the old highway to Andalusia (A-4). 40% of the population is made up of immigrants - in the 1960s, immigrants from Extremadura, Andalucía, Murcia and Castilla La Mancha came in hoards, looking for a way to escape the poverty of their towns. On Rocafort street, a small football field is home to CD San Cristóbal de los Angeles - one of the most prestigious youth academies in Madrid. The academy that produced Raúl of Real Madrid, and ...

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...