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 the 2006-07 Segunda B season, Real Oviedo were relegated to the Tercera - the fourth tier of Spanish football. Predictably so - three different managers (José Antonio Velázquez, Ramiro Solís, Ismael Díaz) took over that season, the squad's top goalscorer, Jon Carrera, had a tally of four goals, and the team didn't win a single game away from home. As it turns out, the turmoil wasn't contained on the pitch - in 2006 Alberto González took a controlling share in the club. He did not pay social security or tax to the inland revenue and then disappeared - perhaps Cuba, possibly Panama - and is now wanted on two counts of fraud. But there was another Oviedo team that was relegated from the Segunda B that year too. CD Universidad de Oviedo, the team that represents the University of Oviedo, also went down in only their third year in the Segunda B. They have never come back up, and seven consecutive top 10 finishes were followed by a disastrous 2014-15 Tercera campaign, w...

Edit: in the pictures below I have mixed up former Llagostera player Tito with current Llagostera player Pitu.  Apologies for that. Mixing up two (admittedly very similar) players is a first for this blog. Hopefully it will be the last too. Reus Deportiu vs Rayo Vallecano. Starting lineups. Míchel and Aritz López Garai both made major changes to their squad from their previous games - a 1-0 win against Almería and a 1-1 draw at Huesca respectively. This was understandable, given that for Rayo and Reus this was their third game in eight and nine days respectively. Rayo's defense was completely reshuffled. Right to left, Baiano, Emiliano Velázquez, José Antonio Dorado and Sergio Akieme became Baiano, Antonio Amaya, Abdoulaye Ba and Álex Moreno - that's three changes. Moreover, in midfield, Francisco Cerro replaced Unai López for his first start in a Rayo shirt, or indeed in Spanish football. There was also a fifth change that Míchel was forced to make after the starti...

The ball arrives at his feet. For a split second - a second that is easily missed to the naked eye, every single player slows down. Time slows down. His eyes don't need to look around - the snapshots are firmly ingrained in his mind. He knows what to do. And once he does, the play keeps ticking. He dribbles, or passes, or holds on to the ball.  But whatever he does, whatever decision he makes, that split second changes everything. Strikers start make runs. Teammates start create passing lanes. Wingers run into space. If the opponent is not careful, that single split moment can destroy them.  Folch made his senior debut with local CA Roda de Barà in the Primera Catalana in 2007. In 2008 he signed for fellow league team FC Vilafranca, and represented Cambrils UCF the following campaign. In July 2010, he signed for Tercera División side CF Amposta - however, his signing (and that of Marc Vernet from Tortosa) were overshadowed by the acquisition of Antonio Domíng...

Yes, Reus Deportiu.  You can follow Andrew on Twitter here , on Instagram here and on YouTube here . A bit about yourself and your background My name is Andreu, I'm 17 years old and I live in a village near Reus. All of my family lives in Reus. I love practicing sports, especially football, and I also like literature and music. I've actually played the piano since I was 8 years old. When I was 7 years old I started playing football at the local team, one year later I discovered a football team called F.C. Barcelona. I started following them, basically because all my family were Barcelona supporters. But also because I realized being a Barça fan was something special... How long have you been a fan of Reus and what made you support them in the first place? ....However, when I was 10, my grandmother and her sister showed me a football team called C.F. Reus Deportiu. They brought me to the pitch a couple of times, so I realized that C.F. Reus Deportiu was a very special...

Travel blogs have always fascinated me. These are people who take time out of their lives to travel, explore, and then document the various corners of the world that many will never see. Being a travel blogger, therefore, is even more important in a world where information is accessible but experiences are not. This is an interview with football travel blogger Roddy Cons, founder of the travel blog The Team on Tour, or TTOT. You can follow this amazing blog on YouTube here , Facebook here , Twitter here and Instagram here . A little bit about yourself and your background I'm a Scot who has been living in Madrid for the best part of eight years now. Since finishing uni, I've done some English teaching and also worked as a freelance football writer, writing previews and match reports for a host of leagues across the world, including the Spanish Second Division. What made you become interested in visiting football stadiums around Spain and Europe in general? My writin...