The Pride of Vallekas

This blog is called the Pride of Vallekas. Well, I'm not proud. I've always been excited about writing, but never before have I had to delay a piece just so I could rewrite it after cooling down. If you read yesterday's piece about the Chinese take-over of Spanish football , you'll be happy to know that this is a more recent phenomenon. But given the tentacles of Chinese influence, I would not be surprised if more is announced in the pipeline. On the 21st of January, 2018, Saudi Arabia's federation and La Liga - yes, the league - agreed an operation that simply defies all bounds of thinking. Nine players were transferred from Saudi Arabian clubs to first and second division clubs and their B teams. If you're stuggling with the scale of this, here are the players: In the first tier, Yahia Al-Shehri signed for Leganés and Marwan Othmnan for the B team, Fahad Al-Muwallad signed for Levante, Salem Al Dawsari for Villarreal and Jaber Issa signed for the B team....

I always look to write about the players we have now - and yet I find it interesting that I've never dedicated a piece to our number one goalkeeper this season. Here it is... He's our goalkeeper. He looks stocky but possess great reflexes, and is quick across the ground. He looks short but is able to dominate in aerial battles. But he hasn't always got the opportunities to shine. Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, he bounced around in Catalonia during his youth, appearing for Barcelona, Europa and Cornellà. He would then move to Madrid in 2004, making his senior debut with Rayo Majadahonda in the Tercera. However, in early 2005, he moved back to Catalonia, playing for Sant Andreu in the same division. His shot in the Segunda B came exactly a year later - he would sign for Villarreal's B team in the Tercera in the summer of 2005, but was loaned out to Águilas for the latter half of the 2005-06 season. In the Segunda B, he played nine league games, as well as both legs...

In another episode of "Statistics", the third one since March 2017, here I rank every team based on their league position as well as the average property prices outside their stadiums. Note that high property prices don't indicate the prosperity of a club, just the location - even if the winner of the housing league was also the winner of La Liga. For example, Eibar is one of the poorest clubs in the division but house prices are not cheap. Rayo Vallecano was poor and housing prices were low and their sporting performance reflected that but that doesn't indicate any trend. If you're a modest club, financially sound, and not in the capital of your autonomous community (housing prices are low) then you might just punch above your weight - Málaga, Celta Vigo and Villarreal are examples, but counter examples include Granada - so even that trend is hard to justify. In other words, this is not scientific - just a bit of fun. *price in euros per square meter of...

Four signings in four seasons. Between 2000 and 2003, four players traveled from the capital of Asturias to the capital of Spain. They affected the club in many different ways - some stayed for just one season, others for more - but each became an integral part of the team. Here are those four signings. In part 1 and 2, we look at two Oviedo mainstays who left for Madrid in 2000 and 2002. In part 3, we will examine a double signing, which happened at the heart of Real Oviedo's economic crisis in 2003. He crossed the divide. The Gijón native who have risen through the ranks of Sporting, played for the club, been bought by Barcelona and returned to Sporting once again, took a step that very few have the courage to do. He crossed the divide. He signed for Real Oviedo, and endured the wrath of the Sporting fan-base. It wasn't that this was a signing. This was the signing. The signing that broke a non-aggression pact between both Asturian teams. Midfielder Iván I...

The ruthless marker, they called him. He was a central defender not of size but of stature. He was a central defender who never stood tall but always stood out. And it started at the age of 16, when Hernández began to stand out in football in the youth teams of Real Madrid. His time there coincided with Real Madrid legends such as Ramón Grosso and Manuel Velázquez, the latter of whom spent a year on loan at Rayo. Máximo Hernández would leave Real Madrid's youth team for Rayo Vallecano in 1995, making his senior debut at the newly promoted Segunda side. He would play there for three seasons, and formed a solid partnership with Gregorio Benito in the last two - who was, coincidentally, on loan from (you guessed right) Real Madrid. For the 1968-69 campaign, Celta Vigo were looking to strengthen their side, and wanted to achieve promotion to La Liga after 10 long years in the Segunda. Their first signing of the season was that of Máximo Hernández, from Rayo Vallecano....

From part 1: "Javi Fuego was the talk of the town. He was the Segunda star, and La Liga teams were knocking on the door... The Asturias native started playing professional football for Sporting Gijón, representing the local side during six second division seasons (2001-07) and being first-choice between 2004 to 2007. There was a line in the article above that summed up the whole thing - "Both operations were carried out simultaneously". As soon as Levante had agreed the 853,000 euro deal, Sporting had agreed on the Sergio Matabuena deal. Javi Fuego would later go on to leave the squad upon relegation and serious financial problems, and in August 2008, he signed a three-year deal worth €140,000 with Recreativo de Huelva, appearing regularly as a starter during two years but being relegated from the top flight in his first. During those 3 seasons, between 2008-11, something was happening at Rayo Vallecano." In a dizzying array of red and white, spurred b...

This blog is all about the stories that we ignore or pay lip service to, but don't genuinely appreciate. And, in that spirit, this post, and then some, are about the stereotypical tough-tackling, all-action defensive midfielder. The player who, despite not being blessed with notable technical skills, possesses pace, strength, and work-rate to complement and support other midfielders with a more composed, creative playing style. The player who stands out most for energy, aggression, and a hard-tackling style of play, but is often not talked about for the qualities that reside beneath those ball-winning abilities. A competitive nature. Leadership qualities. Endurance. And so these next posts are about that defensive midfielder. Oh wait, I should correct the record - not about a defensive midfielder. No, it's about three of them. Three defensive midfielders whose careers are, weirdly, connected to each other. Their names? Sergio Matabuena. Javi Fuego. And Raúl Baena. ...

In 2012, a defender, a midfielder and a striker, all playing for Levante, made the bold leap to a country no Spaniard had ever been before. In late January, 2012, center-back Nano Rivas was sold to Guizhou Renhe. Two months later, in March, striker Rafael Jordà was on his way. And three months later still, in June, diminutive midfielder Rubén Suárez was on his way.... You can read part 1, featuring Nano Rivas, here . And part 2, featuring Rafael Jordà, here . His father was a legend. Secundino Suárez, aka Cundi, was a Sporting Gijón legend and spent his professional career almost entirely with his local team, save for a one-year loan spell with Poblense (1976-77) due to compulsory military service. From the age of 20 onwards, he was an undisputed starter for the La Liga club, appearing in nearly 400 competitive games during his 15-year spell (1975-90). And yet, the left-back did not receive one single red card during his career. He too started out in Sporting Gijón's...

Rayo Vallecano vs Sporting Gijón. Starting lineups. Míchel made several changes to the rotated side that won 2-0 at Reus Deportiu, reverting to the lineup that won 1-0 against Almería the jornada before - the only change compared to that game was Sergio Akieme being replaced by regular left-back Álex Moreno. Paco Herrera made one change to the side that drew 1-1 against Huesca, with Michael Santos came on as the lone striker for Carlos Castro. This was a frantic, hectic, evenly matched game - a 1-1 draw was a fair result - but it was also characterized by another Míchel experiment. First half setups Míchel's tactic was clear here - overload the left wing. Unai López, Adrián Embarba, Óscar Trejo, and Raúl de Tomás all played on the left side of the pitch, with Santi Comesaña asked to cover the entire right side. This was puzzling for two reasons - firstly, because Sporting Gijón are an incredibly balanced side and putting out an imbalanced team was defensively comprom...

Sometimes, I have thoughts and snippets that don't always deserve a full article, but also don't deserve to go into the heap. In other words, welcome to my drafts folder. Watch out for this type of article occasionally - on Sundays (Sunday Snippets) and Thursdays (Thursday Thoughts). The secret to long throws, their power (up to 60 kilometers per hour), and the distance traveled (up to 38 meters), is the technique. The explosive force that makes the long throw successful comes from the the shoulders and lower back. The release angle never exceeds 20 degrees, so that the ball increases its velocity and does not dip quickly - otherwise it can be easily cleared. They called him the catapult. No, not Morten Gamst Pedersen of Blackburn, or Rory Delap of Stoke City - even if they had the same technique. No, they say that about Marius Stankevičius - a former Sevilla, Valencia and Córdoba defender, currently seeing out his career in amateur football in Italy with AC Crema 19...

Just how many players can you name who have the following descrption: He is a striker of great quality, and was a great promise of Spanish football, but his bad luck and some injuries denied him the opportunity to recover - he has never played more than one season in the same team. This is the story of a player - a technically and physically excellent striker - who made mistakes and suffered injuries very young and never really recovered. Born in Santa Eulàlia de Ronçana, Barcelona, Iván Peñaranda started his youth career at Granollers. His real formation, however, was in the lower categories of Barcelona, ​​in which he stayed for seven years (1991-98). Playing alongside Xavi Hernández, Gabri and Carles Puyol. He was considered as one of the young players with a huge future within the club. In the summer of 1998, he angered Barcelona by using "change of residence" as an excuse to sign for Mallorca B (he would move there along with his family), where he would play alongs...

Today's post is a short one. Apologies in advance... It's amazing to think that as of this moment, four of Eibar's starters - and almost half their defense, is made up of players who came to Rayo when their careers were in disarray. Rejuvenated, they are now going on to bigger and better things... On the left wing, you have Bebé . After a botched transfer to Manchester United, three loan spells with various degrees of success, a sale to Benfica, and a wretched six months and a relegation with Córdoba, Rayo took him in 2015 where he became a deadly left winger, with three goals and nine assists. After Rayo were relegated, he was sold to Eibar, where he has been a regular. Almost half the defense is comprised of players who fit this category. On the right side of defense there is Anaitz Arbilla . Paco took right-back Arbilla from Segunda outfit Hércules in January 2013, and in 18 months made him a solid La Liga defender, which earned him a move to Espanyol, and then to ...

The picture of Sandoval's star player hung dangerously in his office. He was the face of a Rayo Vallecano side that was poor but proud - hardworking, humble, hungry, hopeful. Miguel Pérez Cuesta, the player that no one had ever paid for and no one had heard of, was the highest scoring midfielder in La Liga with 15 goals. Michu was born and raised in the proud confines of the city of Oviedo, the capital of Asturias. A city known for being the birthplace of Fernando Alonso and Juan Mata, for the University of Oviedo - whose list of graduates include Sid Lowe - and for its unwavering dedication to art, culture, and dance. Michu debuted in 2003 - at the age of 17 - and played for Real Oviedo for four years, a club he saw move from the Tercera to the Segunda B and back again. He was the main player, the fulcrum of the team. Unfortunately, the club’s main concern was not how they were playing, but rather if they were playing. With financial problems and a relegation to the fourth t...

The Rayo aficionado project continues! This is the story of a Rayo fan, one that involves a transformation from being a Real Madrid fan to being a Rayo Vallecano one... A bit about yourself and your background I grew up in the north of Madrid as the smallest of three brothers and as far as I remember I got my brothers taste for Real Madrid. My mother took the opposite position of supporting Atlético Madrid and my father has been a proud supporter of Sporting de Gijón since he was a child. Anyway, I was the one who loved football the most - my brothers chose basketball as their favorite sport. I lived really close to the old training field of Real Madrid, and to the stadium, so for me everything revolved around this club, including my first match at the Santiago Bernabéu. It was February of 1998 and my father took me to watch the game against Sporting, who were already set for relegation to the 2nd division (they won just two games all season) and I can remember two things: th...