The Pride of Vallekas

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...

Even though [Michu] had just one season of greatness in the EPL, for me his impact on the league has been larger than that. It was that, suddenly, the Premier League took notice of a market that produced brilliant players, who resided at clubs that would take any money thrown their way. Not a few months after his move to Swansea, this was the coverage La Liga teams were getting : So what happened to those five players? Right-back Antonio Rukavina moved to Spain in July 2012 and signed with Valladolid, on a three-year deal, thus joining his countryman and former manager Miroslav Đukić. In his two seasons at José Zorrilla, Rukavina collected 71 appearances and scored twice in the top flight of Spanish football. In 2014, after Real Valladolid's relegation, he joined Villarreal. Now 33, he is a back-up to Mario Gaspar. But his rise to the top tier of Spanish football starts in the third division of Serbian football. Rukavina started out at his local club Bežanija, making...

In 2014, Jozabed Sánchez was a talent at Real Jaén, relegated to the Segunda B that summer. When Jozabed’s four goals and 12 assists couldn’t prevent Real Jaén’s relegation to the theoretically amateur third-tier of Spanish football, he took the punt and joined Rayo in division one. It was a gamble, a huge one, and no one thought about the signing working out. Two years later and with 10 goals and 3 assists not enough to save Rayo Vallecano, Jozabed was on his way to Fulham. The stakes of the gamble were even bigger this time. Not just because he had no preseason to work with. Not just because it was a different country, or a different league, but a different mentality. The history of Spaniards failing in the Championship is a long and damaging one. Those who succeed are the ones who fit the physicality-type stereotypes associated with the league. The playing style which made Jozabed shine in La Liga is almost the opposite of that - patient buildup play, quick transitions and sho...

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’...

Welcome back! This is part 4 - the last installment - of a series on Cádiz by the founder of injuriesandmore.com , a website that focused on sports medicine and Spanish football. On Twitter, he is @Vam_os - go ahead and follow him! This part is about the state of Cádiz and their priorities for the upcoming season. And it hereby concludes The Cádiz Chronicles... Are Cádiz where you want them to be? Although everyone at the Ramón Carranza was up for promotion to the top league, I think personally that Cádiz’ main priority lies in establishing themselves as a strong second division club first and foremost before aiming any higher. That’s going to be the key. It’s not to say promotion to La Primera would be a bad thing; but the whole infrastructure at the club needs to be able to maintain that if and when that time comes. That’s the view also taken by the club president, Manuel Viscaino and it’s reassuring to know that he feels that way. In a recent interview he said that clubs wh...

Good, attacking, ferocious football. That's how I would describe Compostela and their undying philosophy. A brand of play that has seen Compostela rise and fall on the ladder of Spanish football. Till 1986, Compostela were a stable mid-table third tier club representing the small regional town of Compostela in Galicia. However, that very summer they were relegated. They had attacked and attacked and fought with all their might, kicking and screaming, but went down - with the joint-worst defense in the league. But giving up their attacking philosophy was out of the question. It was that philosophy that saw them promoted to the third tier in 1990, promoted to the second tier the year after, and reach the top division in 1994. It was that philosophy that saw them lose the relegation playoff against Villarreal in 1998. It was that philosophy that saw them reach the quarterfinals of the 1999-00 Copa del Rey, defeating the likes of Numancia, Tenerife and Villarreal on the way - all...

Age is just a number. It's a number that can be used as an excuse for failure. It's an abstract standard, a barrier that we create to ourselves, a false benchmark of our abilities. Many players have made their La Liga or even professional debuts late in their careers. And, if you've read this blog, you'll know I love these stories and writing about them. But it's easy to forget how commonplace that story really is. So commonplace, in fact, that there's someone at Rayo that can relate. Someone who competed for Segunda and Segunda B teams till the age of 29. Someone whose versatility has meant a progression from left midfielder to left back, and finally to center back. And someone whose professionalism means he is still going strong at the age of 35 - it was  actually  his birthday day before yesterday! Dorado was born in Córdoba, and began playing football in his hometown, passing through the lower categories of Córdoba. At a territorial championship, Real...

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...

Given that now Baena has also signed for Granada - that's three Rayo players to the club in two years - you can excuse the frustration that I feel. And it may not even be the end - Manucho, Ebert, Nacho, Dorado, Dovale and Miku, among others I'm surely forgetting, are all free to sign for other clubs.  Granada have taken legends from Rayo - Juan José Collantes, Piti, Tito, and now Baena too. And what makes it even more painful is that it's so simple. Money talks. TL;DR: I hate Granada. He was just one of three players to stay with the club from 2004 all the way till 2008, when Rayo jumped out of the well and into the Segunda. The name? Juan José Collantes, who joined Rayo midway through the 2004-05 season also at the age of 21 after roaming around in Villareal (Juvenil), CD Onda, Palamos CF, and Racing de Santander B. A right winger, he would score 12 goals in the 2007-08 Segunda B, and along with Sergio Pachón (16 goals), Míchel (10 goals) and Piti (7 goals) g...

One of those days yet again... I wrote about ex-Villarreal striker Carlos Aranda, a player who won two Champions League titles and played for a record eight La Liga clubs. It was published on 19Spains.com here and on VillarrealUSA.com here . Follow @Vallecanos1924

One of those days again! Check out on VillarrealUSA my preview for the last jornada in the Segunda. It's a long, annual, one-year tradition that I decided to hold up. You can read it here . Follow @Vallecanos1924

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...

One of those days. And yes - that title is not clickbait. I wrote about the story of van Gaal reject Diego Cascón - a story that involves warding off the evil eye and slaying Real Madrid and Villarreal. It was published on 19Spains.com ( here ) and on BarcaBlaugranes.com ( here ).

A player who we all love at the club. Fran has more maturity than his age says -Paco Jémez, in 2015 I was wrong. Fran Beltrán has been linked with Barcelona many times. His talent is unquestionable and his desire to make it at Rayo undeniable. But his desire to stay at Rayo was always in doubt. Despite signing a new contract that kept him at the club till 2020, a eight million euro release clause seemed like the board were looking to make a quick buck. It's important to know his history - at the tender age of 16, Fran made his Rayo B debut against CD San Fernando in December 2015. A tireless midfielder with excellent technique and ball-winning capabilities, he has also been called up for the U-17 Spanish national football team, and regularly plays for the first team. But in an interview with Marca this week, Fran said this: "I  was clear that if another team came, Madrid or Barça, I wanted to stay here. I can not think of a better place than Rayo" Obvio...

Melch is a La Voz de Galicia contributor - he writes a weekly article about Lugo for them.  Follow Melch on Twitter here .  How long have you been a fan of Lugo and what made you support them in the first place? I'm a Lugo native so I can proudly say that I've been supporter since I was a child. I am a member of the team since 1996. I am an elementary teacher but I am devoted to sports. I used to be an athlete until 23 and then a track and field coach. During the last 2 years I worked in Oklahoma city as a teacher so I can tell perfectly how hard is to watch games of your team with so many hours of delay. My weekends in the US were planned depending on the date Lugo could play. So this year I came back to my home city and I am living the experience of watching soccer again and I am enjoying this a lot! Generally speaking people in Spain only support Madrid or Barcelona. I hate that - when you live in a small town you should be supporting your home town team! Given the...

Ben Hardman is the creator of Spanish football website BlogBetis.com . Follow Ben on Twitter here . How long have you been a fan of Betis and what made you support them in the first place? Despite being born in Manchester and being raised a MUFC fan, luckily enough through the glory years, I've somehow found myself supporting Real Betis in the not-so glory years. After I finished at university in 2010 I ended up living in Andalucía and teaching English in a town very close to my heart, Sanlúcar de Barrameda. It's here where my Betis passion began to flourish after getting to know several locals and being surrounded by the green and white colors of the local football team and indeed flag of Andalucía. In 2011 I moved back to Manchester and wanted to keep up the language alongside my new-found team. I started writing match previews and reports for a number of websites then decided to start my own site in 2013. Given the transfer windows and the squad that was assembled at ...

Allen Dodson runs the VillarrealUSA.com blog, a SBNation blog dedicated to all things Villarreal and the official penya of Villarreal in USA. You can follow it on Facebook here and on Twitter here . A bit about yourself and your background... I live in central California, have been a football (soccer) fan since the early 1970’s. We didn’t have youth soccer anywhere when I was growing up so I’ve had to satisfy my craving for the game by writing about it rather than playing it. How long have you been a fan of Villarreal and what made you support them in the first place? I started following Villarreal when they had that incredible Champions League run in 2005-06. Ironically, what started me following their results was that I had grown up a Liverpool supporter and Villarreal defeated Everton, Liverpool’s rival, in the qualifying round, so I liked them immediately! But what really got me following the team in earnest was that Marcos Senna, who was just incredible in the 2008 Eu...

James Extegorri runs the website with the most up-to-date news on Athletic Club, insideathletic.com . You can follow it on Twitter here too. A bit about yourself and your background... My name is James Etxegorri. I am a Basque-Catalan who was born in the United States. I moved back to Bilbao when I was older to get close to my family and heritage. I grew up loving Athletic Club and the Basque Country. My heritage and family has shaped a lot of my identity. How long have you been a fan of Athletic Bilbao and what made you support them in the first place? I have been an Athletic Club supporter since I was a child. Being Basque, my entire family loved Athletic. Supporting Athletic isn’t just being a fan of a club; it is a way of life and an identity. I’ve seen the club’s ups and downs and have loved every moment. Given the transfer windows and the squad that was assembled at the start of the season, is Athletic Bilbao where you want it to be? Athletic’s Basque only policy do...

Warning - this is not a Rayo post as per usual. Also, if it offends you you can either hide in your safe space or debate it. I'm not going to beat around the bush. I'm confused. I'm confused because whether in politics or sports or any other topic, there apparently has to be one right way and every other line of thought is labelled as wrong. I'm confused because the same people who talk about free speech and defending it are the same people who in the same breath will call people who express a differing opinion as racist or sexist or any of the thousands of words that have lost meaning because of overuse. The right to express any opinions without censorship or restraint. That's free speech. Social media has encouraged this culture of "offense". You don't like something said on Twitter? Click the report abuse button. Block 'em. Books with warnings - "this is likely to cause offense". Seriously? Here's a musing - offense is s...