The Pride of Vallekas

All figures from Whoscored.com. Roberto Trashorras made the most passes in La Liga in the 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. Here, in pictures,you can see that not only was he the best passer - he was surprisingly also the most accurate free kick taker! Total passes This one shouldn't be surprising. But what's striking is that he beat out Xavi, and then Toni Kroos twice . TWICE! The top 10 players with the most passes in total in the 2013-14 season The top 10 players with the most passes in total in the 2014-15 season The top 10 players with the most passes in total in the 2015-16 season Passes per 90 minutes Now, obviously Trashorras doesn't come first here - simply because he keeps the ball for longer than a traditional regista as he is the only "passer" in the Rayo midfield. And even then he manages to come very, very close. The top 10 players with the most passes per 90 minutes in the 2013-14 season The top 10 players wit...

So as it turns out, I made a mistake. A few days ago, I talked about the Rayo squad, and as it turns out things are even worse - Zé Castro, who had reportedly rescinded his contract, had actually done so with no announcements being made. Because this is the Rayo website: Credit: rayovallecano.es I didn't even get to say goodbye! So here it is...a tribute to Zé Castro. August 29th, 2013. Leave it to Rayo to scramble at the last minute and make an amazing, seemingly impossible signing. This time, they made two. Zé Castro, and Seba Fernández half an hour later, were the two gems that had been picked up. Castro was a "boring" signing - he had played for Atlético de Madrid but was more of a backup. And at Depor, Zé Castro appeared in only ten games in 2009–10, and featured even less in the following season, prompting him to request a move in mid-November 2010. Some people even disliked him - in March 2011, he was to be picked as a last-minute substitut...

I was looking for ideas for today's post, and could find nothing. Every website, every Twitter feed, every draft saved in my folder was visited. I even looked back at previous blog posts, hoping to create a continuation, a spin-off, a new miniseries - anything. And then this popped up on my phone: 💻 Óscar Trejo, mago del balón: https://t.co/BWGTES8Qgb — Unión Rayo (@UnionRayo) August 13, 2017 Eureka. Mago del balón , they had called him. His performances as a false 9 have provided hope in the face of an injury to our only striker Javi Guerra. Look at Rayo's other signings, and you see another mago . "Chori" Domínguez was nicknamed El Mago  during his previous stint by the Vallekas faithful. And while mago del balón  is an honour, El Mago  is a sacred title. It is conferred only once by a club's fans - and only on the most dazzling of club legends. Examples in Spain include Cádiz's Mágico González, Valencia's David Silva, and Sevilla'...

Three of Álex Bergantiños' four goals in La Liga for Depor have been against Barcelona. Here are those goals. Scene 1: 12th May, 2017. Riazor. In the 74th minute, a corner is whipped in from the left wing to the far post, and Jordi Alba, who is marking Álex, watches him rise above him and head the ball into the net. And this just days after Barcelona overturned a 4-0 deficit and won 6-1 against PSG. Scene 2: 20th October, 2012. Riazor. Barcelona were 3-0 up after 17 minutes and cruising, but it went from 0-3 to 2-3 to 2-4 to 3-4 to 3-5 to 4-5 with 12 heart-stopping minutes left. That game had literally everything: a ludicrously good Leo Messi hat-trick, a yellow card for the least offensive man ever - Juan Carlos Valerón, and the finest own goal ever by Jordi Alba - a delicate volleyed lob over his keeper. And it was Bergantiños who scored the second for Depor to inspire the comeback. Scene 3: 12th December, 2015. Camp Nou. Barcelona are 2-0 u...

My new series, called the Silly Season Accumulator, lists all the rumors that have ever been mentioned on the internet about Rayo. Yes - all of them. Just to show you how ridiculous this machine is - a machine that creates meaningless content masquerading as journalism. If that's harsh, that's because the irony is that more rumors gives me more material. And that material gets in the way of the stories that matter. Here's all the rumors for this week. It's less this time, because once again the actual news took precedent: Kakuta is interested in coming back to Madrid. Rayo, Leganés and Getafe have all been offered the player. Johan Mojica has been linked with a return to Columbia - Junior and Deportivo Calí are all interested. Numerous outlets reporting that Zé Castro has rescinded his contract - but no word from the club yet. 33-year-old Aitor Sanz has been linked to numerous Segunda clubs, including Rayo. He prefers to stay at Tenerife though. Manucho's...

A lot of what goes missing in football analysis is the fact that being a professional football is an actual job. Many who enter the profession think about the food they put on the table for their families. They think about the future since the job only pays well till the early thirties. They think about bigger and better clubs offering bigger and better opportunities. They think, constantly, about the next step in their careers. Understandably though, most fans don't see a player playing for their club as a job - as an honor, or as a responsibility, but certainly not as a job. One way professional football is harder, aside from the competition of course, is job security. One-year contracts are the norm for most teams. That, along with miserly termination clauses and relegation clauses that cut wages significantly means that Spanish football, and indeed football in many second tiers in the world, produce numerous journeymen who bounce around from club to club, with no clue w...

Exactly two years ago, to this very day, Rayo Vallecano played Almería. On the 19th of April, 2015, a sunny day in Vallekas greeted two squads with very different moods. The previous week, Rayo had been smashed for six at the Balaídos, while Almería had won 3-0 against Granada. For me, the first goal against Almería was what personified Rayo. A corner by Kakuta is taken short and the ball finds its way to Zé Castro. Castro ends up dribbling past two players with a feint, crosses the ball into the box, and Antonio Amaya scores a header. So what's so special about that? Castro and Amaya are both center backs. Yes, a 32-year-old center back dribbled and crossed the ball to a 31-year-old center back who scored a header. That's the beauty of positional play - any player should theoretically be able to play anywhere. Obviously, at a small club like Rayo that's not always possible, which is why fans should appreciate it when goals like those are scored. To score is in...