The Pride of Vallekas

Miguel Bastón was a goalkeeper who played for Atlético - but only with its reserves - and spent most of his career with Real Burgos CF. His dream of playing for the first team of the club that he graduated from never materialized. Born in Madrid, Borja arrived in his hometown club Atlético Madrid's youth system at the age of four. He began as a goalkeeper, the position which his father played professionally, but he converted him to a forward so that he could enjoy the game more. He made his senior debuts in the 2009–10 season, scoring 12 goals for the reserve team in the third division. On 15 May 2010, in the campaign's last round, Borja made his first-team and La Liga debut, coming on as a substitute for Tiago in the 58th minute of the game against Getafe CF. He had fulfilled his father's dream. That dream, however, faded quickly. Twenty minutes later, he was stretchered off with a serious anterior cruciate ligament injury on his left knee, in an eventual...

One of my first ever posts was about Raúl Baena and his important to Rayo. (You can read it here ). This week, Baena, who is out of contract this summer, was linked to Alcorcón. The team is short of midfielders, since  Víctor Pérez and Bakic will be returning to Valladolid and Sporting Braga respectively. Pep Guardiola was revered by Barcelona fans because he achieved something believed to be impossible - winning trophies consistently whilst playing beautiful, attacking football. But beauty is subjective - and it isn't just of one type. It's hard to justify how a tough-tackling, yellow-card accumulating player who barely ever scores or assists goals can be described as beautiful. It's hard to see the importance of a player like that in a system that rewards passing and movement. But there is something beautiful, something heroic, something almost poetic, about a La Masia youth graduate, his hair flying in the air, his eyes determined, his brow tensed, his speed, ...

Zero. Rayo had zero shots on goal. None. Zilch. Na-da. Meanwhile, Cádiz had a shot cleared off the line, a misplaced back-pass that should've gone in but was miraculously saved by Paulo Gazzaniga, and a deserved goal scored after a through ball that split the defense while at the same time nutmegging Antonio Amaya - and that was just the first 36 minutes. They then also hit the post and generally expose Rayo time and again, while Cádiz's goalkeeper made zero saves - 37-year-old Alberto Cifuentes barely moved the whole game. With this result, Rayo are now 21st out of 22 teams, joint-bottom, and just generally out of ideas. Creating chances isn't the problem - Rayo and Cádiz both had nine shots. The problem is when Patrick Ebert, the attacking midfielder, is shooting from 25+ yards while Manucho barely even tries to make a run. In a 2 vs 3 situation.  Pablo Clavería came on for Trashorras at half-time, with Jordi Gómez being replaced by M...

Spanish football is always criticized for being a two horse race. That is a blanket statement - it doesn't capture the competitiveness of the Segunda, the fiery relegation and European spot battles of La Liga, the shocking frequency at which clubs in the lower leagues disappear. But there is one, and only one, context in which I believe that statement - and it's not the one you expect. The 2007-08 season of women's football was dominated by two teams - Rayo Vallecano and Levante. Before then, Levante had always come in the top 3 since 2000; they had won four league titles and six Copa de la Reina's. In contrast, Rayo Vallecano had only started existing since 2000 and had never been in the top 3, and had reached the semifinal stage in each of the previous three Copa de la Reina's. It wasn't even close - Levante were flying in the league table, and Rayo were not far behind. But it wasn't just the fact that Rayo were posing a serious challege and running...