Real Madrid faced Rayo Vallecano on the first day of February. Not everyone will know it, but it is in fact a derby. As already mentioned earlier on the blog, Rayo is a small team from the neighborhood of Vallecas in Madrid. I noticed that not everyone knew the visiting team was from Madrid when I spoke with some international fans outside the stadium before the match. It remains impressive to see what a commercial attraction Real Madrid is and how many supporters from different countries travel to the Spanish capital for every home match to watch their favorite team in action.
While Real Madrid is fully fighting for the title, things are going less well for their opponent, who find themselves completely at the bottom of the table among the teams battling to stay in the top tier of Spanish football. Remarkably, in the first leg played in early November, both sides did not get further than a 0:0 draw. Furthermore, Rayo has never won at the Bernabéu Stadium in their club history. The most legendary encounter between both teams remains, for me personally, the 10:2 in 2015. The visitors even took a 1:2 lead that day, but after two red cards they eventually suffered a historic defeat. It was a great day for the attackers back then. Gareth Bale scored four, Karim Benzema went home with the match ball thanks to a hat trick, and Cristiano Ronaldo found the net twice. For me it could certainly have been another scoreline like that. Just imagine.
When taking my seat in the stands, it immediately became clear that the crowd would only be satisfied with a good performance from their team. Here and there you could already hear some whistles, like in the match against Levante and especially Vinicius Jr was targeted as usual.
The match began and within ten minutes came the first big problem of the match for the home side. Not because of a Rayo chance, but because Jude Bellingham went to the ground without contact. He immediately reached for his hamstring and walked off in tears. Injuries without contact are often the worst in football. You could tell from his face that it was serious. It later turned out he would be sidelined for at least a month. He was replaced by Brahim Diaz, who after the penalty incident at the Africa Cup finally had the chance to show himself again to the home fans.
But the home team did not seem too affected by the injury. Five minutes later the score showed 1:0. Vinicius Jr silenced the doubting supporters for a moment. After a beautiful solo run he curled the ball wonderfully into the far top corner. No chance for goalkeeper Batalla. Other than that, there was not much to note in the first half. Fellow countryman Thibaut Courtois was practically unemployed. Still, it was noticeable that the small team from Vallecas fought for every ball and bravely went into every duel. They certainly did not have to bow their heads going into the dressing room.
At the start of the second half Dani Ceballos came on for Asensio. This pushed Aurelien Tchouaméni one line back, meaning Real once again played with an improvised back line. In my opinion that is the reason why things are going less well for the team. There needs to be more consistency in which defenders appear on the team sheet each week, but due to the many injuries this is not always possible.
That things were not yet solid defensively quickly became clear. After a clever cross, Alvaro Garcia headed the ball across goal perfectly for Jorge de Frutos who placed it neatly past Courtois. The first big chance for the visitors was immediately rewarded with a goal. An upset in the making. The thirty travelling Rayo supporters began to believe. And yes you read that correctly, thirty, there really were not more. Even though they are from Madrid, they had to pay seventy five euro for a ticket, which for many was the reason not to come to the Bernabéu.
Halfway through the second half the home team got a great chance to take the lead again. On a counter the ball reached Guler, who by the way had an excellent match. He sent Kylian Mbappe through on goal perfectly. Goalkeeper Batalla came off his line but Mbappe got past him easily. Because of the tight angle he had to shoot with his left foot and he hit the crossbar. Unfortunate for Real Madrid. Los Franjirrojos escaped very narrowly.
At the end there was still something to enjoy. Ten minutes before time Pathe Ciss received a deserved red card for a tackle on the ankle of Ceballos. Moments later that same Ceballos and Eduardo Camavinga came close to redeeming the 2:1. Rayo held on for a while but the winning goal eventually came. Real Madrid were given nine minutes of added time. Everyone who loves Rayo Vallecano could not believe it. Even I thought the nine minutes were a bit too much. But the idea that you are never done with Real Madrid proved true moments later.
In the 99th minute, yes it almost felt like extra time, Brahim Diaz was brought down inside the penalty area. The referee did not hesitate and pointed to the spot. Disbelief among the entire team from Vallecas. Who else but Mbappe stepped up and converted without any doubt. The lead for the home team. For the French forward it was his third consecutive La Liga match in which he scored a penalty, increasing his lead in the top scorer ranking.
That the visitors were frustrated became clear when Fran Garcia Chavarria received his second yellow card for pushing Rodrygo. The match ended 2:1 with only nine Rayo players on the pitch.
Despite the weaker performance from the team the crowd still enjoyed it, partly thanks to the many flare ups at the end. With this victory, the sixth in La Liga in a row, Real Madrid moves back to one point behind leaders FC Barcelona. For Rayo it will be a long season if they want to return to the Bernabeu next year.
Remarkably, as I was leaving the stadium, I saw several away players leaving on foot. While the Real Madrid stars left in expensive cars, it looked as if the others had arrived by metro. It was quite a sight. I myself look back on a successful football afternoon.
