Rayo Vallecano 1-1 Athletic Club
Following the chaos of the canceled Real Oviedo clash, Rayo Vallecano returned to Vallecas for the first time in 35 days, and did so with a visible reaction from President Raul Martin Presa. Accused of mismanagement by the club, the stadium was littered with ‘SOS’ signs handed out outside the stadium, urging the authorities to intervene for their owner.
Rayo started the game better, Pacha Espino forcing the first save from Unai Simon after just a few minutes. The opening quarter of the game saw both back lines launch diagonals in an attempt to beat the opposition press. It wasn’t until the 26th minute that the first clear chance presented itself to Alvaro Garcia, who had a free header at the near post, but couldn’t generate the energy needed to beat Unai Simon from Ilias Akhomach.
With the view of the Copa del Rey semi-final second leg against Real Sociedad over Athletic Club, Ernesto Valverde was good at his word that he was completely focused on Rayo Vallecano, making just two changes. However, it was a difficult start to the game as well, with Oihan Sancet and Gorka Guruzeta being squeezed out easily by Rayo. Unai Gomez was forced into an emergency position down the left flank to prevent Ilias from converting Isi Palazon’s cross this time, as Rayo began to climb.
Ten minutes before half-time, Jorge de Frutos had the ball after Alvaro Garcia was released behind Athletic defender Jesus Areso. At the tip, de Frutos slipped to convert a square ball behind. Gerard Gumbau came up to win the ball back in midfield and found Isi in a pocket of space – which has become a pattern at this point.
Athletic fans were frustrated not only by the points or their lack of anything, but that Rayo seemed to come out on top in every battle. When it was time for the break, Athletic turned to their teammates.
Inaki Williams answers Athletic SOS
The expectation was that Athletic would come out with the intention of showing that the first half was not really their team’s personality. Ernesto Valverde couldn’t have wished for a better one. Simon went long in his own way, while substitute Alex Berenguer headed home Inaki Williams. Without letting go of the ball, he controlled it with his thigh and fired a volley into the far right corner of the box.
It was a quality piece that had no place in Athletic’s play, and much to Valverde’s chagrin, Rayo came back with two decent shots down the left immediately, but Garcia and Espino couldn’t find the killer this time. Ten minutes into the busy second half, Athletic midfielder Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta injured his arm trying to break his fall, a problem Los Leones feared would rule him out of their Copa del Rey semi-final second leg.
The introduction of Alejandro Rego, who replaced him, slowed down the pace in the Rayo press. Depriving his rivals Rayo, they struggled to cut the ball without Rego. Going into the final 15 minutes, Rayo looked determined to slip behind Athletic’s defence, with Andrei Ratiu, de Frutos and Pedro Diaz doing so on several occasions, but pursuing the ball as it dropped into the six-yard box seemed to always come from Athletic.
Los Leones, on the other hand, managed one goal apart from Williams’ volley, and the only real saving grace was that Rayo were unable to take advantage of their many promising attacks. Their forward line is starved of service, Athletic can put together a lot of passes, which will cause Valverde big worries if a different team does not appear in Anoeta on Wednesday.
The point keeps Athletic in 8th place, while Rayo move up to 14th, extending their cushion over 18th-placed Mallorca to four points. On the contrary, Inigo Perez will feel the most changed point, as he watches his program work more or less from start to finish. The three times they managed to equalize their game and finish level, two of them were ruled out for offside.
