{"id":796574,"date":"2026-10-09T02:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T02:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/796574\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T02:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T02:30:10","slug":"sergio-camello-rayo-is-the-last-team-standing-its-football-from-another-time-rayo-vallecano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/796574\/","title":{"rendered":"Sergio Camello: \u2018Rayo is the last team standing \u2013 it\u2019s football from another time\u2019 | Rayo Vallecano"},"content":{"rendered":"

An 11-year-old, second-hand VW Beetle with more than 300,000km on the clock pulls over on Clown Fof\u00f3 Street in the heart of Vallecas. The music goes off, the Smiths silenced and out gets Sergio Camello: movie aficionado with 156 films reviewed<\/a>, part-time photographer<\/a>, sometime drummer, Olympic gold medallist and the second-top goalscorer in Europe\u2019s top five leagues. Engulfed in graffiti, stickers covering the glass between metal bars in red, a single step up from the street, the small door into Rayo Vallecano\u2019s ground is locked, but in 64 hours it will open for the first time this season. \u201cIt\u2019s my home, it\u2019s Vallecas,\u201d Camello says.<\/p>\n

Forced to abandon their place, on Saturday at 2pm the tenants return. With the Madrid council declaring Estadio de Vallecas unsafe, unfit for purpose, Rayo\u2019s home matches have instead been played in Legan\u00e9s, out of the city to the south and boycotted by fans. Walking the neighbourhood that is proud of its social conscience, its community and its team, Camello can\u2019t wait to be back again. And not just for the football; maybe not even for the football. \u201cIt\u2019s the pre-game, the post-game, the people,\u201d he says, passing the bar where they\u2019ll be waiting for him after, same as always.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m me, Sergio Camello, a normal person from a humble team\u2019 \u2013 Sergio Camello at the door to Rayo Vallecano\u2019s Vallecas ground. Photograph: Pablo Garcia\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Yet the football is good too, good as it\u2019s ever been. Across the continent\u2019s top five leagues only Raphinha has more goals than Camello\u2019s seven in seven league games and Camello himself has never had so many either. \u201cI try not to think about it but my teammates keep reminding me,\u201d he says. \u201c\u2018Pichichi! Pichichi!\u2019 It\u2019s not Sergio any more.\u201d Pichichi was the great Athletic Club striker whose name adorns the top-scorer award. No pressure, then. \u201cNone, I love it,\u201d Camello replies, \u201cand I love that they\u2019re enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two months into the season, this is already his best campaign in primera where the previous totals were five, three and three. And although there\u2019s a tactical element, the new coach Be\u00f1at San Jos\u00e9 altering his movement, Camello looks deeper for an explanation. Above all he looks inside, which is where, from the beginning, another conversation starts: a simple question prompts a complex, nuanced and human discussion, the striker talking calmly, thoughtfully and with startling unexpected honesty.<\/p>\n

Sergio Camello celebrates after scoring against Barcelona in August. Photograph: Pablo Rodriguez\/Quality Sport Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Camello is that most unusual of footballers \u2013 prepared to speak on materialism, racism, or homophobia, social media \u201cpoison\u201d or the housing crisis, that rare player prepared to use his platform, which he says was born of his upbringing but also learned being here in the barrio. This is personal, but at once universal too, something in his experience that is about everyone. Who knows, maybe there is something in what he has lived that can help, some reason to share it, the goals scored offering tangible proof of an intangible process.<\/p>\n

So what has changed? \u201cHow I go on to the pitch,\u201d he says. \u201cI thought it would be much harder to change my mindset but I\u2019m seeing that I can be myself: be free, connect with the Sergio I can offer Rayo. To feel liberated, to enjoy it \u2013 and it\u2019s been a long time since I enjoyed all this like this.<\/p>\n

Sergio Camello has been outscored only by Barcelona\u2019s Raphinha so far this season. Photograph: Pablo Garcia\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing was to have many conversations with friends, people who truly know me. Especially my twin brother Gonzalo; there\u2019s a connection that goes beyond the human. He could see I wasn\u2019t enjoying it much, wasn\u2019t myself. We talked and I tried to take that on to the pitch. Above all, to play without the pressure. Because pressure is horrendous. It makes it so that you don\u2019t enjoy absolutely anything, puts you in a position where if things don\u2019t work, that leads to frustration, frustration leads to pity, and suddenly everything is negative. There\u2019s a point in the conversations where it\u2019s: \u2018That\u2019s it; it\u2019s done\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a sport you chose before it was your job, because it\u2019s what made you happiest. It\u2019s about connecting to that kid again. I\u2019d discussed this in therapy too; the idea of getting back to that kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Somewhere that can be lost \u2013 not just failure you have to live with but also success. \u201cThe pressure can come from everywhere,\u201d Camello says. \u201cWe\u2019re young, the change happens so fast, no one prepares you for it. If you can\u2019t manage that it can do a lot of damage and that happened to me. [Early on], I would even get a bit paranoid, have fixations. \u2018They\u2019re looking at me.\u2019 The first day in primera, when I scored, the journey there had been normal \u2013 scooter, bus, metro, bus \u2013 but on the same journey home some kids followed me shouting: \u2018Camello! Camello!\u2019 It was a shock. The night we returned from the Olympics I was in the usual bar, people crowded and I had a kind of anxiety attack and had to go. And, look, I\u2019m me, Sergio Camello, a normal person from a humble team. I can\u2019t imagine what it is like for someone at Lamine Yamal\u2019s level<\/a>. I don\u2019t envy that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joint-second<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s about seeing the balance, understanding,\u201d Camello continues, \u201cand football has given me so, so much. There are so many people who can\u2019t enjoy their job, who don\u2019t have the [financial] freedom. When you have bad moments, when the clouds come, when you feel that cycle of negativity, you talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camello looks across the room: it\u2019s quiet, 25 chairs sitting empty. \u201cOne of my friends [Dani Fern\u00e1ndez] is a musician about to do four sellouts at the Wizink [Centre]; when I met him, he wouldn\u2019t have sold out this room,\u201d he says. \u201cWe both got \u2018caught\u2019 in this about the same time and we talked a lot. When he had doubts, I was there; when I did, he was. A torch in the darkness. You think: \u2018I\u2019d love to be a rock star\u2019, and then someone you admire who is tells you how bloody shit it can be behind the scenes. You understand each other, you think: \u2018Bloody hell, maybe I don\u2019t have to analyse things so deeply.\u2019 If in even those places you idealise, there is darkness, solitude, maybe I\u2019m not so bad.<\/p>\n

Sergio Camello says he his thriving by playing without pressure. Photograph: Pablo Garcia\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cOtherwise you could go into a very dark place where you feel you have to escape this [football]. Even then the world wouldn\u2019t end. And fortunately, the positive in football has always weighed much more heavily. And that\u2019s been shown to be right. Those conversations give me perspective, make me conscious of how fortunate I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Camello says doubts about the game itself are rarely shared in such depth in the dressing room \u2013 \u201cfootball might be the most important thing in the entire world to your teammate\u201d \u2013 something about this place helps. The club\u2019s problems are significant, debilitating and should not be romanticised, he insists, and yet somehow they have made a success of it, built through solidarity. Besides, he says, \u201cwe\u2019re also here because we want to be\u201d and there is something about Rayo, something about breaking out of the bubble, that has been good for him, for all of them, as people as well as players. There\u2019s a moment when he talks about everything that comes with being a footballer and says \u201cit\u2019s easy to be a dickhead\u201d, but that\u2019s diminished at a club not just in the <\/a>barrio<\/a> but of the <\/a>barrio<\/a>, one that\u2019s \u201ctotally different\u201d to anywhere else he knows, where \u201cyour feet are that bit more on the ground and you realise you\u2019re not stars\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sergio Camello says the club and players have a unique connection with the Vallecas neighbourhood. Photograph: Pablo Garcia\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cRayo is the last team standing from football from another time, that\u2019s what I like,\u201d Camello says. \u201cEven just parking here on the street right in front changes things. The same faces, every time. The least important thing about the football here is the football; it\u2019s what they stand for every weekend, what they believe in, the connection. It\u2019s Isi in the bar on the corner. Unai and his mates in the one down the bottom there. The bar we\u2019ve taken over. That doesn\u2019t exist anywhere else. To have those guys you were watching half an hour ago in the same bars, doesn\u2019t happen. I\u2019ve built relationships that are very sincere that I never expected. I\u2019m a normal bloke who fulfilled mine and many kids\u2019 dream. Like a superhero when they pull on the mask; I come here, I put on the kit, I\u2019m the most competitive, most professional person you can be. But when I leave I take it off and forget about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a release, refuge in something else. In the camera. In the drum lessons Camello admits have been slow and the guitar he\u2019s abandoned, the ability God gave his feet denied to his fingers. In the films, in the indie rock music first heard in the family car, and the musician mates he has made. The music discouraged by reggaeton-loving teammates who control the stereo blaring out each morning\u2013 and, . They wonder, he says laughing, why he\u2019s not so keen on the gym.<\/p>\n

Sergio Camello with the Action for Music charity. Photograph: Action for Music<\/p>\n

The music that can make a difference, too; if there is anything that moves people, reaches them like football, it may only be that. \u201cThere\u2019s something I\u2019ve wanted to do for a long time and it\u2019s really fun,\u201d Camello says. \u201cI joined a charity, Action for Music, which gives opportunities to kids to play music in humble neighbourhoods. They go to four hours of classes a week: percussion, strings, wind. The kids don\u2019t pay a euro, everything\u2019s free: the space, the teachers, the instruments. They have schools in Tetu\u00e1n and Carabanchel. I\u2019m getting involved, learning, and I want to set up a school in Vallecas next year.\u201d He stops, grins. \u201cOnly I\u2019m going to do it my way \u2026 with rock.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did a session with them the other day, me trying to play the drums after six months. There was a kid on sax: wow, what a vibe he had, he was just loving it. When you don\u2019t know where to go, there\u2019s a place, someone who believes in you, gives you an opportunity. Forty kids: put some drum sticks in their hand, a guitar, a sax, something that will give them so much. Tell them they can be good at something, feel good about themselves. Have fun, maybe find something inside they didn\u2019t know was there. It\u2019s a way of giving back to Vallecas everything it gives me. I\u2019m so excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sergio Camello stops to take a selfie with a fan while walking through the Vallecas neighbourhood. Photograph: Pablo Garcia\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Imagine them playing the Wizink. \u201cI can be their manager,\u201d Camello laughs. \u201cThe idea is to do concerts at the end of each year. Imagine those kids, coming into their first class \u2026 then going on stage. It\u2019s good to see yourself up there, with an instrument. Their family there, people who have bought tickets to see them play, the applause. That feeling: \u2018I\u2019m worth it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Sounds like scoring a goal. Camello\u2019s eyes light up. \u201cYes, it is,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m still the same guy as I was when I didn\u2019t score, eh. But at that moment when you\u2019re standing there, there\u2019s nothing else in your head, just a feeling that all this makes sense. When the ball hits the net, when you get a ground on its feet, all together, when they\u2019re celebrating, it\u2019s like it\u2019s all worth it. You feel important, you\u2019re good at something.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An 11-year-old, second-hand VW Beetle with more than 300,000km on the clock pulls over on Clown Fof\u00f3 Street…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-796574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}