{"id":473802,"date":"2026-02-17T12:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/473802\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T12:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T12:25:08","slug":"rayo-vallecano-stun-atletico-with-their-fans-in-revolt-and-stadium-unusable-la-liga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/473802\/","title":{"rendered":"Rayo Vallecano stun Atl\u00e9tico with their fans in revolt and stadium unusable | La Liga"},"content":{"rendered":"

One day in November, the coach of Rayo Vallecano decided that was it: he was out. The captain in whom he finds strength had reached a similar conclusion<\/a> long ago, handing in his armband as an act of protest and dignity. Two Fridays ago, the squad signed a statement saying they couldn\u2019t carry on<\/a> like this. And last Friday, the fans who\u2019ve been through it all before decided they too would walk away. Yet 48 hours later, after another week that proved them right, resisting everything, there they were still, celebrating another implausible success, another day when they had stuck it to The Man. If not, admittedly, the man they\u2019d like to stick it to.<\/p>\n

Actually, \u2018there\u2019? Not all of them were in the same place, even if that was a way of showing they were in this together. Because Rayo fans were out on the streets of the self-styled independent republic of Vallecas<\/a> with their banners and scarves and songs on Sunday, while their team and coach were 10km south, playing in a different city. With their training ground unusable and their home home ground declared to be so too, they had to prepare at Getafe\u2019s place and play at Legan\u00e9s\u2019s stadium. Where, in front of 9,000 empty seats, and kicking off in the relegation zone, they only went and beat Atl\u00e9tico Madrid 3-0, three days after Diego\u2019s Simeone\u2019s side had battered Barcelona 4-0<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Football doesn\u2019t always make sense, which is what makes it brilliant, and a lot of the time Rayo Vallecano make even less, which is what makes them what they are. Still the smallest side in primera, they play in a ground built into the barrio that has only three sides, the fourth a wall where a Fede Valverde shot literally flew over and into a living room in the tower block behind. But that isn\u2019t the problem: they\u2019re proud of who they are and the home they have, proud of the team they support and the side\u2019s almost absurd ability to overcome the odds, this season resisting Madrid and Barcelona<\/a> in Vallecas and heading into Europe 25 years later<\/a>. The problem that is the odds are stacked so heavily against them, and from within.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideGirona stun BarcelonaShow\"\"<\/p>\n

Barcelona blow chance to retake top spot<\/p>\n

Girona came from behind to beat visitors Barcelona 2-1 in La Liga on Monday, as last season\u2019s champions failed to return to the summit, leaving Real Madrid top of the table.<\/p>\n

Barcelona struck the woodwork twice in the first half, Raphinha hitting the post before Lamine Yamal fired a penalty against the same upright in added time after Dani Olmo was fouled inside the box.<\/p>\n

Pau Cubarsi finally put the visitors ahead in the 59th minute, rising to head home Jules Kound\u00e9\u2019s cross from a short corner but Girona levelled three minutes later when Thomas Lemar converted from close range after Vladyslav Vanat\u2019s cross caused confusion.<\/p>\n

Fran Beltran (pictured) sealed victory in the 87th minute, steering home from Joel Roca\u2019s pass as the Montilivi stadium erupted.<\/p>\n

Barcelona pushed for an equaliser but could not break through, even after Roca was sent off in added time. Bar\u00e7a remain on 58 points, two behind Real Madrid, and have lost successive games in all competitions for the first time since October. Reuters<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

These days supporters ask only one thing of the president and owner, Ra\u00fal Mart\u00edn Presa, repeatedly, vociferously and to his face: that he leave. He called them \u201cdrunk, brainless and idle\u201d<\/a>, the provocation constant, and the situation so unpleasant it is hard to believe he keeps going. Not least because the deterioration of the club. \u00d3scar Trejo \u2013 the man who realised the best thing he could do as captain was to stop being captain \u2013 described it as a place where there was \u201cproblem after problem\u201d<\/a>. The list is endless and documented at a club that lives in isolation from the rest of the league and is somehow allowed to, a law unto itself, embarrassing for everyone.<\/p>\n

The stadium and training ground are municipally owned and Presa is pushing the Madrid government for a move to a new ground, something the coach says would be \u201cdevastating\u201d. Rayo backed La Liga\u2019s CVC deal<\/a> to bring investment to clubs, who would be forced to use at least 70% for development or infrastructure, but have not taken the money. Staff have long paid for equipment out of their own pockets and when players returned for pre-season, they couldn\u2019t work at the training ground, where there was a fungal infection on the grass. The players have said there has been a lack of hot water in the showers on some days.<\/p>\n

Rayo\u2019s Nobel Mendy rises for a header against Atl\u00e9tico. Photograph: Pierre-Philippe Marcou\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The stadium is even worse, rubbish and rubble piling up, cables hanging out, chunks of cement breaking off; toilets are filthy, even for a football stadium. You can romanticise humility, embrace earthiness \u2013 and they do \u2013 but this is something more basic, something beyond that: simple hygiene. The facilities are almost laughably poor, Lech Poznan\u2019s surprised kit man publishing a video: no light, boxes stacked up, a couple of plastic chairs, a few coat hangers and the old multicoloured towels stacked up in the dressing room looking like a scene from your granny\u2019s airing cupboard. The playing surface wasn\u2019t good either, and don\u2019t think that suited them, the classic sneaky trick of the small team: under the coach \u00cd\u00f1igo P\u00e9rez<\/a>, Rayo would rather play and, he lamented, they couldn\u2019t on this. The full-back Pep Chavarr\u00eda called the pitch \u201ca disgrace\u201d. \u201cNot even good enough for the regional football,\u201d according to his teammate \u00c1lvaro Garc\u00eda. Patches had been put down, but it didn\u2019t work. Then last week, 10 days after facing Osasuna, they started to relay the whole thing, four days before facing Oviedo and in the middle of the wettest month anyone could remember. They hadn\u2019t finished 24 hours before kick-off. What could possibly go wrong?<\/p>\n

On the Friday morning, Rayo\u2019s players turned up for training in the stadium, took one look and left. Patience worn down, that afternoon they put out a statement with the players\u2019 union outlining the issues they faced and calling for \u201cworthy working conditions\u201d. But it wasn\u2019t until a little after 10am the following morning, less than four hours before kick-off, that La Liga<\/a> unilaterally announced the postponement, mumbling something vague about climatic conditions and Rayo having tried their best, when they really hadn\u2019t tried at all. That weekend only one game in the Madrid region was postponed \u201cbecause\u201d of the weather, at any level and any age group: this one. Oviedo supported the Rayo players\u2019 demands, they said, but this wasn\u2019t an accident; it was negligence.<\/p>\n

Rayo\u2019s own fans agreed \u2013 they had seen it all before \u2013 and that position seemed reinforced when a week later, La Liga decided that, never mind Oviedo on 7 February, the pitch wasn\u2019t read to face Atl\u00e9tico on 15 February. This time Rayo\u2019s players and coach thought it could be ready but, with the team having to prepare at Getafe\u2019s HQ because the training ground was no better, they were forced take on Atl\u00e9tico at second division Legan\u00e9s, five tables set up outside at Rayo\u2019s training ground so that season-ticket holders could queue for a ticket. With supporters\u2019 groups calling for a boycott, not even a third came. A Mariachi band did, standing at the gates and singing Paquita la del Barrio\u2019s \u201cRat on two legs\u201d, dedicated to Presa. \u201cScum of the earth,\u201d it runs, \u201chow much damage you have done. Cockroach, bloodsucker, hyena, snake \u2026 the lowest beasts are nothing compared to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick GuideLa Liga resultsShow<\/p>\n

Elche 0-0 Osasuna; Real Madrid 4-1 Real Sociedad; Sevilla 1-1 Alav\u00e9s; Getafe 2-1 Villarreal; Espanyol 2-2 Celta Vigo; Mallorca 1-2 Real Betis; Levante 0-2 Valencia; Rayo Vallecano 3-0 Atl\u00e9tico Madrid; Oviedo 1-2 Athletic Club<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

So it was that on Sunday, as kick-off came, thousands of Rayo fans stayed at home and 2,000 marched through Vallecas. At Butarque meanwhile 5,335 people turned up to watch Rayo and Atl\u00e9tico. In truth, that was more than they hoped but most did so torn and apologetically: their struggling team needed them, they reasoned. It was still only a quarter of the members and it led to the lowest attendance since the pandemic, the sad, damaging sight of empty seats, something soulless about it all. \u201cPeople say: \u2018This is the drop that sees the glass overflow,\u2019\u201d P\u00e9rez said, the Spanish equivalent of straw on a camel\u2019s back. \u201cBut the glass is broken, and that\u2019s the danger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drop by drop, the surprise was not that Rayo went into Sunday\u2019s game in exile and the bottom three, facing relegation for the first time in five years; it was that it hadn\u2019t happened much, much earlier. And that, by the end of it, they were out again. That Rayo Vallecano<\/a>, the team that don\u2019t make sense, the club that is completely, marvellously out of place in Europe, did it again. The week that Lech Poznan came, P\u00e9rez admits he was \u201cemotionally out, and it had nothing to do with football\u201d. But that night, 2-0 down after 40 minutes, they came back to secure a 3-2 win that healed and he is still there. Against Barcelona, they wouldn\u2019t be beaten. Against Madrid, they wouldn\u2019t be either. And, in a third \u201chome\u201d game against the big three, nor would they be against Atl\u00e9tico.<\/p>\n

Rayo Vallecano defender Alfonso Espino fights for the ball with Nahuel Molina. Photograph: Pierre-Philippe Marcou\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope this helps us avoid relegation,\u201d Andrei Ratiu said. \u201cWe would have liked our fans close and understand those that didn\u2019t come. We put out a statement, and hope to be heard. We needed this win.\u201d They had deserved it too: goals from Fran P\u00e9rez, \u00d3scar Valent\u00edn and Nobel Mendy had the Final Countdown booming round Butarque, Atl\u00e9tico broken. At full-time they bundled back into the dressing room, leaping about second division facilities better than theirs. \u201cWe\u2019re happy after the week we\u2019ve had,\u201d said the captain, Valent\u00edn, a tinge of sadness sinking in as he offered an eternal truth for his team: \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been easy to focus on the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nor was it about the game, but something bigger, the coach insisted. \u201cThis is one of the best wins in a sporting sense, but it\u2019s not a special day,\u201d P\u00e9rez said. \u201cIt\u2019s a bitter day for Rayo\u2019s people, I can\u2019t say differently. I won\u2019t fall into the hypocrisy of saying: \u2018We\u2019ve won, it\u2019s a happy day.\u2019 Today is a day to be with those having a bad time, a day to think, to help, to empathise, a day to feel sad.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One day in November, the coach of Rayo Vallecano decided that was it: he was out. The captain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":["post-473802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}