A goal by Sergi Guardiola in the second half tipped the balance in favor of Cádiz (1-0) in a very open match against Rayo Vallecano, who pressed until the end but could not beat the Argentine goalkeeper Ledesma, with which the team Andalusian provisionally comes out of the relegation places. This result breaks the positive streak of the Madrid team away from home and maintains the local trend of Cádiz, which escapes the relegation zone while waiting for other results on this day.
Álvaro García and Salvi Sánchez were returning to their old stadium, wingers with a Cadista past who now defend the colors of a Rayo Vallecano in which Raúl de Tomás made his debut. On behalf of Cádiz, the Uruguayan Brian Ocampo fell out of the squad due to injury and his place in the eleven was taken by Rubén Sobrino.
A Cádiz forced by the classification was looking for the goal and squeezed Rayo, who easily solved several corner kicks against in a row. However, Rayo was about to get the best prize after twenty-two minutes of play. After two corner kicks in a row, Comesaña hit the ball with his heel and De Tomás appeared to send it into the net, but his debut goalscorer was canceled for offside.
Once again, De Tomás starred in a dangerous action when, hindered by Iza Carcelén, he headed a good lateral cross wide. Rayo went up and Cádiz suffered in a game with clear phases of dominance in its first half hour. With better work from both defenses on the attacks, the first half passed until in the last minutes Sergio Camello tried his luck with a shot that went wide by very little.
After the restart, the match gained in intensity and both teams openly sought the goal. Goalkeeper Dimitrievski saved a one-on-one against Cadista Sergi Guardiola, while Comesaña gave up his place due to injury to Unai López.
The carousel of changes continued with both managers taking precautions when retiring players with yellow cards. At Rayo, Trejo replaced De Tomás and Pathé Ciss replaced Óscar. On the Cadista side, Lozano and Fede San Emeterio entered in the positions of Roger and Alcaraz.
Despite this greater intensity and rise in revolutions in both teams, we had to wait until minute 74 to see a goal. It was the work of the newly signed Cádiz striker Sergi Guardiola, who timidly celebrated and apologized to the fans of his old team. The striker took advantage of a deep pass from Espino to win over the Rayista defense and stand up to Dimitrievski, who this time lost the game.
Cádiz defended itself trying to hold the ball and cut the pace, whose bench and fans did not understand the announcement that extra time would be nine minutes. In that addition, Rayo locked up the local team, which a counterattack by Alejo led to Catena’s second reprimand.
With a man less, Iraola placed the central defender and great finisher Lejeune well ahead, but Cádiz knew how to hold on to the result in a game that finally lasted after 103 minutes.
1 – Cadiz: Conan Ledesma; Iza Prison, Luis Hernandez, Fali, Hawthorn, Ruben Alcaraz (Faith San Emeterio, m.67), Escalante, Bongonda (Ivan Alejo, m.73), Nephew (Alex Fernandez, m.77), Roger (Lozano, m. 67) and Sergi Guardiola (Chris Ramos, m.77).
0 – Rayo Vallecano: Dimitrievski; Balliu, Catena, Lejeune, Fran Garcia, Santi Comesaña (Unai Lopez, m.51), Oscar (Pathé Ciss, m.67), Isi (Falcao, m.77), Alvaro Garcia, Sergio Camello (Andres Martin, m.77). 77) and Raoul de Thomas (Trejo, m.67).
Goal: 1-0, M.74: Sergi Guardiola.
Referee: Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz (Galician Committee). He admonished Raúl de Tomás (m.50), Rubén Alcaraz (m.55), Espino, (m.58), Falcao (m.89) and Escalante (m.102) with a yellow card. He sent off Rayista Catena (m.57 and 96) for a double yellow card.
Incidents: LaLiga Santander matchday 23 played at the Nuevo Mirandilla stadium in front of 16,713 spectators. Presence of numerous Rayo Vallecano fans. Cádiz did not play in yellow and released a shirt specially designed for Carnival.
