Two goals in the first half, one from Iván Balliu on his own goal after a defensive error and another from the Brazilian Luiz Henrique, allowed Betis to take the three points from Vallecas and establish themselves in European positions, embittering the return of Raúl De Tomás, who played the first minutes of the season with Rayo.
Two months after doing so for the last time, Rayo returned to Vallecas with overwhelming excitement among his fans due to its proximity to the European positions and the possibility of seeing the first minutes of Raúl De Tomás in the franjirroja shirt since his return to the club , last September.
However, all that illusion of the Rayista fans faded after six minutes. Betis took the lead with a goal from Iván Balliu on his own goal. Fekir centered a corner from the right, the Macedonian goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski missed his fists and the ball bounced off his teammate’s head to lodge in the back of the mesh.
Thirteen minutes later, at 19, when Rayo seemed blocked with a game that was not very fluid, the Madrid team managed to tie. He did it through Sergio Camello, who took advantage of a Rui Silva rebound inside the area after a long shot from Florian Lejeune that the Portuguese goalkeeper couldn’t save.
That goal improved Rayo’s offensive performance, although without creating excessive danger for Betis, who waited for their opportunity to hit the Madrid team again before the break.
The Brazilian winger Luiz Henrique received a ball from the right side, got rid of a good dribble from Fran García and, from the front, crossed a shot with his right foot that Dimitrievski could not save.
For the second half, Manuel Pellegrini was the first to move his bench, bringing on midfielder Guido Rodríguez, recently world champion with Argentina, replacing the Mexican Andrés Guardado. The objective, to gain consistency in the midfield before the foreseeable step forward of Rayo, who wanted to be the protagonist with the ball knowing that all his options would go through that tactic.
The delirium in Vallecas came after 61 minutes, when Raúl De Tomás entered the pitch, and immediately afterwards Isi Palazón invented an individual move from the right side that ended in a goal. After the celebration, the jug of cold water. The referee annulled it because in the free-kick that gave rise to the play there were four Rayo players offside.
Meanwhile, Betis continued to do their thing and shortly after they were able to end the clash with a shot from Sergio Canales that hit the crossbar, just as his teammate Alex Moreno did shortly after with another shot that hit the crossbar and made the local fans sigh with relief.
Until the end, Rayo tried in every way and with all its troops, coming to play the last minutes, after the departure of Radamel Falcao and Andrés Martín, with the five forwards of their squad besieging Rui Silva’s goal.
1 – Rayo Vallecano: Dimitrievski; Balliu, Catena, Lejeune, Fran Garcia (Selling, m.78); Isi (Andres Martin, m.89), Valentin (Falcao, m.89), Unai Lopez (Raul De Tomas, m.61), Alvaro Garcia; Trejo (Comesaña, m.61); and Camel.
2 – Betis: Rui Silva; Ruibal, Pezzella, Edgar, Alex Brown; Guard (Guido Rodriguez, m.46), William Carvalho; Luis Henry (Victor Ruiz, m.90), Fekir (John, m.90), Canales (Rodri, m.73); and Borja Churches (William Joseph, m.68).
Goals: 0-1: M.7 Balliu; 1-1: M.19 Camello; 1-2: M.39 Luis Henrique.
Referee: Isidro Diaz de Mera (Spanish-Manchego Committee). Warned Alvaro Garcia (m.51), Trejo (57), Valentin (83) of the Lightning; and William Carvalho, 53, and Luis Henry, 82, of Betis.
Incidents: match corresponding to day 16 of the Santander League, played at the Vallecas Stadium before 13,119 spectators. A minute of silence was observed in memory of Brazilian footballer Edson Arantes do Nascimento, ‘Pelé’, who died on December 29 at the age of 82.
