Real Madrid left two points in Vallecas, a field where they always have a hard time, in a match in which they started well and then gradually faded away, which allowed Rayo to tie and get into the match. The whites showed fatigue from the Germany match and their second half was very weak. The tie leaves Barcelona with eight points and tomorrow, Monday, Girona could be within three.
Ancelotti brought out the more or less expected team, with four changes compared to the Leipzig eleven. According to it, it was clear that Lunin will be the goalkeeper for the rest of the season, that Tchouaméni will play as a center back when Rüdiger is not there and that Brahim is the substitute for the injured Bellingham. The only slightly surprising bet by the Italian coach was to play with Joselu as Vinícius’s companion instead of the usual Rodrygo, which gives an idea of ??what he expected, a close match with many centers to the pot.
However, the duel turned upside down for Madrid very soon. In the third minute, a counterattack by Brahim caught Rayo in a bad position and allowed a cross from Malaga to the area that Joselu closed with an unappealable header.
During the first quarter of an hour the whites dominated at will but did not find a way to put an end to the game. In the 19th minute there was another very similar goal, this time with a cross from Lucas Vázquez and another header from the Galician striker. The VAR intervened to annul the goal because the ball had gone over the baseline before the cross.
Due to a certain indolence on the part of Madrid, which lacked the predatory instinct of other days, the Rayo of a lifetime appeared. The Vallecas team, after a terrible streak that brought them closer to relegation, dismissed Francisco this week to give the bench to Iñigo Pérez, an assistant to Andoni Iraola. The team met again in the middle of the first half, with the stadium very angry at that time against its president, Raúl Martín Presa, and shouts and banners against a possible transfer of Rayo to another area of ??Madrid, as the president of the Community, Isabel Diaz Ayuso.
Then the Rayo of a lifetime emerged: a fighting team that makes it uncomfortable for the greats in its field, that does not have much but that knows very well what to play and that what it does it does well. The key play came in the 24th minute in a shot by Trejo that went to a corner. The VAR intervened again and warned that the ball had hit Camavinga’s arm. After several minutes of consultation, Muñiz Ruiz whistled a penalty that Raúl de Tomás converted into his first goal of the season.
From then on to the break the game was mixed, without a clear dominator. Modric, Kroos’s replacement, could not gain control of the game and anything could happen in that street rusher. Valverde was able to score with a shot that hit the post but Rayo was also able to make it 2-1 with a shot from Álvaro García to which Lunin responded with a great save, his only intervention of the first half.
The second half began with a big mistake by Tchouaméni, who made a mistake in the area when the ball was released when he lost it to Alvaro García, who finished off, but the Frenchman was able to intervene and avoid bigger problems.
As expected, Madrid took control immediately and created a series of chances: a high shot from Brahim in a good position and a header from Tchouaméni after a corner kick. Joselu lost the easiest one with a weak and centered shot when he bit into it.
Ancelotti refreshed the team with Kroos for Camavinga and Rodrygo for Brahim. Madrid was looking for more finesse in the center of the field because they were not developing the game well and Rayo was playing more and more calmly.
Kroos had the victory on a free kick saved by Dmitrisevski. Madrid pressed the final minutes, but Rayo closed in well and did not suffer too much. Carvajal entered in the last section, saw two very close (in 92 and 94) and was sent off. The tie is a treasure for Vallecas. The whites left enraged.
