Rayo Vallecano and Alavés drew (1-1) in an unusual match played in the Rayo’s ‘exile’ at Butarque, in Leganés, which was decided by goals from Sergio Camello for the Madrid team and the Dominican Mariano Díaz in the final minutes for the Basque side. Six months after the derby against Atlético de Madrid, Rayo Vallecano returned to its second ‘exile’ in Butarque as it could not play in its stadium after the concession was withdrawn by the Community of Madrid, owner of the venue, while renovations are carried out to guarantee safety and health for attendees. In this exchange of accusations, the Rayo club, which considers that the game could have been played in Vallecas, assures that everything has been “rectified” as reflected in the submitted documentation. This exile to Leganés did not sit well with Rayo fans, who attended in very low numbers in the Madrid municipality, with barely 4,280 attendees.
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That said, those who attended made themselves heard, as one minute before the match, when the club president, Raúl Martín Presa, appeared to take his seat in the box, the stands thundered: ‘Out, out’ and ‘Presa, leave now’. On the pitch, Rayo started with more pace than Alavés and proof of this is that they had three quite clear chances in the first minutes. A shot from Unai López that Sivera repelled, a header from Andrei Ratiu that went wide of the post, and a high shot from Isi Palazón, who later had to be substituted due to injury. Alavés, seeking a more elaborate game, relied on the imagination that Toni Martínez and Lucas Boyé could bring to their offensive play, causing a lot of damage to Rayo’s defense, especially to Pelayo Fernández, who almost conceded a goal before halftime after a shot hit the post from the former. That play happened just after VAR disallowed a goal for Rayo, precisely for Pelayo, whose shot, following a corner kick from Unai López, went into the opponent’s net with a touch on the right arm. ç
Right at the start of the second half, the match changed when Sergio Camello found a ball at the edge of the area after a good run from Ratiu and, after shaking off several opponents, moved into the box before crossing the ball in his shot past Sivera. That goal hurt Alavés, who found no answer to Rayo’s defensive order and only in some isolated actions from their forwards or Mikel Rodríguez did they make the home defense and Augusto Batalla, who left injured at 60 minutes, work hard.
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For that reason, Quique Sánchez Flores, Alavés’ coach, moved his bench and brought on the Dominican Mariano Díaz, who gave a new breath to his team’s attack and equalized the match after taking advantage of a huge error by Ratiu in his pass to Dani Cárdenas. In the final stretch, the Basque side had the best chances to score, missing a very clear opportunity through Toni Martínez, who, alone against Cárdenas after a cross from Youssef, sent his shot over the crossbar, and another low shot from Mariano that was caught by the Rayo goalkeeper. With this result, Alavés has four points in the standings after playing two matches and Rayo Vallecano, one.
