Not Rayo. Which isn’t to say they aren’t tough — they are. And it’s not to say they’re not physical — boy, are they. In fact, there may be no team in Spain that’s better prepared physically than they are. “Our football is very physical; we all leap into the press, we try to make the game physically very hard for the opponents,” Alvaro Garcia says. Within the game, their fitness coach, Pablo de la Torre, is considered among the best.
This though is in the mind too. Vallecas is a famously working-class neighbourhood down to the east of Madrid and it’s proud, which fits somehow. You know you’re smaller, poorer, but you’re not going to cower. You’re going to stand up, fight if you have to. And so they’re, well, fun.
Only Barcelona, Madrid, Athletic, Atletico and Real Sociedad have scored more in LaLiga this season, and they’re only one goal off being in the top three for goals. Rayo don’t wait for you; they go for you. Over and over and over again. They don’t let you breathe and don’t let you out. They throw everything at you, full-backs and wingers doubling up on both sides, the ball in the box repeatedly, getting beyond you on all sides, suddenly loads of them in your six-yard box. They get into your half fast, all over you — only Athletic play a higher percentage of their passes in the opposition area or put in more crosses. They run and run and run. Fran Garcia especially, but all of them. And yet, don’t think this is only athleticism; they can play. It’s just that it’s all accelerated, which makes it even harder. The volume is turned up high.
That’s volume, noise. And volume, quantity.
At least to the end of this season. He didn’t go — mid-season is not the time, he has always thought — and while Leeds was attractive, there is a job to do. Not to get Rayo into Europe, at least not in theory, but to get them safe. “The position doesn’t interest me; the points do,” he said on Monday. On 32 points, Rayo are basically safe already. So maybe the targets can be changed, recalibrated. Maybe Europe isn’t so absurd – although to be clear, it is absolutely absurd for a club like this. Certainly, it sounded like they might actually believe that it’s possible this time.
“This time” is the key. Last year, Rayo started the season superbly too — it took until the second half of the season for them to lose at home and the talk then was of Europe too, that song sung then as well — but then in Alvaro Garcia’s words “we made a right mess of it.” In the end, they did have to fight to avoid relegation. The very fact that it happened before might help to stop it happening again and Iraola has talked about lessons learnt, a balance found. One of those lessons, he suggested, is that this is a team that play better under pressure. One that needs … to need. And so Europe could be a useful demand even if they don’t get there in the end.
“If we can get [survival] sorted, then why not dream?” Alvaro Garcia said. It would be good for everyone else, but is Europe ready for them?
“I trust that this season we can take a step forwards,” Isi told Spanish radio after Monday night’s win. “Would I sign up for Europe now? Of course, man. Give me a pen and a piece of paper and I’ll sign right now. We have the experience from last season and it wasn’t easy in the second half of the season but I think we’re more complete this season. But we have to keep our feet on the floor: we’re Rayo Vallecano.”
