Last time I saw Oviedo they lost 7-1 to Barcelona in April 1989.
But they did manage to keep Gary Lineker off the scoresheet. You’ve got to find small victories somewhere.
There’s been plenty of misery since but this miracle club are back in La Liga after 25 years.
Continue reading Raised from the dead – Real Oviedo 0 Levante 2
Looks like 2025 will be peak Rayo.
Last season’s eighth place brought them European experience in the shape of Conference League, er, glory.
And a visit from North Macedonia hotshots Shkendija, who hail from Tetovo in the east, near the border with Kosovo.
John Cleese – a surprise presence here in Gijon – would’ve exploded had he been at the game!
Three-nil up after 37, Sporting chucked it away to lose in the fifth minute of added time courtesy of VAR. What a game!
One of the delights of Gijon is the Life of Brian homage in the old city – designed to pique interest in this ancient city’s Roman origins.
Continue reading Albai ite domum – Sporting Gijon 3 Albacete 4
Smash and grab Rayo sneaked past a side with an impeccable European pedigree in a top-drawer statement victory.
The boys from the barrio are beginning to mug established Spanish names – not through a muscular display of bootboy thuggery but with a thoughtful and calm approach.
Superb defence frustrates big names perhaps thinking they’re in for an easy win, and killer goals just at the right time.
I think Picasso would approve of this version of his great work.
Someone has painted his Guernica on a bunker constructed during the Spanish Civil War by the republicans to protect part of the Catalan coast had Franco launched a sea attack.
And after the war was concluded an impoverished family of seven even lived in it, as there was nowhere else. And presumably free.
Away from the swank and swagger of Real and Atletico, the boys from the barrio are back in La Liga punching above their weight again.
Now Gareth Bale has retired there’s no hope of seeing him in the lightning stripe kit. Perhaps he’ll buy them!
Anyway, after thumping Real Madrid in November this was a good test of whether Rayo could come up with another statement win against the mercurial San Sebastian side who were quite a long way back in third behind Real and Barcelona.
First gig in Madrid and they went down a storm. Of course.
The capital city’s smart set turned out in numbers for this fund-raising tour by Ukraine’s most popular musical export.
It was something of a surprise that people got there at all.
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Atletico look like a reasonable long shot for La Liga.
In some ways they are the best team in Spain. ‘Team’ in the sense of a collective effort and making the most of every talent they have.
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Not so much a football match as an outbreak of naked class war.
Rich v poor, city slickers v working class, left wing v right wing. In Spain, supporting a club is often a loaded political stance. Think of Barcelona’s ‘Mas que un club’. This was no different.
Before the match, the Rayo Ultras – known as Bukaneros – unveiled a giant banner that covered the entire Fondo Sur. It read: ‘Somos pobre como orgullo con cojones como punos’ – ‘We are poor, but proud, with testicles like fists’.
Continue reading Hasta la victoria siempre – Rayo Vallecano 2 Real Madrid 3
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