Andoni Iraola’s side have risen above off-pitch noise to create their own on it, with a better home record than any top European club
, and an owner of whom fans now ask just one thing – repeatedly and to his face. To leave.
Somehow the team rises above all that. A side whose normal starting XI only has two players that weren’t there in– are fourth, a point ahead of champions Atlético. Not long ago, the other regular – full-back Iván Balliu, a former La Masia graduate – joked that they were “direct rivals of Barcelona”, who they currently lead by three places. And when it comes to playing at home, Rayo aren’t just close to Europe now, they’re ahead of Europe.
Yet that’s not really it. Nor is this the story of a team that will inevitably fall a long way, all of this quickly forgotten, even though they probably will slip down the table a little. If European places are likely to be denied, that doesn’t make them deluded or any less deserving. For a start, you still have to get those results and with less than half the season gone the team considered a relegation certainty in August have 30 points. “The coach reads games very well,” Balliu says.
Usually when a team comes up from the second division and over performs – at home, on a difficult pitch – it’s all about resisting. Rayo don’t resist: they rip into you. Yes, they are tough at times – Esteban Saveljich haswritten all over his face – and, yes, they like a tackle: no team enters more duels. But they are not dirty and they’re definitely not defensive. They are though very direct. They have scored 19 goals at home, joint second with Barcelona and Real Betis behind Sevilla.
Organised chaos might be the best description. “That’s a hard thing to achieve,” Iraola admits. “I prefer too much chaos to too much organisation. I prefer us to play at a high pace, even if it means a touch of precipitation, than play at a lower pace and have a bit more control. It suits us.” Breathless and brilliant, it suits everyone else too.
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