Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw at Rayo Vallecano on Sunday. In Toni Kroos’ 450th competitive game for the Whites, a sending-off exacerbated the defensive bottleneck
Naturally, Real Madrid went into the small city derby against Rayo as favorites and set about living up to this role early on. As early as the 3rd minute, Valverde played Joselu free after an exemplary counter-attack and he scored to make it 1-0. Although the assistant had initially ruled the goal offside, the VAR corrected this incorrect decision. A bitter goal for the home side and their new coach Inigo Perez, as the Rayistas had wasted a great chance to score before the counter-attack
VAR penalty brings Rayo into the game
The 15th-placed team in the table then struggled to overcome the deficit, which Joselu almost extended after just under 20 minutes. But the former Bundesliga player was whistled back again, this time rightly so, allowing Rayo to draw level at 1-1 moments later. Camavinga had deflected Trejo’s shot over the goal with his hand as he turned away, and ex-Real player de Tomas humorlessly slotted the subsequent penalty into the net after VAR intervention (27′).
For the underdogs, who had recently lost six games in a row and lost five times in the process, the equalizer came as a relief. Both teams now played a lively game and created good chances. However, Valverde hit the post with a volley (35′) and Lunin saved Alvaro’s effort on the short corner (43′), meaning the teams went into the break at 1:1
Tchouameni makes the save – Kroos misses
Tchouameni then opened the second half with a daring moment. As the last man, he lost the ball to Alvaro seconds after the restart, but was then able to block his attempted shot and correct his faux pas. What initially seemed like a seamless continuation of the thoroughly entertaining first half turned out to be the only highlight of a much more meagre period for a long time.
While Rayo seemed to be able to live with the draw, Los Blancos rarely managed to pose a threat to the underdogs, even despite offensive changes. After Joselu’s first attempt (59′), it took until the 80th minute before Kroos, who was celebrating his 450th competitive game for Real Madrid as a substitute, curled a fine free-kick towards goal, which Dimitrievski was able to defuse
Carvajal exacerbates Real’s bottleneck
It was the last big chance of a rather poor afternoon from Real’s point of view, to which Carvajal, who had also come on as a substitute, put an unsightly end in stoppage time: Cautioned for complaining in the 90th +3rd minute, he allowed himself to be provoked by Kike just two turns of the clock later and struck out lightly with his arm. Kike’s quite theatrical fall was followed by a yellow card, meaning that Real’s already thin backline will be without another player next Sunday (9pm) against Sevilla FC.
Rayo Vallecano, meanwhile, will travel to the Blancos’ closest rivals a day later with a fuller squad and Inigo Perez’s successful coaching debut. The Rayistas play host to FC Girona from 9pm.
