Inaki Williams saves Athletic as Rayo send out SOS appeal

Rayo Vallecano 1-1 Athletic Club

Following the debacle of the cancelled Real Oviedo clash, Rayo Vallecano returned to Vallecas for the first time in 35 days, and did so with a visceral reaction for President Raul Martin Presa. Blamed for the mismanagement of the club, the stadium was filled with ‘SOS’ signs handed out outside the ground, a plea to the authorities intervene against their owner.

Rayo began the game better, with Pacha Espino forcing the first save from Unai Simon, minutes in. The opening 20 minutes of the game saw both backlines launch raking diagonals in a bid to beat the opposition press. Not until the 26th minute did the first clear chance present itself to Alvaro Garcia, who had a free header at the near post, but could not generate the necessary power to beat Unai Simon from Ilias Akhomach’s delivery.

With the spectre of the Copa del Rey semi-final second leg against Real Sociedad looming over Athletic Club, Ernesto Valverde was good for his word that he had his full focus on Rayo Vallecano, making just two changes. Yet it was a cumbersome start to the game all the same, with Oihan Sancet and Gorka Guruzeta being crowded out with ease by Rayo. Unai Gomez was forced into emergency action in the left-back position to prevent Ilias from converting Isi Palazon’s cross this time, as Rayo began to get on top.

Ten minutes before the break, Jorge de Frutos had the ball in the back of the net after Alvaro Garcia was released in behind Athletic right-back Jesus Areso. On the stretch, de Frutos slid to convert the square ball at the back post. It came from Gerard Gumbau winning the ball back in midfield and finding Isi in a pocket of space – which had become a pattern at this point.

At this point, Athletic fans were becoming frustrated not just with the score or their lack of offensive output, but that Rayo seemed to come out on top of every battle. When the half-time whistle came, the Athletic glares were directed at their own teammates.

Inaki Williams answers Athletic SOS

The expectation was that Athletic would come out in a bid to prove the first half wasn’t really the personality of their side. Ernesto Valverde could scarcely have wished for a better one. Simon went long from his own half, and half-time substitute Alex Berenguer cushioned a header down for Inaki Williams. Without letting the ball drop, he controlled with his thigh, and fired a volley into the far corner from the right side of the box.

It was a piece of quality that had no place in the Athletic performance to that point, and much to Valverde’s annoyance, Rayo returned with two decent openings down the left, but Garcia and Espino could not find the killer pass this time. Ten minutes into an already busy second period, Athletic midfielder Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta injured his arm as he tried to break his fall, an issue that Los Leones may fear keeps him out of their Copa del Rey semi-final second leg.

The introduction of Alejandro Rego, his replacement, did slow down the Rayo press though. Dwarfing his Rayo opponents, they struggled to nick the ball free of Rego. Going into the final 15 minutes, Rayo seemed primarily intent on slipping behind the Athletic defence, and Andrei Ratiu, de Frutos and Pedro Diaz did so on several occasions, but the desperate scramble for the ball as it went across the six-yard box seemed to come up Athletic every time.

Los Leones themselves had managed just one other shot on target outside of Williams’ outstanding volley, and the only real saving grace was that Rayo had been unable to take advantage of their numerous promising attacks. Their own forward line was starved of service, with Athletic unable to string more than a few passes together, which will cause Valverde significant concern if a different team does not show up to Anoeta on Wednesday.

The point keeps Athletic in 8th, while Rayo move up to 14th, extending their cushion over 18th-placed Mallorca to four points. In contrast, Inigo Perez will feel significantly short-changed by the point, having watched his plan function more or less from start to finish. The three times they did manage to match their play with quality finishing, two of them were ruled out for offside.