For Sergi Darder, receiving Rayo Vallecano in LaLiga is synonymous with success. Twice he did it at La Rosaleda as a Málaga player, which ended with a 5-0 and a 4-0 to which he contributed with a goal. And on one occasion, on February 9, 2019, he faced them wearing the shirt of the Spanish with a much less bulky but much more significant result, for what it assumed and how it was produced. One of his peak moments until today as a blue and white and one of the most exciting that the fans keep in their minds from when they could still go to football.
That night, and in front of 22,104 spectators, Darder went from anger to ecstasy. The youth squad had a goal annulled in the 19th minute for a very fair offside and, in the final minutes, another was thrown back, this time by Roberto Rosales' orsay. And, meanwhile, Rayo had advanced with a goal from Abdoulaye Ba to the center of today's parakeet Adrián Embarba, they had also denied him a target for offside by Álvaro García, and Espanyol equalized thanks to the fact that the VAR warned of a penalty on Wu Lei that the referee, Eduardo Prieto Iglesias, had not seen; Borja Iglesias transformed it. That provisional 1-1 did not move away from relegation to the Blue and Whites, who came from adding four points out of 33, nor did it take Rayo out of the dangerous zone.
And that's how things seemed to be when, in the 95th minute –Prieto Iglesias had added six after so much interruption by the VAR–, Darder received a new center from Rosales in the front of the area. And, without thinking twice or even letting the ball bounce, he spliced a volley that went in slow motion towards Stole Dimitrievski's goal until it sneaked deep into the net, causing an irrepressible euphoria among the players and, logically, among the public of Cornellà-El Prat.
Darder's volley.
GORKA LEIZA
“Spectators come to see things like that”
“In the end, the spectators come to see things like that, Darder has shown that he is a footballer of a lot of category”, affirmed after that 2-1 a Joan Francesc Ferrer 'Rubi' who overcame a terrible streak but that, after that boost of morale, he would only lose two of the 15 games that remained to finish the championship, to the point that Espanyol He went from suffering from relegation –which would end up consuming the Rayo– to qualify for the Europa League.
And, among other secrets, Rubi had Darder, who completed his best season in the First Division, with four goals and three assists, and that that night against Rayo and on many other occasions he acted as a midfielder, in a brave 4-3-3, together with Marc Roca and Óscar Melendo.
A position that, after a long displaced year, has already recovered in the course of this season under the orders of Vicente Moreno, and in which he has just settled in with Keidi Bare, a great complement for the Mallorcan to participate in the offensive game bluntly and had three goals and two assists with 20 games to go. Starting with Rayo's ‘fetish’ visit.