MADRID, 6 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Rayo Vallecano rose to fifth place in the LaLiga Santander 2022-2023 standings and confirmed its candidacy to fight for the European positions after beating UD Almería 2-0 this Monday, in the match that closed the twentieth day of the championship .
The red-and-fringed team did not miss the setbacks of Villarreal and Betis and, with their first home win since defeating Real Madrid at the beginning of November, they surpassed them in the table to place themselves with 32 points, already very close to the main objective, permanence, but also three of the fourth that gives access to the Champions League, held by Atlético.
Andoni Iraola’s team succeeded in beating an Almería that demonstrated on the grass of the Estadio de Vallecas its status as one of the worst league visitors. Rubi’s men added one more defeat at home, the seventh in ten outings, and they still do not put land in the middle with relegation, which they have three points behind.
And that the beginning of the group from Almeria was promising. Lucas Robertone, Gonzalo Melero and, above all, Leo Baptistao, enjoyed good chances to open the scoring in a hectic start to the match where the locals also had theirs in between through Isi, who ran into Fernando.
Little by little, Rayo established itself and managed to gain control of the game. Andrés Martín and Óscar Trejo had two good chances to put the red-and-red team ahead, but the visiting goalkeeper showed reflexes and the score did not move at half-time.
After this, the script that the party had taken did not change. The Vallecano team continued to take the initiative against an opponent who seemed to be waiting for their chance, a plan that began to go awry with Rodrygo Ely’s unfortunate own goal.
The goal hurt Rubi’s men and although Fernando avoided the 2-0 one-on-one against Andrés Martín, he could not do it against Álvaro García, who increased the advantage seconds after entering the field of play. Almería tried to advance lines in search of cutting and Rayo tried to take advantage of the spaces to sentence, but Fernando and Dimitrievsky did not make concessions.