He Rayo Vallecano faced the most important week in its recent history with two open fronts that rarely coincide in the same club: mathematical salvation in LaLiga and the dream of their first European final. On Thursday they beat Strasbourg in Vallecas and were 90 minutes behind Leipzig. On Sunday they visit Getafe with the urgency of adding points that will definitively put away the specter of relegation. For a club that is making its debut in the European semifinals, the week brought more fronts than expected. But Rayo overcame them all and planted his flag in Europe.
He draw against Real Sociedad left a trace of indignation which took two days to find official support. On Tuesday, April 28, the CTA published its verdict in ‘Review Time’, the weekly program with which the refereeing establishment analyzes the most controversial plays of each day. The ruling reflected two decisive errors in Vallecas. In the 3rd minute, a “clear, obvious and continuous” grab on Carlos Martín to which neither the referee nor the VAR reacted. And in the second half, the action that turned the game around: The VAR called the referee to review a play by Rațiu that, according to the CTA itself, “did not constitute a clear and manifest error”. The referee whistled a penalty, annulled Rayo’s legitimate 2-2 and Real scored 1-3.
‘Review Time’ agrees with Rayo: clear penalty not called and two bad VAR interventions
What made this more than a postgame complaint was the buildup. And, despite the tie, Rayo It has been one of the teams most affected by referee errors this season in First. In the official statement issued by the club, the entity listed thirteen matches with a direct impact on the result and on between 15 and 20 points the possible impact on the classificationaccording to their internal estimates. In a fight for permanence where each point is a world, arithmetic hurts.
The paradox is that the CTA, upon recognizing its errors, gave Rayo the evidence to appeal. But the Disciplinary Committee rejected all the club’s resources despite these recognitions. He maintained the yellow card for Ratiu derived from the play that the refereeing team itself considered poorly reviewed, he also maintained that of Pathé Ciss despite the images provided by the club which, according to the club, showed that there was no contact with Barrenetxea, and ratified the seven-game sanction against Isi Palazónwho will not defend the Strip in the League until the following campaign.
It wasn’t the first time. Throughout this season, the CTA has recognized in ‘Review Time’ at least five previous errors to the detriment del Rayo: Koke’s non-expulsion for grabbing Batalla’s neck in the derby against Atlético, the unreported penalty and expulsion against Alemao against Alavés, the penalty against Pacha Espino against Celta that the VAR had to annul, and the yellow card for Valentín Gómez against Betis that the CTA considered red. Five public recognitions before the two in the match against Real Sociedad. Seven in total. A figure that, in the context of a fight for permanence, constitutes a background that is difficult to ignore.
Rayo Vallecano 1-0 Strasbourg Conference League Summary
The first leg of the semis was not free of controversy
On Thursday, before the Strasbourgnew actions arrived that ignited the franjirroja parish. A little less than last weekend, yes. The most talked about, in the final minutes: the goalkeeper Penders stepped on De Frutos inside the area and neither the referee nor the VAR indicated a penalty. “I turned around and saw that he stepped on me on purpose, he went to step on my ankle. For me it is a very clear penalty“, declared the winger at the end of the match. His teammate Ratiu was along the same lines: “I also saw an attack. It’s strange that the VAR didn’t come in”.
Before, the referee had forgiven El Mourabet the second yellow card for a clear knockdown on Ilias on the edge of the area, which would have left Strasbourg with 10 at the time when Iñigo Pérez’s men had the French on the ropes facing a possible 2-0. But not even those decisions Not even the noise of a week full of grievances managed to tarnish a historic night nor extinguish the joy of a fiefdom that experienced its first European semi-final with the emotion of someone who knows that this is not repeated every day. Rayo also won. And there is the best mental response of a Strip in a week marked by controversy. Playing with so much dedication and pride that possible errors, for once, went almost unnoticed. That doesn’t erase any of the above. But it says a lot about this team.