European Leagues
James Rodriguez Makes La Liga Return As Rayo Vallecano Down Osasuna
Rayo Vallecano picked up their second win of the season on Monday night with a comeback victory over Osasuna, who are level with Los Madrilenos on 7 points, but separated by five places. Rayo now sit in sixth, while Los Rojillo are in 11th.
The home side started on the front foot, but were struggling to break down Osasuna, who grew increasingly confident on the break. Raul Garcia de Haro had a penalty appeal turned down, and Bryan Zaragoza began to trouble Andrei Ratiu at right-back. His slaloming run from midfield ended with the ball narrowly past the post.
Then a ball cleared high into the air was brought down by Garcia de Haro, beating the defender with his touch before firing the ball into the top corner for the best goal of his Osasuna career.
After the half, Rayo came out with renewed purpose, and sought out Osasuna aggressively, with a tempo to their play, and plenty of crosses. Defender Abdul Mumin was certainly in a crossing position when he thumped the ball in off the near post close to the top corner, for the equaliser before the hour-mark.
Their ambition did not decline at that point though, and when a ball from Pep Chavarria found Ratiu on the edge of the box, his effort was deflected into the corner. For the final 10 minutes, Rayo fans were treated to their first sight of James Rodriguez, who came on for his debut, and contributed a nice pass to the far post.
⚡️ Primer partido, primera victoria.
❤️ ¡Debut soñado de @jamesdrodriguez en el #RayoOsasuna!#insideLALIGA | #LALIGAEASPORTS pic.twitter.com/bwMQrlOGWY
— LALIGA (@LaLiga) September 16, 2024
It was Unai Lopez that came up with another excellent goal though, as Los Rojillo came forward looking for a late point. He drove forward until five yards before the box, and with four teammates alongside him, fired into the corner anyway, sealing the match. Ruben Pena had the best late chance for Osasuna, heading narrowly wide at the far post, but they could not set Rayo on the backfoot in the final moments.
Inigo Perez will be content to get his first win since the opening day of the season, with Atletico Madrid and Girona on the way. Osasuna host winless Las Palmas next, before a trip to Valencia, as Vicente Moreno looks for a third win from four home games.
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