Leganes 0-1 Ray Vallecano
Both Madrid-based sides came into a local derby on Friday night in good form at Butarque, and it had the hallmarks of a local affair. Feisty, hard-fought, and generally lacking in goal-mouth action. But that does not mean to say it wasn’t full of tension and drama.
The first half passed by with Rayo in control of the game, and doing more in attack, without necessarily causing Marko Dmitrovic too many issues. Neither side had a shot on target in the first period. What it did include was a crucial poin though: Leganes captain Sergio Gonzalez was sent off, after it was deemed that he was the last man when his challenge on Randy Nteka was made.
If anything though, that only strengthened Leganes’ resolve to keep a clean sheet. Inigo Perez switched up his attacking options, and went more attacking in general with two strikers, but his side found a Leganes clearance or block on the end of every move. Finally though, the dam was broken by Pathe Ciss. Another corner saw Florian Lejeune hit the bar. Dmitrovic kept out Ciss’ first effort, but not his second, snapping it into the corner as he fell down from close range.
Despite the spirited Leganes, with just 10 minutes to go, it looked a blunt ‘assault’ on the Rayo goal for the equaliser. In the dying moments though, Lejeune turned villain after bringing down Darko Brasanac in the box.
Miguel de la Fuente stepped up with 97 minutes on the clock, but couldn’t beat Augusto Batalla from the spot low to his left. His follow-up header was met by Valentin Rosier’s knee though, and that did hit the back of the net.
However upon a lengthy VAR review, Rosier had encroached, leading to the penalty being retaken. An enormous Batalla kept out a second similar effort from de la Fuente to the other side though, and screamed victory with over 100 minutes on the clock.
It lifts Perez’s Rayo into sixth spot and a European place for the time being. They extend their unbeaten Liga run, which dates back to the first of December, and includes 10 points from their last 12 available. Leganes own five-game unbeaten streak was ended, and leaves them just three points clear of the drop in 16th.
