"Two Fridays ago, the squad signed a statement saying they couldn't carry on like this. And last Friday, the fans who've been through it all before decided they too would walk away. Yet 48 hours later, after another week that proved them right, resisting everything, there they were still, celebrating another implausible success, another day when they had stuck it to The Man."
"Because Rayo fans were out on the streets of the self-styled independent republic of Vallecas with their banners and scarves and songs on Sunday, while their team and coach were 10km south, playing in a different city. With their training ground unusable and their home home ground declared to be so too, they had to prepare at Getafe's place and play at Leganes's stadium."
The coach resigned in November and the captain relinquished his armband as protest and dignity. The squad issued a statement saying they could not continue, and supporters staged walkouts before returning to celebrate. Supporters protested in the streets of Vallecas while the team trained at Getafe and played home matches at Leganés because their training ground and stadium were unusable. Playing before 9,000 empty seats and starting the match in the relegation zone, the team beat Atlético Madrid 3-0. Rayo remains the smallest LaLiga side, proud of its barrio stadium and remarkable ability to defy odds, pushing toward European qualification.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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