This Thursday, Rayo Vallecano received its first defeat in the group stage of the Conference League, losing 2-1 to Slovan Bratislava, which took advantage of two defensive errors, overcoming Fran Pérez’s initial goal of the first half in three minutes of the second half. The Madridistas arrived in Bratislava motivated and convinced of their chances of winning the match, and in the first seven minutes, they created two chances that made their intentions clear.
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Objectives 0-1 minute. 23: Francisco Martinez. 1-1 minute. 48: Kashiya. 1-2 minutes. 51: Alasana Yerajang.
Judgment Lawrence Visser
Yellow cards Essie (14 min), Gumbau (22 min), Kenan Bajric (33 min), Pathé Cies (39 min), Daniil Ignatenko (45 min), Mack (63 min), Petr Pokorny (72 min), Oscar Valentin (76 min), Marko Tulić (86 min) and Augusto Batala (96 min).
The first, with a shot from Gerard Gombau, forced Dominik Takac to save the ball with a changed hand. Shortly after, Jorge De Frutos tested the Slovakian goalkeeper again with a shot that forced him to stretch out so he was out of shape. One minute after that second opportunity, Vladimir Weiss received it inside the penalty area, fired a cross shot that went wrong, and Sporar finished the ball at the far post from a free kick on goal, although the referee canceled it for offside.
This action gave Rayo great fear, and it took him a few minutes to compose himself, as much as it took Fran Pérez to open the scoring after an individual action. In his struggle with the defenders, the Valencia striker received a ball that bounced from Augusto Batala’s penalty area and was able to launch a shot that lightly touched the opponent’s back and entered the local goal. Slovan, after that play, did not break down and advanced into the opponent’s area, although the biggest danger they faced were the lateral crosses destroyed by the Raiesta defence, which was as confident as it showed itself in the first half, but did not do so in the second half, as it took only seven minutes to get back on the scoreboard.
The first goal for the Slovak national team came after a corner kick taken by Weiss on the left side, who sent a low cross in the heart of the area to the unmarked Joram Kashia, who shot it into the back net. As for the second goal, it was preceded by a mistake by Florian Lejeune, who sent a ball to Batala that fell into the goal and was recovered by Weiss, who blocked the Argentine goalkeeper and passed the ball to Yerajang, who had no choice but to put his foot in the goal to score.
Iñigo Pérez lamented from the sidelines his team’s two defensive errors and moved the bench to introduce two important players, midfielder Oscar Valentin and winger Alvaro Garcia, who brought fresh air to his team’s game and gave a lot of verticality to their attack, despite their lack of depth. As the minutes passed, and above all, the confidence shown by Slovan de Bratislava in defense and in midfield, gradually weakened Rayo Vallecano, who tried until the end and managed to equalize in stoppage time with a header from Lejeune that hit the post.