Rayo Vallecano 3-0 Real Oviedo
When the game scheduled for February 7 was first suspended four hours before the start of the game, Real Oviedo said they will seek three points in an orderly manner, feeling disadvantaged by the decision. On the field, they were missing another similar form of bullying in Vallecas.
Which is not to say that Oviedo has been outclassed by Rayo Vallecano. The first half was slippery until it was dangerous, the players slipped. It wasn’t the only pitch the players struggled to buy into, with neither side looking able to break the deadlock in the first half. The sinking feeling around Oviedo at the moment means that Los Carbayones seem to be fighting the end of themselves.
After scoring the winner with the last kick of the game against Atletico Madrid at the weekend, Guillermo Almada was preparing for a team talk when Andrei Ratiu powered a long-range shot past Aaron Escandell. Jorge de Frutos was sharp in David Carmo’s absence, and cut through him to tap home the opener minutes before the break.
Rayo points to a disparity in attack
If Oviedo always feared disaster, Rayo seemed happy that the game unfolded without forcing things, confident that it would fall their way. Just five minutes into the second half, Alvaro Garcia curled a header from the back left for de Frutos to save. He played the ball back to Garcia inside the box, but as he hesitated, Santiago Colombatto collided with his back in a heavy challenge that VAR had no chance of mercy. Escandell guessed well, but de Frutos had enough of his penalty to beat him to the left.
That left flank was the scene of all Rayo’s damage, and when they won the ball up just before the hour mark, Pedro Diaz quickly fed Garcia to run at Lucas Ahijado. Driving into the box, Escandell was equal to his shot, but Garcia was able to squeeze the follow-up at the near post to all but end the game with half an hour left.
🗣️ ¡ESTO ES EL RAYO! ❤️🔥 pic.twitter.com/E44a5ksIVH
– Rayo Vallecano (@RayoVallecano) March 4, 2026
Slackness crept into the game late on, and Perez made Ahijado suffer, almost creating a fourth with a cross into the six-yard box. Thiago Borbas was in the lead for Oviedo, and scored just one with 15 minutes to go. Oviedo’s best chance of the game fell to him 10 minutes later, but Borbas fired the ball harmlessly into the arms of the ineffective Augusto Batalla in the penalty area. Alvaro Reina then saw his improved effort from behind cleared off the line by Florian Lejeune, the pressure coming too late.
Rayo won’t get much praise for their victory, but it did come with some comfort that Inigo Perez will believe is very rare. His team is sitting in the 12th place with a gap of six points which is now slack. Oviedo seemed trapped in a vicious circle of small disasters throughout the game. Once again, without looking worse than their competitors they came out worse, and now the slide towards Segunda is accelerating, and it looks difficult to stop – safety is nine points away.
