Second-Half Change of Pace Drives Real Madrid to Victory over Rayo Vallecano

Real Madrid recovered from a difficult first-half performance to step up a gear after the break and score twice on Wednesday evening, securing a vital 2-0 win away to Rayo Vallecano.

Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti, per Alberto Navarro of Real Madrid's official website, had warned in his pre-match press conference that his side could take nothing for granted against what he expected to be "dogged and well-organised" opponents. And so it proved during the opening 45 minutes, as Rayo dominated possession and pinned his side back.

"We want to pressurise Madrid as much as we can," Rayo manager Paco Jemez had said beforehand, per Maite Martin of AS. And he was good to his word. The home side were energetic and proactive from the kick-off, pressing high up the pitch and making it difficult for Madrid to build well-structured attacks.

The odd quality flick from James Rodriguez or Luka Modric allowed Madrid to break the press, but they otherwise struggled to get the front three involved. Ancelotti did not look like a happy man as the sides left the pitch at half-time.

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It is impossible to know what the Italian said in the dressing room during the interval, but Madrid certainly emerged for the second half with much greater intensity and purpose to their play. Suddenly, they were first to every ball.

Rodriguez—probably Madrid's most outstanding player on the night—won the ball back inside the attacking half and crossed for Gareth Bale to head wide just a couple of minutes in.

Marcelo then flashed a superbly struck effort just wide from the edge of the area shortly after Cristiano Ronaldo had been denied a clear penalty for a foul by Antonio Amaya inside the area following another superb Rodriguez pass.

Ronaldo was booked for diving in a flurry of four yellow cards for Madrid, all of which came in as many minutes within the opening 10 minutes of the second half. The others—handed out to Bale, Daniel Carvajal and Toni Kroos, respectively—were illustrative of the aggression with which Ancelotti's side began the second period, even though that aggression was sometimes a little misplaced.

The reward for their improvement took a little time in coming, but the breakthrough finally arrived with just over 20 minutes left to play. Carvajal, who had struggled to deal with Rayo's rapid winger Adri Embarba during the first half, took the ball in stride down the right, drove into the area and crossed for Ronaldo to head home.

The second goal came five minutes later, with Rodriguez receiving Ronaldo's pass and aiming a precise low finish into the corner of the net from the edge of the area.

There were a couple of chances at either end thereafter, but having weathered the first-half storm, Madrid held on to take the three points and remain four points shy of Barcelona at the top of La Liga.

It was also a win that marked a landmark for Ancelotti. Per Diego Martin of AS, it was his 50th league victory while in charge of Madrid.

And the Italian coach declared himself delighted with his side's second-half showing during his post-match press conference, per Madrid-based journalist Dermot Corrigan of ESPN:

I would also be remiss not to mention Iker Casillas' performance. The under-fire goalkeeper produced a number of good saves at important moments in the match. The majority were ones that he would be expected to make, but a couple of them were of real quality.

The victory did not, however, come without a cost. Per AS, Kroos, Ronaldo and Rodriguez—who was booked for a first-half handball—will all miss Saturday's match at home to Eibar after each player picked up his fifth booking of the campaign.

Madrid still have enough quality to see themselves through that fixture, but it will clearly now be tougher for them than it would have been with those players on board.

Their main focus will, though, be on next Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final first-leg tie away to local rivals Atletico Madrid.

Per Corrigan, Ancelotti criticised his players for their poor attitude in the wake of their 4-0 league defeat at the Vicente Calderon in February. They will need to be at their very best to see off Atletico manager Diego Simeone's men. But if they play with the same energy and desire that they showed in the second half on Wednesday, then they might just be able to squeeze through to the final four.