Rayo Vallecano vs. Real Madrid: Winners and Losers from La Liga
Real Madrid had to come from behind to beat Rayo Vallecano and move top of La Liga on Saturday, eventually running out 3-2 winners.
Rayo's fast start was rewarded with two goals in the opening quarter of an hour. Adrian Embarba swept home from close range before Miku doubled the lead as Real failed to clear a corner.
Gareth Bale headed in from a corner before the break, and Lucas Vazquez netted soon after the restart to equalise. It took until the final 10 minutes for Real to find their winner, with Bale the hero.
Here are all our winners and losers from the match at Vallecas.
Winner: Gareth Bale
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Cristiano Ronaldo didn't make the matchday squad and Karim Benzema went off injured, but Gareth Bale remained for Real Madrid, and it was the Welshman who really stepped up to haul his team back into the game.
When his team were two goals down, it was Bale who surged forward with the ball at his feet, broke into the box and tried to get shots away, while he also netted the important first goal of the match for Real with a header off a corner.
Runs into the channel, low crosses into the box and huge sprints forward through the middle made him a danger all game long, and it was no surprise to see Bale make the difference with the vital third to win the game and send Real top.
Loser: Paco Jemez and His Eternally Leaky Defence
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Two goals to the good against Real Madrid never really looked like enough for Rayo to take a win, and in the end, they couldn't even hold out for a point.
Manager Paco Jemez has been lauded for his attacking way of playing, but the Rayo boss has consistently left his team horrendously wide open at the other end of the pitch, and it's no surprise they have the worst defensive record in La Liga.
Thirteen conceded in the two games against Real Madrid this season speaks volumes.
Winner: Lucas Vazquez
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A goal against Eibar, a strong performance off the bench against Getafe and a good performance after entering as a sub again this time out.
Lucas Vazquez is nowhere near a regular starter for Real Madrid, but the Spanish wide man is certainly showing he's an important squad member with his pace, ability to threaten defences in the channels and attacking the goal from the far post area.
He scored a fantastic header to level the match up and again played a pivotal role in Real's victory.
Loser: Raphael Varane
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An up-and-down season for Raphael Varane was mirrored by his performance in this match.
He, along with Danilo and Pepe, were particularly poor for the first two goals scored by Rayo, not picking up their men closely enough.The young French defender made a number of individual errors, too.
Late on, he made a huge block that could well have preserved the lead for Real, but his overall game was simply well below the level he is capable of.
Winner: Zinedine Zidane
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It's debatable whether the Real Madrid manager deserves too much credit for his team's comeback, especially after how open they were at the back in the first half with the team he sent out, but ultimately, they got the victory they needed and rested one or two players in the process.
For Zidane, that'll be the big positive, as well as a potential boost in the mentality and resilience of players when they fall behind in a game; there's now this potentially important win to look back on and take heart from—another important cog in team-building matters.
Zidane is now in a UEFA Champions League semi-final and has taken his side to the top of La Liga, albeit likely very briefly, in five months after taking on the job.
