Sawt Falasteen - Remarkable, ramshackle Rayo chasing Conference League dream amid chaos

When the extreme conditions they are operating under are factored in, it is nothing short of remarkable they have reached the Conference League final four, hosting Ligue 1 team Strasbourg on Thursday in the first leg.

They may be midtable in La Liga but humble Rayo, from the working class neighbourhood of Vallecas in the southeast of the Spanish capital, are a far cry from their illustrious neighbours Real Madrid and Atletico: they are usually more concerned with survival than European finals.

And avoiding relegation is not the only tussle they tend to engage in. The fans -- and to some extent the players and staff -- are fighting an internal battle against their deeply unpopular, some would say reviled, president and owner Raul Martin Presa.

The Rayo chief wants to uproot the team from its home stadium, kept in a filthy and decrepit state perhaps in order to get his way, and engages in a running row with supporters he has described as "drunken and brainless".

Their 3-0 La Liga victory over Atletico Madrid in February captured the dysfunctional club in a microcosm -- fighting against the odds and themselves.

In the build-up Rayo players and staff had publicly complained about the state of their pitch and run-down training facilities, and the game was moved to Leganes's stadium.

Only 5,000 fans travelled, with many refusing in protest at the owner, whom they chant about regularly, calling for his departure.

In 2023 Oscar Trejo resigned as the team's captain in disgust at conditions at the club, the abysmal facilities, the terrible treatment of staff and supporters alike.

Sometimes there is no hot water in the showers for the players; often there is no water at all in the public toilets.

In pre-season, players were forced to practise elsewhere because of a fungal infection of the grass at their training ground.

The club's left-wing ultras group, the Bukaneros, symbolically disinfected the stadium after Presa invited politicians from far-right party Vox.

"Rayo's situation is obviously a complete disaster and being here is a ridiculous and beautiful miracle," Vallecas season-ticket holder Phil Kitromilides told AFP ahead of the Strasbourg clash.

"It means everything -- this is a club that has never won anything and don't even expect to ever challenge for a trophy."

- Brexit benefit -

Coach Inigo Perez has been linked with bigger jobs, including Villarreal. He might never have led Rayo at all, were it not for a post-Brexit British work permit snub.

Andoni Iraola's former assistant was due to follow the coach to Bournemouth in 2023 but was barred by the British. He headed to Rayo instead in February 2024, helping the team stay up.

Sometimes life gives you lemons, and Perez, the son of a fruit-seller, has turned them into lemonade.

Smart, tactically adroit, he helped Rayo rise to eighth the following season and qualify for European football for only the second time in their history.

The previous occasion was back in the 2000-01 campaign, reaching the UEFA Cup quarter-finals.

Perez does not want to discuss his future, not with a trophy still on the line.

"I got angry with one of my players who joked about it... the collective is what matters," said the coach.

"It's not appropriate to talk about that right now because it weakens us as a group."

Presa was happy to, though: "I want him to be the Cholo Simeone of Rayo," he said.

First comes the football. Rayo are 11th, but only five points clear of the relegation zone and looking over their shoulder, as well as on to a potential Conference League final in Leipzig.

"I've dreamt of this for many years," said forward Isi Palazon, whose goal in Greece took them past AEK Athens in the quarter-finals.

"It's hard for me to grasp what we've accomplished."

Even just reaching where they are is success for Rayo. Their opponents Strasbourg have a bigger budget and cachet but on Thursday they must handle the intense, raucous, perhaps insanitary, close-quarter experience of the Vallecas.

Rayo fans queued for tickets from the early hours of Monday morning, without even knowing when they would be going on sale.

The club, with no mind to make life easier for its supporters, does not have an online box office. And still, despite everything, they find a way to make it work.

I.Matar--SF-PST