Hoping to further enhance their bragging rights after only one defeat in their last six matches across all competitions against Girona, Rayo Vallecano needed only 71 seconds to break the deadlock in Catalonia.
With aspirations of Europe commitments for the first time since 2001, Sergio Camello needed no time at all to strengthen those beliefs, sublimely winning his one-on-one battle with Paulo Gazzaniga after Miguel Gutierrez had inadvertently headed the ball into the path of the on-loan Atletico Madrid striker.
In contrast, Girona struggled to pose a significant attacking threat towards Stole Dimitrievski’s goal in the opening quarter-hour.
With the match on the brink of halftime, Girona were handed a glorious opportunity to head into the interval back on an even playing level after Fran Garcia had brought down the marauding forward Ivan Martin in the area. In front of the expectant home faithful, Valentin Castellanos made no mistake, clinically firing the ball straight down the middle for his fourth league goal of the current campaign.
On the back of suffering a surprise elimination from the Copa del Rey at the hands of CP Cacereno a week ago, Girona were Dimitrievski’s fingertips away from completing their comeback, as the North Macedonia international brilliantly denied Castellanos a stunning second of the game.
However, Rayo were back in front shortly after the hour-mark, after Isi Palazon exquisitely found the top corner via the paintwork on the left-hand post.
With the momentum back with the visitors, Unai Lopez was inches away from firing the match beyond the grasp of Girona, only for Gazzaniga to acrobatically tip the midfielder’s fearsome strike over the crossbar.
Unbelievably, Girona were awarded a second penalty in the 74th minute after Florian Lejeune was adjudged to have handled the ball. Only moments after coming on as a second-half substitute, Samuel Saiz successfully replicated Castellanos’s achievement from 12 yards to set up an intriguing final quarter-hour.
Despite an end-to-end finale to the game, a share of the spoils greeted both sides at full-time as Rayo remain one point adrift of Athletic Club in the final Champions League qualification position.
Meanwhile, Girona end the year unbeaten in five league matches but remain closer to the relegation zone than the top six.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Sergio Camello (Rayo Vallecano)
