Mama Knows Best

Saturday afternoon features one of those juicy affairs where two teams face off against each other and the only worthwhile result is three points. In this case, Rayo Vallecano will make the quick bus trip out of the capital city and over to Salamanca to play in what is essentially an elimination game for any chance of reaching the promotion zone to La Primera.

The last two weeks have been very unkind to Rayo as they have lost rather horridly to Segunda B bound Alicante and 13th Albacete, 2-0 and 0-3. In an effort to cheer up the squad, Rayo President Maria Teresa Rivero, had the team over for dinner not to chastise them, but to cheer them up, give 'em a pat on the back and assure that she is 100% behind them.

As the mother of 13 children and 36 grandchildren, the woman knows a thing or two about trying to get the best out of youngster. I'm not sure if the same applies to her futbol children, but nevertheless, I applaud her efforts. I just wonder that if Rayo drops this weekend's affair in Salamanca, will she give them a spanking at the next home match in front of the whole crowd at the modestly named Estadio Teresa Rivero?

At the very least Rivero is now able to amply follow a futbol match. She admitted back in 1994 when she became president of Rayo after her husband died that she had only seen one futbol match in her entire life and that was in Murcia when she was a little girl... and she didn't even know which teams were playing (Real Murcia had to have been one of them, right?!?!). Not exactly the kind of business/futbol experience that men like Joan Laporta or Florentino Perez have, but it still merits respect that a woman in a machismo country like Spain has been the President of a futbol club for 15 years. Rivero should also be credited for trying to forward women's rights within the futbol world which included publishing a book on the topic.

Rivero has come a long way since 1994 when she was found bored to tears and actually asleep in the 'palco' of Rayo's stadium. Now universally respected by her club presidential colleagues, Rivero is carving a special niche in Spanish futbol and we're lucky that we get to see it in El Infierno.


One other note from El Infierno - Cheers to Sevilla Atletico for beating Girona at home last weekend! Maybe once the relegation was made official, they could kick back and play relaxed futbol. Evidently that worked. Too bad only 100 people were in attendance in the stadium to see it.

Resultados - Jornada 35

Rayo - Albacete 0-3
R. Sociedad - Celta 2-2
Zaragoza - Tenerife 1-1
Hércules - Gimnastic 2-2
Alavés - Castellon 0-1
Las Palmas - Huesca 1-1
Levante - Alicante 2-0
Elche - Xerez 0-1
Murcia - Eibar 2-0
Córdoba - Salamanca 0-2
Sevilla At - Girona 2-1


Clasificacion

1. Xerez - 69
2. Tenerife - 66
3. Zaragoza - 62
4. Hércules - 61
5. Rayo - 59
6. Salamanca - 56
7. R. Sociedad - 54
8. Levante - 53
9. Castellón - 50
10. Gimnástic - 47
11. Elche - 46
12. Huesca - 45
13. Albacete - 44
14. Murcia - 43
15. Girona - 42
16. Las Palmas - 41
17. Celta - 41
18. Córdoba - 40
19. Alavés - 35
20. Alicante - 31
21. Eibar - 29
22. Sevilla At - 16