Rayo Vallecano 4 - Real Sociedad 1

Rayo: Lopetegui; Alcázar, De Quintana, Ballesteros, Mingo; Glaucio, Helder, Iván Iglesias (Setvalls 46'), Michel; Quevedo (Bolic 55'), Bolo (Ferreira 75'). 4-4-2.

Real Sociedad: Asper; Fuentes (De Pedro 60'), Gurrutxaga, Pikabea, López Rekarte; Jauregui, Aranburu (Khokhlov 80'), Collet, Aranzábal; Idiakez (Sergio Francisco 60'), De Paula. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Rayo: Glaucio, Iván Iglesias for Poschner, Setvalls / Real: No changes.

Goals:
1-0. 10. Michel. Lifted free kick over wall from edge of penalty area.
2-0. 19. Glaucio. Tucked away loose ball after Bolo challenged Asper.
2-1. 24. Jauregui. Header from middle of area after free kick from Idiakez.
3-1. 66. Michel. From close up after Pikabea miskicked Bolo's cross.
4-1. 70. Michel. Low free kick round defensive wall.

Rayo Vallecano moved up to second place in the league and at the same time ended Javier Clemente's reign at Real Sociedad with a brilliant 4-1 victory. The win was in large part due to the great form of Michel, playing in the role of the injured Luis Cembranos, and he sent a message to Spain's manager Camacho with a hat-trick which takes him to the top of the goalscorers' chart level with Rivaldo. The similarity to Rivaldo didn't end there, with the home-grown left-sided midfielder emulating the Brazilian's midweek hat-trick with two goals from free kicks, one low and one high.

Rayo's manager Juande Ramos brought in Iván Iglesias for his first start since joining the club in place of the suspended Poschner, with Glaucio coming back to the side and Bartelt, getting his first call up in a month, on the bench. Javier Clemente kept his faith in goalkeeper Asper (the tallest man in the league), and with Jankauskas still not recovered from flu, the manager maintained the same starting eleven who played out the rest of the Wednesday night game against Espanyol postponed from day four, which brought the Basques their first win of the season.

Rayo quickly moved into a two goal lead, with Glaucio getting his first goal for his new club after Michel had opened the scoring. Jauregui pulled one back, the first goal that Lopetegui had let in at home in the league, and Real dominated the match in the minutes before and after the interval. However two from Michel in five minutes sank the visitors out of sight, and it could have been more if substitute Bolic had not hit the post later on. Referee Puentes Leira gave in to pressure from the home fans, and after turning down two penalty appeals earlier on, he finally pointed to the spot in the last minute after Bolic was brought down. Michel, good chap that he is, let the Bosnian striker take the kick, but Asper for once went the right way and saved the goal.

He could do nothing though to save his manager, and after a hastily convened board meeting the next day, club president Luis Uranga announced with regret that Mr. Clemente would be taking early retirement, at least from Real Sociedad. His replacement with be Periko Alonso, an ex Real Sociedad player who has managed several clubs in lower divisions, but has no experience as yet in the first division. Alonso is expected to bring back Alberto in goal and midfielder Javier De Pedro, both favourites of the fans. Rayo continue their unbeaten ten match run and have now gone twelve seasons without losing to their opponents. The manager of their next UEFA cup rivals Viborg was in the crowd, and went away surely thinking that he will need to put a couple of men on Michel for next Thursday's game. On today's form, that might not be enough.