Adams ends Rayo's 87-minute stranglehold with clinical finish

Average Futmetrix Score: 49/100. Rayo's relentless intensity and territorial dominance crumbles in the final moments, as Sevilla's substitute poacher and goalkeeper brilliance prove decisive in a match that rewrites the narrative of control versus execution.

Vallecano's possession trap

Rayo Vallecano arrived desperate—16th place, five points—and attacked like a team with nothing to lose. The home side suffocated Sevilla with 18 shots, 64% possession, and 16 corners. Yet precision abandoned them. Marcão and Sevilla's rearguard held firm, absorbing wave after wave of balance-breaking pressure. For 87 minutes, Rayo owned the territory but not the scoreline.

The substitute's knife twist

A. Adams entered at 69 minutes and waited. In the 87th, J. A. Carmona's assist found him unmarked, and Adams buried it. That single strike—from four shots and 0.63 xG—summarized Sevilla's ruthless efficiency. Odysseas Vlachodimos was the wall that made it possible: six saves, including crucial stops that denied Rayo's barrage. The Greek keeper's Stakes were simple—one mistake ends Sevilla's night.

Red mist in the denouement

Sergio Camello saw red in the 97th minute for dissent, a fitting coda to Rayo's misery. Ten men, one goal down, and the points slipping away. Rayo's form reads LLDLD—a relegation battle narrative. Sevilla, now on 10 points from seven games, breathes easier in the European hunt, having turned a siege into a smash-and-grab masterclass.