Rayo Vallecano de Madrid president Raul Martin Presa accused Villarreal of not trying hard enough in their final game of the season against Real Sporting de Gijon, who avoided relegation from La Liga at Rayo’s expense on Sunday.
Rayo beat Levante UD 3-1, but their five-year stay in the top flight came to an end as Sporting beat Villarreal 2-0 at home. Rayo finished 18th in the table, a point behind Sporting.
Villarreal had already sealed fourth place and qualified for next season’s Champions League. Their coach Marcelino Garcia, who had also managed and played for Sporting, fielded a weakened team for the game on Sunday.
Photo: EPA
“Villarreal did not even compete with their starting lineup, their substitutions or their tactics,” Presa told reporters. “From the first minute, you could see that this was no normal game. In previous years, we have always played to the death in our last game. Villarreal did not prepare anything.”
Marcelino had angered Rayo and fellow strugglers Getafe the week before the match when he said: “I want to win the game, but I hope Sporting stay up.”
“In Villarreal, there’s a person who has planned this since last Sunday, but congratulations to Sporting,” Presa said.
Garcia fired back by saying he respected the competition “as much as possible.”
“It was a game between one team with everything to play for and another who had already completed their objectives,” he told a news conference after Sunday’s defeat to Sporting. “You have to distinguish professionalism from sentiments, the important thing is to be happy with yourself.”
Elsewhere, in La Liga, Malaga beat UD Las Palmas 4-1, while RCD Espanyol beat Sociedad Deportiva Eibar 4-2 and Real Betis Balompie beat Getafe 2-1.
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