Rayo score first for the second week running, and again it is not enough

Rayo Vallecano have now led in both of their matches this season and won neither of them. Sergio Camello scored three minutes into the second half; the lead lasted 36 minutes.

Mariano, who came off the bench to score twice against Getafe in stoppage time five days earlier, got the equaliser on 84.

Alavés created three big chances and missed all three

The expected-goals gap is the story: 1.92 for Alavés against 0.43 for Rayo. Alavés took 15 shots to Rayo's eight, had 30 touches in the opposition box to Rayo's 11, and hit the woodwork once. ESPN logged three big chances created and three big chances missed.

Rayo's 0.17 expected goals from open play tells you where their point came from — one good moment from Camello and a lot of defending.

Rayo's seven rounds: goals but rarely enough

That pattern didn't start or end with Alavés. Rayo opened the season by leading at Sevilla through Álvaro García inside four minutes, only to lose 2-1 to a stoppage-time penalty after having a man sent off. A fortnight after this draw they led twice more at the Camp Nou — Sergio Camello scoring both goals — and still lost 5-2 to Barcelona. The one time the lead held was matchday 4, at home to Racing Santander: Camello scored twice either side of half-time and Rayo won 3-2 despite finishing the game with nine men after two red cards in the closing minutes. A 4-1 defeat at Real Madrid followed, then back-to-back results that finally settled the bottom-half wobble — a 2-1 win over Espanyol built on Álvaro García's third-minute opener, and a 1-1 draw at Osasuna in which Camello cancelled out Ante Budimir's 100th career La Liga goal. Seven rounds in, Rayo Vallecano sit 10th on 8 points from two wins, two draws and three losses, with 11 goals scored and 16 conceded.

Alavés: from the summit to mid-table and back into Europe

Alavés's own seven rounds went the other way at first. The point at Vallecas was followed by a run that put them top of the table: a 1-0 win over Villarreal in which they had only 24% of the possession, then a Lucas Boyé hat-trick in a 5-2 win over Osasuna that left them level with Barcelona. The run unbeaten ended at Racing Santander, where Yassir Zabiri's brace beat them 2-1 despite Alavés outshooting the hosts 16-8. A second defeat followed at home to Valencia, an even flatter afternoon — 15 shots and not one on target — as substitute Luis Rioja scored against the club he had left in the summer. Alavés steadied themselves on matchday 7, holding out for a 0-0 draw in the Basque derby at Athletic Club, Antonio Sivera saving a second-half penalty from Iñaki Williams. Seven rounds in, Alavés are 6th on 11 points from three wins, two draws and two losses, with a goal difference of +5 that only Barcelona, Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid better in the division.

Match facts

• 48' — Sergio Camello (Rayo Vallecano)
• 84' — Mariano (Alavés)

What's next

Seven rounds on, the table separates the two sides that shared a point here in August. Alavés go into the international break 6th on 11 points, inside the Europa League zone with the fourth-best goal difference in the division. Rayo Vallecano are 10th on 8 points, in mid-table but well outside continental football. Both return to league action after the break — Alavés looking to keep an unlikely European push going, Rayo still searching for the back-to-back wins that have eluded them all season.