Rayo Vallecano react after playing in front of Newcastle friendly crowd 3 times bigger than their La Liga games | OneFootball

Rayo Vallecano flew into Newcastle on Friday.

The latest opponents for Eddie Howe and his players, as they prepare for a return to competitive action.

Newcastle United face Bournemouth on Tuesday night in the League Cup.

Whilst for Rayo Vallecano, they have a Copa del Rey away match at fifth tier Saguntino, who play at a 4,000 capacity stadium in Valencia.

A decent workout for both teams saw Newcastle win 2-1 with goals from Sean Longstaff and a Chris Wood penalty.

A lot of the talk though was about the fans, on both sides.

A magnificent 34,956 turning up to watch this friendly kick about in the cold.

Easy to get blase / complacent about stuff like this BUT just to give this some kind of perspective.

Rayo Vallecano (Madrid’s other team) are eighth in La Liga and only two points off top four, yet they have played in front of average home crowds this season of 12,482.

Imagine what their players must have thought when turning up at St James’ Park and seeing three times as many turning up for this non-competitive game?

The travelling Rayo Vallecano fans also attracted plenty of attention, there may have been only 30 or so of them but it sounded more like a few hundred, as they enjoyed their first ever trip to St James’ Park to see their team play NUFC.

Newcastle fans quick to praise them…

@ILPadrino1994

@RayoVallecano @NUFC Your fans were incredible! Singing & dancing all game, unbelievable support 👏 Good luck for the rest of the season! https://t.co/5zCsT8g17U

11:09 AM · Dec 17, 2022

94 4

Craig Atkinson@CraigAt24287372

@RayoVallecano @NUFC Great support from the Rayo Vallecano Ultras at St. James’ Park this afternoon … https://t.co/9wcXyaW6xQ

1:59 PM · Dec 17, 2022

On the official Rayo Vallecano site this is how they reported the match:

‘Newcastle United 2 – Rayo Vallecano 1

Newcastle United win against Rayo Vallecano 2-1 in the last friendly match before returning to competition.

Game that began with a high local rhythm and with a goal by Sean Longstaff in the 3rd minute. Rayo looked for the reaction to the early goal trying to create danger on the Newcastle goal, although without hitting the clear chances.

Same parameters in the second period, with demanding minutes for everyone, and with a goal from Chris Wood, from a penalty, in the 70th minute.

Five minutes later, a move from the wing by Álvaro García ended with a bad clearance (own goal from Matt Targett) and the score was 2-1.

First minutes for Pathé Ciss in the final stretch of a game in which the score would not be moved again.

Final applause for the rayistas who traveled to Newcastle in the test prior to the Cup game on Wednesday.’

Fair to say that when Newcastle United fans have dreamed of playing against a club from Madrid, a couple of others may have been in those dreams…

However, Rayo Vallecano and their fans bringing a lot of positives to Saturday and good luck to them for the rest of their season.

Newcastle 2 Rayo Vallecano 1

Goals: Longstaff 4, Wood pen 68, Targett OG 75

Newcastle team v Rayo Vallecano:

Pope, Trippier (Miley 83), Lascelles, Botman, Targett, Shelvey (Turner-Cooke 76), Longstaff, Willock, Murphy, ASM, Wood (Stephenson 76)

Unused Subs:

Gillespie, Carlyon, Scott, Brookwell, Crossley, Ndiweni, Murphy

Crowd: 34,956

(Eddie Howe reflects on Newcastle 2 Rayo Vallecano 1 – Those who played AND those who didn’t – Read HERE)

(Match Report – Excellent 35k St James’ Park crowd see NUFC return after 5 weeks – Newcastle 2 Rayo Vallecano 1 – Read HERE)