Rayo Vallecano is a truly special club. Very few clubs in European football have dedicated and passionate fan bases like Los Franjirrojos have. Even fewer represent their community as well as Rayo do, despite constant attacks from their owner.
We’ve written about Rayo Vallecano’s terrible owner and their amazing fans before. Now, it’s time to take a look at some of the club’s players. Without further ado, here are the 10 best players in Rayo Vallecano history.
10. Hugo Sánchez (1993–1994)
Hugo Sánchez is one of the few players in history to play for Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid, and Rayo Vallecano. The Mexican legend joined Los Franjirrojos near the end of his career, and played just one season for the club. Even with just one season under his belt, Sánchez deserves to be on this list.
Even though he played for Rayo in his mid-30s, Sánchez is probably one of the most talented players to even don La Franja. He scored 19 goals in 26 goals for a truly dreadful 1993–94 Rayo side that were relegated from La Liga. El Pentapichichi had a chance to save Rayo from relegation in 1994, but, as was often the case with Sánchez in big games, he fell short.
The legendary striker missed a penalty in the first match of Rayo’s relegation playoff series against SD Compostela. He was sent off in the 72nd minute of the third match in that series while Rayo were chasing a goal. The goal would never come, Rayo were relegated, and Sánchez left the club.
9. Alberto Bueno (2013-2015)
Alberto Bueno is another Rayo Vallecano striker who shone bright in a short time at the club. Bueno played for Rayo for just two seasons. In that short time, he scored 28 goals and helped maintain the club’s status as a mid-table La Liga side.
No Rayo Vallecano player has scored more La Liga goals than Bueno. The club were relegated the season in 2016 after he left them to join Portuguese giants FC Porto on a free transfer in the summer of 2015.
If Rayo manage to stay up for a few more seasons, someone could break Alberto Bueno’s record as top La Liga goal scorer and his name could end up off this list. Until then, Bueno deserves to be considered as one of the best players in Rayo Vallecano history.
8. Raúl de Tomás (2017-2019, 2023-present)
It’s hard to imagine now, but Raúl de Tomás was once one of the best strikers in La Liga. R.D.T. got his start with Rayo Vallecano on loan from Real Madrid in the 2017-2018 season. The mercurial striker scored 24 goals in just 32 matches for Rayo, and helped the Los Franjirrojos earn promotion to La Liga.
Raul De Tomas rejoined Rayo on loan in the 2018-19 season. El Rayito were the worst team in La Liga that season, but De Tomás still managed to score 14 La Liga goals that season.
After things turned sour for R.D.T. at Espanyol, he rejoined Rayo in January, 2023. He’s not hit the same heights as he did his first time around at the club, but there’s still time for him to make his mark on Rayo Vallecano history.
7. Álvaro García (2018-present)
Álvaro García joined Rayo during their cursed 2018-19 season in which they fired Michel and finished bottom of La Liga. Unlike many players on that team, García stayed and made Vallecas his home.
The skilled winger has made over 170 competitive appearances for Rayo and is one of the club’s top-five scorers in La Liga history with 23 goals and counting to his name.
More important than the goals, Álvaro is one of the most tenacious pressing forwards in Europe. Under Andoni Iraola,
6. Isi Palazón (2020-present)
We can’t mention Álvaro García without mentioning his right-wing counterpart, Isi Palazón. The Real Madrid academy graduate joined Rayo in 2020, after they were relegated. He has since made over 160 appearances and scored 25 goals in all competitions for the club.
Like Álvaro, Isi has become an icon of Rayo Vallecano’s current era in La Liga. The only reason Isi gets the slight edge in our list of the best players in Rayo Vallecano history is because he is a more technical and more creative player than Álvaro.
Isi is the more likely player to do something that truly wows you and gets you out of your seat. In fact, there have been very few players in Rayo history with the ability to do the incredible like Isi has.
5. Jesús Diego Cota (1985-2002)
Jesús Diego Cota made his first senior appearance for Rayo Vallecano on March 15, 1985, when he was just 17 years old. Following a brief loan spell with CD Pegaso during the 1985-86 season, Cota would be a mainstay in Rayo Vallecano’s starting eleven until 2002. Very few players in any sport have that kind of longevity.
The reliable right back stuck with Rayo through one of the most tumultuous periods in club history. Rayo Vallecano were the ultimate yo-yo club during Cota’s time in Vallecas. He experienced four promotions and three relations with Rayo,
Cota retired with Rayo in 2002. He was club captain when he retired, and he had just guided Rayo to their first and only European campaign just one year earlier. Cota made 458 appearances for Rayo Vallecano in his 17 years with Los Franjirrojos. No player has more.
4. Wilfred Agbonavbare (1990-1996)
Very few players in Rayo Vallecano history have left a greater impact on the club than Wilfred Agbonavbare. The Nigerian goalkeeper moved to Spain and joined Rayo in 1990 when they were a second-division side. In his second season at the club, ‘Willy’ became the club’s number one goalkeeper.
Willy would go on to set the club record for most clean sheets in a season and most La Liga clean sheets, and most appearances by a foreign player. Some of Willy’s records have been broken, but his legacy lives on in Vallecas.
During a match in the 1992-1993 season, Real Madrid fans heckled Willy, calling him a number of racist slurs. Willy stood strong in the face of racism. Rayo Vallecano’s fierce left-wing fan base supported their goalkeeper during this time. To this day, Willy Agbonavbare represents the anti-racist spirit of Rayo Vallecano and the legacy of African footballers in Spain.
Rayo fans have immortalized Willy at the Estadio de Vallecas with a mural reading “Eterno Willy. For your defense of La Franja and your fight against racism, Rayo fans will never forget you.”
3. Óscar Trejo (2010-2011, 2017-present)
No foreign player has made more appearances for Rayo Vallecano than Óscar Trejo. This alone is reason enough to put him on our list of the best players in Rayo Vallecano history. When you consider everything he’s done at the club since joining on loan all the way back in 2010, Trejo deserves to be near the top of our list.
Trejo has made over 250 appearances and has scored 40 goals for Los Franjirrojos. He was an instrumental part of the 2017-18 Rayo side that was promoted to La Liga and the focal point of Andoni Iralola’s attack when he managed the club from 2020-2023.
What’s more, like so many names on our list, Trejo also has a close relationship with the fans. Trejo was club captain for the majority of his time at Rayo Vallecano. He stepped down from his role as skipper in protest against Rayo Vallecano’s owner and his mistreatment of club staff and fans.
2. Felines (1964-1978)
Félix Barderas Sierra, or simply Felines, started his career as an amateur footballer in Madrid. He joined Rayo when Los Franjirrojos, in 1964 when the club was still in the third division. Felines hit the ground running with Rayo and the club were promoted after an undefeated season. In the Segunda División, Felines helped Rayo establish themselves as one of Spain’s most formidable lower league sides.
In the 1976-77 season, Felines, who is just 5’5” tall, scored a headed goal to secure Rayo Vallecano’s promotion to La Liga for the first time in club history. This was only the second headed goal of Felines’ career. and also his last.
Injuries had caught up with Felines by the 1977-78 season, meaning he could only play ten matches for Rayo during their first-ever La Liga season. Even in a limited role, Rayo fans remember Felines fondly as a member of that Rayo Matagigantes side who laid the groundwork for the giant-killer status Rayo Vallecano hold today.
When it was all said and done, Felines amassed 397 appearances for Rayo, the third most in club history. He also scored 42 goals and was later named president for life of the club’s B-team.
1. Míchel (1992-2003, 2006-2012)
Before his enormous success in La Liga as Girona manager, Miguel Ángel Sánchez Muñoz, better known just as Míchel, was tearing it up for Rayo Vallecano.
Míchel was a tricky midfielder who loved to crash the box late and score volleyed goals with his preferred left foot. He was also Rayo’s go-to free kick taker during much of his two spells at the club.
Overall, Míchel played more than 400 matches for El Rayito, but his impact was much greater. Not only was Míchel arguably the most talented player in club history, but he also embodied its spirit unlike any other player.
Míchel is a Rayo Vallecano academy graduate, was club captain, and managed the club for two seasons, helping Rayo avoid relegation in 2017 and earning them promotion in 2018. Through it all, Míchel had a close relationship with the fans and continues to have one with them to this day, even though he has left the club.
Míchel is without a doubt one of the best players in Rayo Vallecano history and also someone the club’s fans hope to see back leading the club to glory sometime in the future as a manager.
