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Rayo Vallecano are finally in a position to dream of La Liga survival. Photograph: Javier Etxezarreta/EPA In the middle of Rayo Vallecano's dark days, when they'd been beaten 15 times in 20 games and the goals were flying in; when they'd let in five from Atlético Madrid, five from Málaga, five from Villarreal, four from Espanyol, four from Sevilla, four from Barcelona, three from Madrid, three from Osasuna, and three from Valladolid; when they plummeted to 19th and stayed there for 11 long weeks; when the only reason they didn't fall further was that Betis were even worse; when even a glimmer of hope, a 4-1 win over Málaga, immediately gave way to a six-goal hammering; and when relegation wasn't an "if" but a "when"; there was a phrase that got repeated over and over: Paco Jémez will die with his ideas. Paco Jémez, though, had other ideas. Not because Rayo's coach was going to back down on his principles - "any club that signs me knows what it's getting," he insisted - but because he didn't have any intention of dying at all. Even when Rayo were a disaster, Jémez had his defenders. Off the pitch, that is. Last season, only two teams in Europe had the ball more than Rayo did: Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Early this season, when Rayo played Barcelona, they had more possession than them, the first team to manage it in 316 games. They threw men into attack, they were fun to watch, and parading the touchline in a dizzying array of multicoloured elbow patches and waistcoats, pink shirts and purple ties, Jémez urged them forward, always. In a country that values the aesthetic, or in which some do, he was eulogised for the way his teams played de tú a tú: as equals. Rayo didn't simply defend - sometimes they didn't defend at all - but instead they went for it. And, mostly, they lost. Rayo took the ball off Barcelona and Jémez declared himself "very proud". But they were beaten 4-0. They went to the Camp Nou where they were praised by Barcelona's

Say something about your blood types

MS Dhoni says that he will think about retirement at the right time but still focus on India tour of Australia series.

MS Dhoni says that he will think about retirement at the right time after India Tour of Australia

Delhi' New commissioner takes a dig on police officers

For many years, the diet to lower cholesterol has been changing. You find some diet plans stating that you should not eat eggs, butter, red meat while others say you do. Luckily, researchers have come with a list that of diet to lower cholesterol. Cholesterol diet is that which provided benefits t

Cricket lovers waiting eagerly for witnessing thrill and fascination of upcoming IPL series may miss Indian soil. Since general elections are due in May this year for which 1.2 lakh paramilitary personnel, alongside the state police force, would be called for deploying on the polling booths, so it would be challenging for the government to deploy security forces for the IPL 7 series.

{{service.description}}He would get the win, have his redemption and walk away with his head held high. But that win has been tainted by the tapout that referee Charles Robinson did not see. Undertaker went from being the cagey veteran who wouldn't say die to being the cheap-shot artist taking the easy way out. By all rights, The Phenom has turned heel. However, this was perhaps the best way to keep their rivalry going. Now fans are getting more than just a nice feud with a cliched ending; they're getting a dramatic twist and a reason for the heat between the two to continue. The fact is that two matches would never have been enough for Undertaker and Lesnar. There was too much intensity and too much bad blood to believe one more match was not needed to wrap things up. The two men proved they can still tell a compelling story, and that story

Throughout my career I have been determined to present sport psychology in a palatable and digestable format. Often some of the concepts and methodologies presented by the psychologist can be a little "clunky" to say the least.This led me to develop the Mindsport card series.

I'm astounded at what is clearly a reaction to hypnosis based on a complete ignorance of the facts. Firstly, to suggest that hypnosis detracts from the players being "who they are and what they are" and "It may give kids a mixed message if you can't do it on your own." is complete nonsense - if you're saying players shouldn't use mental training to improve at their sport, then surely they shouldn't be doing physical training either? According to this odd logic, getting the players fitter or bulking them up already suggests they can't do it on their own!

This morning I published a blog on CelebrityTweeter.com about the sports stars who do Twitter. This might seem like an easy task, but no, it was actually really hard to find 20 sports stars who Twitter. To be honest, I had to push the envelope (as they say) just a bit. I managed to find a Swedish showjumper and a college football coach to hemp me make up the numbers.But why is that?

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