So yesterday I wondered, how do Rayo Vallecano and Real Sociedad actually stack up against each other? Figured I’d track down their full history instead of just guessing. Started simple – typed both team names plus “past games” into my favorite search engine.
First mistake: clicked on a page listing only recent seasons. Almost made me think Sociedad dominated every match. Then my coffee kicked in and I realized – duh, these clubs go way back. Found a proper historical database site buried on page two.
The painful grind
Scrolled through seasons faster than my phone could load:
- Had to switch browsers when Firefox kept crashing from all the Javascript
- Nearly blinded myself squinting at tiny match dates in table cells
- Burnt my toast when one particularly chaotic 5-2 match from 1997 made me forget the toaster
Compiled the ugliest spreadsheet you ever saw:
- First column: seasons since 2000 (couldn’t stomach going further back)
- Made color codes – red for Rayo wins, blue for Sociedad, yellow for draws
- Messy conditional formatting when Excel kept highlighting wrong cells
What popped out
Turns out people talking about Sociedad dominance aren’t totally wrong:
- 18 wins for the Basque side since 2000
- Only 8 wins for Rayo in same period
- But that 2022 Copa del Rey match where Rayo won 2-0? That was beautiful
Weird thing – Rayo somehow does better as visitors than at home against these guys. No idea why. Checked three times because it made zero sense. Last four Madrid trips? Two wins for Rayo, one draw.
Final headache
Tried making a simple graphic showing wins per decade. Gave up after:
- Spending 40 minutes fighting Canva’s garbage editor
- Getting the timeline off by two years twice
- Realizing I used Real Madrid’s colors by accident
Finally just took a blurry phone pic of my monitor showing the spreadsheet. Good enough. Moral of the story? Some data’s easy to get, easy to present. Football history ain’t it.