Lightning strikes twice in Vallecas

Welcome back to the competition where passports are more important than pedigrees. Tomorrow night, the tiny but loud Estadio de Vallecas opens its three and a half stands to welcome Samsunspor, a team currently discovering that Spanish football is slightly more complicated than bullying budget opposition in the Black Sea region.

After the first leg in Turkey, where the Red Lightning looked more like a static battery, Rayo Vallecano returns home with a comfortable 3-1 lead. It was a CLINICAL display of neighborhood arrogance. The Spaniards essentially turned a hostile cauldron into a library within ninety minutes, and now they just need to avoid a total collective meltdown to reach the quarter-finals.

Samsunspor arrives in Madrid sitting 3rd in the Süper Lig with 51 points, which is impressive until you realize they are now facing a side that treats tactical fouls like a religion rather than a suggestion. Marius Mouandilmadji and Olivier Ntcham will need to find a way through a Rayo defense that has seen everything from Vinicius Junior to local Sunday league brawls. The Turks need three goals. In Vallecas. Good luck with that.

For Rayo, currently languishing in 13th place in La Liga with 32 points, this is their chance to prove that being a neighborhood club doesn't mean you can't have European ambitions. With James Rodriguez likely wandering around looking for a camera to wink at and Isi Palazón busy being the best player you have never heard of, the Madrilènes should have enough quality to kill off any Turkish hope before the first local beer is served.

Expect Samsunspor to run a lot, scream at the referee even more, and eventually realize that a two-goal deficit away from home is the footballing equivalent of trying to climb Everest in flip-flops. It won't be pretty, it won't be a classic, but it will be over fairly quickly.

Rayo Vallecano 2-1 Samsunspor