Roses are red, violets are blue...  Real Madrid has not been feeling rosy lately, but they are definitely familiar with the color red.  A loss to Levante was sealed a week ago when red was shown to Sami Khedira in the 38^th minute (a card that should be set at the feet of Ángel Dí Maria).  The loss, followed by a mid-week draw to Racing Santander, had the Spanish media looking for more red, blood this time.  “José Mourinho is ruining Madrid…”  “Real Madrid’s Failure …”  Those predicting Real Madrid’s slide were smiling broadly as Rayo Vallecano came out swinging on Saturday scoring in the first 12 seconds of the game, the fastest goal ever by an away team at the Santiago Bernabéu. 

In the first 20 minutes, it was not Madrid’s Lass (Diarra) making an impact, but Vallecano’s 19 year old youngster, Lass Bangoura, whose speed and skill was causing a threat on both sides of the pitch.  Even the commentators (who frequently have a big club bias) recognized the youngster’s talent, joking that Florentino Perez might need to pull out the check book at half time and sign him.  As the game progressed, however, it was an exceptional defending job by an admittedly slower Raúl Albiol that kept Vallecano’s Lass in check.

Mourinho made changes to the starting lineup from the prior games as a result of injuries and in preparation for the upcoming Champions League game.  The most surprising was the exclusion of the Germans (Khedira and Mesut Özil), but in the 28^th minute, Mourinho had seen enough.  Lass was off.  Özil was on.  It was a risk.  Dí Maria had already picked up a yellow card, but it was Lass’ shaky passing that I suspect sealed Mourinho’s decision.  He wanted the ingenuity and passing combination of both Özil and Dí Maria.  The change worked and 10 minutes later Cristiano Ronaldo equalized.  Gonzalo Higuaín would put them ahead at the half.

This was my first opportunity to watch Rayo Vallecano in action and I found myself realizing that although underdogs, they are much more than a recently promoted side that couldn’t pay their players for part of last season.  They had chances for goals and kept up the pace, but made a few critical mistakes (including a penalty on Kaká that would give Madrid and Ronaldo a penalty kick to extend their lead).  Vallecano would strike again though, in the 54^th minute.  For a moment, we were all reminded about the need for goal line technology, but thankfully the referee’s assistant got it right.

Unfortunately, Dí Maria would be at the center of controversy again.  The 23 year old Argentinian received a second yellow for an intentional handball in the 56^th minute and would be sent off.  It is difficult to be overly critical of this red card, but it definitely had many seeing red.  Certainly Dí Maria did not want to be the player that caused his team to go down to 10 men twice in a week.  However, regardless that the handball had no impact on the play of the game (the ball went off the upper part of his arm and straight out of bounds), Dí Maria had to be punished.

Albiol said after the game that “the fans were patient and never stopped supporting us”.  Even Mourinho conceded that “risks” were taken in the game.  In the end, and luckily for Dí Maria, the skill and power of Real Madrid was too much for the less experienced Vallecano side.  The additions of Karim Benzema and Sami Khedira for Higuaín and Kaká, moments after Di Maria’s ejection, would only strengthen the team and Madrid would comfortably win. 

Red was the color this past week for Madrid and it is certain they hope that is a trend that does not continue.  It is worth noting that 18 year old Raphael Varane scored his first goal for the team on Saturday, a beauty.  He may be the one player who deserves red this week, in roses, because he is certainly winning over hearts in Madrid.

A.J. Nelson can be found on Twitter @FootieObsessed.