Rayografía

On August 20, 2022, in a Madrid hit by a heat wave, the writer and screenwriter Nicolás Casariego got on the metro towards Vallecas with the aim of subscribing to Rayo Vallecano, a club on the verge of celebrating its centenary. He did not know that a night in the open and a ten-month adventure awaited him. This is the story of a fan who tries to understand what football is about today by following in the footsteps of the team from a unique neighborhood. Throughout the 2022-2023 season, he attended all of Rayo's matches in their stadium, the who played as a visitor against their Madrid neighbors and nine of those who played in other cities, traveling to all the Spanish Communities with clubs in the First Division. He traveled more than 4,500 kilometers and dealt with hundreds of characters. Above all, he wondered if an adult can change his identity and join another team. Full of humor, this book goes beyond football. It includes a self-portrait and reflections on aspects as varied as the financial analysis of a club's accounts, the urban growth of a city or the scientific explanation of what happens in our brains when celebrating a goal. Halfway between memoirs and the chronicle of a passion, Rayografía describes from the stands a controversial universe, a multimillion-dollar business without borders and a territory dominated by emotion. In short, life.