Working class Rayo Vallecano defy the odds to contest Crystal Palace in first European final

MADRID, May 25 : "Twenty-five years on, Europe will see us again," read the banner at Rayo Vallecano's tiny, concrete cauldron a year ago, as fans poured on to the pitch at the Estadio de Vallecas to celebrate the club's return to continental football.

What even the most romantic believers at this working-class club on the outskirts of Madrid might not have imagined was that 12 months later, Rayo are preparing for their first European final.

They face Premier League side Crystal Palace in the Conference League final in Leipzig on Wednesday.

For Rayo, it is not just a football match. It is a vindication of their insistence on doing things their own way.

Their supporters like to call themselves "different", the last of the 'barrio' teams - not just in the neighbourhood, but of it.

Once a separate municipality before being absorbed by Madrid in 1950, it remains a consciously working-class district where blocks of flats huddle around the 14,700-capacity stadium, with washing hanging across neighbouring narrow streets.

That intimacy has often turned to anger during a season in which Rayo's players, staff and supporters have all clashed with owner Raul Martin Presa.

In February, Rayo were forced to play local rivals Atletico Madrid at Leganes' Butarque stadium after LaLiga ruled the Vallecas pitch unplayable. The fixture was relocated and Spanish police barred ticket sales for security reasons with the attendance being limited to season-ticket holders.

The club's ultras group, Los Bukaneros, urged a boycott, and only a little more than 5,000 supporters attended. Those who did made their feelings clear, first outside the ground and then inside it.

Rayo won 3-0, but after each goal the soundtrack was not celebration. It was a unified