Thousands of paper planes landed on the turf, and play stopped while supporters delivered a message aimed at club president Raúl Martín Presa. The last league game at the ground was a May win over Villarreal.
A lot happened in between. Rayo played a European final, with 11,000 fans traveling to Leipzig. Manager Iñigo Pérez left. Captain Óscar Trejo gave up the armband over the treatment of staff, then retired, and the barrio put him in graffiti four storeys high. In late July, the Madrid government suspended the agreement that lets the club use the ground for 81,784 a year.
Presa said he was furious with the council. He locked the gates to keep their technicians out and accused them of condemning the club to segunda. Then a report described the ground as unsafe and unhealthy, and fans, who had said so for years, felt proven right. The upkeep belonged to the tenants, and fans saw it left to ruin, which is why their anger landed on the president.
Rayo waited 147 days to play at home again and got 13 minutes of football.