Isi Palazón: Portrait of one of La Liga's most beloved players

BarcelonaAlthough he was not born in the neighborhood, Isaac Isi Palazón (1994) has become one of Vallecas' idols after five and a half seasons at Rayo Vallecano, Barça's next opponent this Sunday in La Liga (9:30 p.m., DAZN). "I consider myself from Cieza, El Bierzo, and Vallecas," the Murcia native stated last March in an interview on Cadena SER. Isinho, his Instagram handle, has won the hearts of all the fans of the Madrid-based team, a neighborhood club that is very special because of "the proximity the fans have to be with the players," as the player himself describes.

A simple team that Isi, through his humble and hard-working nature, represents perfectly. Yuri da Souza, with whom he coincided at Ponferradina on dozens of trips where they shared a room, highlights in ARA the good friendship they maintain years later. "He's a very approachable person, with whom you can talk about everything. Now that he's in the First Division, he has nice touches with his old friends. Fame hasn't gone to his head," explains Da Souza. Currently, as technical secretary of Ponferradina, the former Brazilian striker analyzes many players and highlights his former teammate's dedication. "He has an impressive shot, but also a character and personality that make him a unique player," emphasizes Yuri, who has scored more than 200 goals in Spanish football.

Like the hardworking people of Vallecas, the Murcian has also had to work hard to reach the First Division. After playing in the youth teams of Real Madrid and Villarreal, he was left without a team at 19 and returned to Cieza, his hometown, where he began to question whether he was really good at football. This forced him to look for a job to fill his mornings, as he trained with the local team in the afternoons, but he couldn't sign for any club since it was October. The Murcian worked in the fields, where he became aware of the realities of life, as he recounted in an interview with The Country"I learned from people who had to support their families and worked from dawn to dusk so that at the end of the month they didn't even have enough to pay the electricity bill," the footballer said. All of this helped him change his mindset and decide that he would try to be a footballer one last time.

Proof of this sacrifice is the image that Yuri remembers at ARA: the hug he shared with Isi on the balcony of Ponferrada Town Hall after being promoted to the Second Division. "There came a moment when we both started to cry. It was a look, a hug that said, 'We did it.' We've had bad times, but it was worth it," Yuri adds.

A video that the Rayo Vallecano footballer sent to the Brazilian player a few weeks ago.

The importance of knowing when to stop

However, once he reached the elite, Isi experienced another episode that brought him back down to earth. The daily pressure played tricks on him. "I didn't feel like myself and I wasn't happy. I was tired, my head hurt, and I thought I'd have a heart attack and die," he confessed a few years ago on the podcast. What a Thing. The incident occurred in 2023. "Only two or three teammates knew. I'm a very cheerful person in the locker room, and I would come here and dress up to pretend to be the same person. That's the worst thing I did because it made me feel worse," he added to SER.

The climax came in a Rayo Vallecano-Villarreal match, when he had to leave the field because he felt unwell. "My arm hurt and I couldn't sleep at night; it was a very strange feeling. I had an energy drink before the game and I was very distracted during the match. I didn't want them to pass me the ball, I was fatigued, and I looked at Francisco [the coach] to ask to be substituted," Palazón recounts. It was then that he told his family he was going to therapy. Going public with it helped him get back on track.

Rayo Vallecano, a working-class club fighting against giants

Away from the media spotlight of Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid, Rayo Vallecas is working to gain a foothold among the big clubs. Vallecas is characterized by being a humble, working-class neighborhood that is celebrating its return to Europe this season. It won't be their first time traveling across the Old Continent; they already did so in the 2000-01 season, but the excitement has returned thanks to players like Isi, who has played for the club since early 2020 and has accumulated 32 goals in 223 matches.

The Murcian describes some of the peculiarities of Rayo Vallecano. "The first year I was here, I got sent off in a match against Elche and I thought I'd get a big slap in the face. I left the field to applause," explains Isi. For the Bukaneros, as the support group calls itself, what's non-negotiable is that their players give their all on and off the field. Mistakes are part of the sport, too. A neighborhood that tries not to be contaminated by so-called modern football. "I lose a game in Vallecas and I love hanging around having a beer with the people from the neighborhood, with my family... And nobody blames me for anything," explained Isi, who tries to help the locals whenever he can.

But far from everything being rosy, fans have been criticizing the poor management of their president, Raúl Martín Presa, for years. Proof of this is the state of the pitch Barça will find on Sunday. Andsi, as one of the captains, has contact with the top executive. "My relationship with him is somewhat complicated, but so far I think we've understood each other quite well, better than I expected. However, there's still a long way to go; we have to improve many things on a day-to-day basis, and he knows that," he confesses.