Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid Prediction: Team News and Lineups Preview

Betting expert, Nathan Joyes, lays out his Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid prediction, team news, lineups and fixtures preview for all to see ahead of the weekend. Can the visitors go from Germany and straight into a Madrid derby in La Liga and come up trumps?

Our Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid prediction is for Real Madrid to win the match 0-2.

Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid Prediction, Team News, Lineups and Fixtures Preview

1. Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid Prediction: Real Madrid Win and Under 3.5 Goals

In this article:

• Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid Team News and Possible Lineups
• The Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid, La Liga Standings Prediction
• Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid Stats
• Rayo Vallecano Fixtures
• Real Madrid Fixtures
• Safer Gambling

 

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This week’s bettingexpert Football Podcast looking ahead at the weekend’s schedule

And if you’d rather see the Podcast, Dan Jenkins, and Sam Ingram in all their glory, here’s the YouTube video.

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Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid: Professional performance from visitors

Spain, La Liga, Sunday, February 18th, 13:30 (UK)

There’s little surprise to see Real Madrid’s away form is the best in the league. Collecting a grand total of 29 points from 12 matches is highly impressive, and one of the key reasons as to why they’ve been at the top of La Liga after 24 matches.

Plenty is owed to Jude Bellingham, who is the top goalscorer with 15 goals, as well as chipping in with three assists. Once again, the boy from Birmingham will look to help his fellow Galaticos dominate on the road.

Recent wins over Getafe (2-0), Las Palmas (2-1) and Alaves (1-0) have shown more pragmatic yet professional performances from Los Blancos.

Rayo Vallecano, on the other hand, have failed to win at home in their last nine matches, a run stretching back to mid-September last year when they saw off Alaves 2-0. They are clear of the bottom three for now, but something needs to change.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom. In those nine matches, only one game has seen them fall to a defeat of more than a one goal margin – a 2-0 defeat to Las Palmas. They’ve managed to hold Barcelona (1-1), whilst a narrow 2-1 defeat to Girona was also promising.

Let’s not forget, these two sides met back in November at the Bernabeu and finished as they started in a 0-0 stalemate despite Madrid’s constant dominance.

Madrid look likely to rectify that result in their current form and adding under 3.5 goals adds plenty of value to my pick. It’s also worth adding it’s landed in four of their last five away matches in La Liga.

• Predictions: Real Madrid Win and Under 3.5 Goals
• Best Odds: 2.30
• Bookmaker: bet365
• Stakes: 8/10

Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid Prediction odds via bet365 as at 09:00, February 12th, 2024. Odds may now differ.

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Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid Team News and Possible Lineups:

Rayo Vallecano enters the match with a few more days rest over their Madrid counterparts. Whether that will have an effect is yet to be seen, although they do go into the weekend after a 1-2 loss on home soil to Sevilla. Bebe has finished AFCON duties with his country and will be available from the start here – the Cape Verde man was an unused substitute alongside Falcao on the weekend, making it 14 games he has started on the bench without a single start in 2023/24.

Speaking on the midweek win (0-1) in Germany, Carlo Ancelotti analysed the R16 first leg, “Leipzig are a good attacking side and they’re well organised with their wingers coming inside, while they’ve got two very good and different types of striker. Keeping a clean sheet is great and it shows we did a good job. We struggled with the positioning of their wingers in the first half but we sorted it out later on. Even so, having to dig in was to be expected here.”

A positive result in the Champions League should provide a sense of continuation in La Liga, something we’ll likely see in both the starting lineup and performance. Courtois, Alaba, Rudiger and Militao will miss out in defensive areas once again, whilst Jude Bellingham likely continues his short rehabilitation.

Rayo Vallecano possible starting lineup:
Dimitrievski; Aridane, Lejeune, Espino; Ratiu, U Lopez, Valentin, Chavarria; Palazon, Camello, A Garcia

Real Madrid possible starting lineup:
Lunin; Carvajal, Tchouameni, Nacho, Mendy; Valverde, Kroos, Camavinga; Diaz; Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo

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The Predicted Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid, La Liga Standings by BETSiE

Our in-house predictive model, BETSiE, has had a go at predicting the La Liga standings ahead of the Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid, currently 14th vs 1st, fixture by utilising the underlying data from the 2023/24 season up until this point.

For more league-specific BETSiE content including standings, probabilities and predictions, visit her page here – it’s worth it.

Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid Standings Prediction

POSITION	CLUB	GAMES	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Real Madrid	38	27.4	6.9	3.6	79.8	28.5	51.3	89.2
2	Girona	38	23.5	7.9	6.6	78.0	50.0	28.0	78.5
3	Barcelona	38	23.1	8.7	6.2	79.6	49.8	29.8	78.1
4	Atl. Madrid	38	22.1	6.1	9.8	70.4	43.5	26.9	72.3
5	Ath Bilbao	38	20.4	10.1	7.4	66.9	36.2	30.7	71.5
6	Sociedad	38	14.9	13.6	9.5	50.7	37.6	13.1	58.4
7	Betis	38	14.2	14.4	9.4	47.2	44.8	2.5	57.0
8	Valencia	38	14.5	8.8	14.6	44.0	46.6	-2.6	52.4
9	Getafe	38	12.8	12.5	12.8	49.9	53.6	-3.7	50.7
10	Las Palmas	38	13.4	8.6	16.0	37.9	40.8	-3.0	48.9
11	Alaves	38	12.6	9.6	15.9	42.7	48.3	-5.6	47.2
12	Osasuna	38	12.6	8.5	17.0	43.8	56.3	-12.5	46.1
13	Rayo Vallecano	38	10.2	12.6	15.2	38.2	49.4	-11.2	43.2
14	Villarreal	38	10.5	10.0	17.6	54.7	72.2	-17.6	41.3
15	Mallorca	38	8.6	14.7	14.7	37.0	49.6	-12.7	40.5
16	Celta	38	9.9	10.3	17.9	45.8	56.4	-10.6	39.9
17	Sevilla	38	9.3	11.3	17.4	47.2	59.6	-12.4	39.2
18	Granada	38	6.3	10.4	21.2	42.8	69.4	-26.7	29.4
19	Cadiz	38	4.6	13.4	20.1	25.3	57.0	-31.7	27.1
20	Almeria	38	4.8	10.2	23.0	41.9	73.7	-31.9	24.6

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Match Stats: Set Piece specialists in Madrid

• Real Madrid’s 16.5 shots per90 is a league-leading statistic in La Liga this season.
• Ray Vallecano are no slouched in terms of attempts at goal. Their 12.8 shots per90 ranks them eighth of the 20 top-flight Spanish sides.
• Only two teams have scored fewer goals from set pieces in La Liga this term than Rayo Vallecano’s three.
• Real Madrid (9) and Osasuna (9) have had the most joy from a dead ball situation.

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Rayo Vallecano Fixtures: Two upcoming big tests

• Vs Real Madrid (H)
• Vs Girona (H)
• Vs Cadiz (H)
• Vs Alaves (A)
• Vs Real Betis (H)

Real Madrid Fixtures: Home comforts

• Vs Rayo Vallecano (A)
• Vs Sevilla (H)
• Vs Valencia (A)
• Vs RB Leipzig (H)
• Vs Celta Vigo (H)

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SAFER GAMBLING

At bettingexpert, we always take a safe approach to gambling. We’ll never bet more than we can afford or chase losses. For more advice, head to our Safer Gambling hub.