Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona
Barcelona will return to La Liga action this Saturday, and they’ll face their bogey team in Rayo Vallecano. The game will take place at the Estadio de Vallecas, where valuable points are up for grabs.
Since taking over as Barca boss, Xavi has yet to win a single game against Los Franjirrojos, so now is the perfect time to end their drought in order to keep pace in the title race.
The Blaugrana are currently in third place with 30 points, while Real Madrid and surprise package Girona are on top of them with 32 and 34 points, respectively.
On the other hand, Rayo Vallecano are in 10th place with 18 points, level with Valencia and newly promoted Las Palmas. Francisco’s men haven’t won in their last three league games, including a 2-1 defeat against Girona last time out.
Talking Points
Barca will cope with Gavi sidelined
The Blaugrana are not immune to the La Liga injury bug, as Gavi caught it while playing for Spain in the ongoing Euro 2024 qualifiers.
The 19-year-old prodigy limped off the pitch in the 26th minute of the opening half of their game against Georgia, and it was confirmed that Gavi tore his ACL and is set to be missing for the rest of the 2023-24 campaign.
Losing Gavi is obviously a huge blow for Barca since he is one of their best midfield players, but they have enough depth to compensate. With Frenkie de Jong and Sergi Roberto set to return soon, Barcelona will get back two of their top holding midfielders to join Pedri and Ilkay Gundogan.
Frenkie de Jong was forced off against Celta Vigo towards the end of September due to an ankle injury and hasn’t played since, but he was seen training with the squad ahead of this weekend.
Sergi Roberto sustained a calf injury during the October international break, but local reports say that the 31-year-old is progressing well with his rehab.
And with their vaunted frontline clicking, with the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Ferran Torres, and Joao Felix leading the way, Xavi has all the tools to help Barcelona stay competitive on all fronts.
RDT can be an x-factor for Rayo Vallecano
When Raul de Tomas left Espanyol this summer after falling out with their front office, returning to Rayo Vallecano seemed like the most logical choice because he had a productive first stint there.
However, things haven’t gone according to plan so far, as the 29-year-old has yet to make a meaningful impact, and it doesn’t help that he hasn’t played as much as he wants to.
Raul de Tomas has proven before that he can score with the best of them, especially after notching 44 goals in 85 appearances for Espanyol from 2020-2022.
He is surely capable of producing La Liga 2023 highlights for Rayo Vallecano. For now, RDT will have to embrace his backup role behind Alvaro Garcia, who is their top scorer with four goals.
History
This upcoming match is Xavi’s fourth encounter with Rayo Vallecano since taking on the role of Barcelona head coach. And so far, victory has eluded him, with two losses and one draw.
Barcelona’s last victory over Rayo Vallecano on the road was a 3-2 result during the 2018-19 season, as Luis Suarez netted a brace and Ousmane Dembele added one to outscore Jose Pozo and Alvaro Garcia in November 2018.
In the return fixture after that, Barcelona won 3-1, as Gerard Pique, Lionel Messi, and Luis Suarez completed a comeback after Raul de Tomas put Rayo Vallecano up by one goal during the 24th minute.
Rayo Vallecano are winless in their last four home La Liga matches (D3, L1), with their previous one being a 2-2 result against Real Sociedad.
Betting Tip
The SBOTOP La Liga 2023 odds are favouring the visitors to finally break their duck this weekend. Barcelona are 1.64 favourites to win, while a win for Rayo Vallecano offers a great value of 4.50, and a draw is priced at 3.75 in the 1X2 market.
Rayo Vallecano being Barcelona’s bogey team is not a fluke, and we feel that this can be the case again on Saturday. Although we won’t be surprised if Xavi’s men finally win, they will be pushed to the limit by Los Los Franjirrojos either way.
Other than the Asian Handicap bet that we just recommended, you may want to take a look at Under 2.50 at 2.17 or Total Goal 0-1 at 3.95 as your alternative options.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR (⭐) BETS ARE WORTH:
⭐⭐⭐= €20 (HIGHLY CONFIDENT)
⭐⭐= €10 (CONFIDENT))
⭐= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT)
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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