Rayo Vallecano vs Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid will look to maintain their unbeaten La Liga start when they take on Rayo Vallecano at the Campo de Futbol de Vallecas.

Rayo Vallecano capped off a mixed La Liga start (W2, D1, L2) with an impressive 3-1 home triumph against Osasuna last weekend, earning a chance to win back-to-back league outings at Vallecas for the first time since May 2023. Revenge is a powerful motive, and Inigo Perez’s men must be filled with it after slumping to a humiliating 7-0 defeat in this corresponding fixture last season. That disastrous result forms part of Rayo Vallecano’s underwhelming 14-game winless H2H streak against Atletico Madrid, decreasing their hopes of staging an upset after going winless in all eight league encounters against top-four sides last season (D3, L5). That’s not to mention they’ve lost their five most recent top-flight clashes against Diego Simeone’s side, failing to get on the scoresheet on four occasions.

On the other hand, Atletico Madrid performed a phenomenal comeback to beat RB Leipzig 2-1 at home in their Champions League opener a few days ago. Equally outstanding has been their La Liga start, with a gut-wrenching 0-0 home draw against newly-promoted Espanyol in round two remaining their only winless league outing in four this season (W3). Simeone’s men have seemingly rediscovered their defensive resilience after a leaky 2023/24 campaign, keeping a clean sheet in all four La Liga matches this term, including a 3-0 romping of Valencia last weekend. Another telling defensive performance would see Atletico Madrid make it six consecutive away league matches unbeaten for the first time since April 2023.