Rayo Vallecano vs Villarreal

Campo de Futbol de Vallecas sets the stage for La Liga’s top-six six-pointer between Rayo Vallecano and Villarreal.

After last season’s underwhelming 17th-placed finish, Rayo Vallecano could defy bookmakers this term by securing an unlikely European spot. One-goal margin victories over Celta Vigo, Girona, and Real Valladolid since the calendar year flipped to 2025 put Vallecano on the brink of four consecutive La Liga home wins for the first time since October 2021. Overall, Inigo Perez’s charges had won three successive league outings before slumping to a narrow 1-0 loss at Barcelona earlier this week. Despite that setback, they commence this round in the final European qualification place, albeit only a point clear of seventh-placed Mallorca. Vallecano can take confidence from only losing once in their last five encounters against Villarreal (W2, D2), including a 1-1 draw in December’s reverse fixture. 

That’s a stark contrast to Villarreal’s dominant run of 11 victories from 14 H2Hs beforehand (D1, L2). However, the visitors have undergone a renaissance after failing to win six matches from late November to mid-December (D3, L3). Indeed, they’ve since racked up four triumphs across their last seven fixtures since then (D2, L1) and are unbeaten in five in a row, including a gut-wrenching 1-1 draw against relegation-battling Valencia a week ago. Worryingly, Marcelino Garcia Toral’s men have blown hot and cold across their last three La Liga travels (W1, D1, L1), conceding precisely once on each occasion. With four of their six away league games since the start of December featuring under 2.5 goals, this could be a low-scoring contest.