Rayo Vallecano and Real Madrid will face each other at the Vallecas Stadium this Saturday, December 14 from 17:00 (ARG, URU and CHI) and 15:00 (COL, PER and ECU) by date 17 of La Liga 2024/25.
Why is this La Liga duel important?
Real Madrid, which still owes its match on date 12 against Valencia (scheduled to be played on Friday, January 3), will seek to achieve its third consecutive victory, considering all competitions, in order to go on to lead La Liga, at least until we see what It happens in Sunday’s match between Barcelona and Leganés.
Currently, the team led by the Italian Carlo Ancelotti has 36 points in the Spanish championship, two less than the culé team.
For its part, Rayo Vallecano will try to add to its path to consolidate its position in the middle zone of the standings, where it currently occupies 12th place with 19 units (six away from the relegation zone).
Players to watch in Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid
Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappé have just converted in the last two games (against Girona in La Liga and against Atalanta in the UEFA Champions League), and they will try (the Frenchman must recover from a minor discomfort) to continue on this positive streak.
For its part, Rayo Vallecano has been able to form a Safe and reliable final triangle with Argentine goalkeeper Augusto Batalla and center backs Florian Lejeune and Abdul Muminbeyond knowing that this Saturday they will have a great challenge in which they will have to have the collaboration of the entire team to try to contain Real Madrid.
James Rodríguez’s background against Real Madrid
Colombian James Rodríguez could play for the third time in his career against Real Madrida club he defended for four seasons (from July 2014 to July 2017, and from July 2019 to September 2020).
James, who has only featured in one of Rayo Vallecano’s last five games in La Liga, faced Merengue against Bayern Munich in the 2017/18 Champions League semi-finals: in the first leg played in Germany, he assisted in the 1-0 win. Joshua Kimmich, although later the Spanish team turned the score around and won 2 to 1 (goals from Marcelo and Marco Asencio); and in the rematch, the Colombian made it 2-2 at minute 63 (in the goal celebration, Rodríguez apologized to the Spanish bias).
This is how the teams arrive
Curiously, Both teams have two consecutive victories and their last defeat was against Athletic Club de Bilbao: after losing to Athletic on December 4 in La Liga, Real Madrid defeated Girona in La Liga and this Tuesday Atalanta 3 to 2 in the Champions League; while Rayo Vallecano, after losing to Athletic on Sunday December 1st, beat Unionistas de Salamanca 3-2 in the second round of the Copa del Rey and later won 1-0 on their visit to Valencia for La Liga.
The last precedent
These teams They met for the last time on Sunday, February 18 of this year on date 25 of La Liga 2023/24, and they tied 1 to 1: Joselu, with a pass from Fede Valverde, opened the scoring for Real Madrid at 3′, but Raúl de Tomás put the final 1 to 1 with a penalty goal at minute 27.
When they play: date, time and live TV
The match between Rayo Vallecano and Real Madrid will be played this Saturday, December 14 at 5:00 p.m. (ARG, URU and CHI) and 3:00 p.m. (COL, PER, ECU).
