Madrid's stumbling block: The King faces the rival trickier than Barca and Atleti
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Reading Time: 2min | Sun. 09.03.25. | 15:18
In the past five duels against Rayo Vallecano, Los Blancos won only one, in May 2023, but today, they'll have to break this unpleasant tradition if they want to keep up with Barcelona and Atletico in the title battle
Even though it sometimes sounds ridiculous, every European football giant has a team that's, in prospect, supposed to be easy prey but causes a lot of trouble on the pitch. Bayern Munich have Bochum and Mainz, Barcelona have Getafe, Liverpool have their city rivals Everton, Inter Milan often had troubles beating Genoa, while Reims used to "trip" Paris Saint-Germain.
For Real Madrid, the stumbling block are - Rayo Vallecano. Or at least the crew from Vallecas has been a tricky opponent to Los Blancos - often trickier than Barca and Atleti - in recent years. Believe it or not, in the last five clashes against Los Franjirrojos, Madrid triumphed - once?! On May 24, 2023, Carlo Ancelotti's team emerged victorious 2-1 at Santiago Bernabeu, thanks to Karim Benzema's opener and Rodrygo's penultimate-minute winner.
⚪️ Real Madrid vs Rayo Vallecano in the last 3 games:
— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) March 8, 2025
• 3-3 (away)
• 1-1 (away)
• 0-0 (Bernabéu) pic.twitter.com/lZEEckt95A
In the first duel in the 2022/2023 campaign, Rayo - led by the current Bournemouth boss, Andoni Iraola - beat Los Blancos 3-2 at Estadio de Vallecas. The season after, the rivals shared spoils both times - 0-0 at Bernabeu and 1-1 at Rayo's turf.
Finally, this season's clash, played last December, brought fireworks as Inigo Perez's men managed to defend their home and salvage a 3-3 draw. Now, Barca and Atletico are three and two points ahead of Madrid, respectively, and any failure could cost Los Blancos dearly. Therefore, this abysmal tradition against Rayo has to be broken today. Otherwise, Madrid's title dreams could end up shattered.
LA LIGA - MATCHDAY 27
Saturday
Celta - Leganes 2-1 (2-1)
/Mingueza 26, Gonzalez 45+1 - Rosier 19/
Alaves - Villarreal 1-0 (1-0)
/Sanchez 11/
Valencia - Valladolid 2-1 (1-1)
/Lopez 7, Sadiq 58 - Latasa 40/
Barcelona - Osasuna POSTPONED
Sunday
16:00: (4.10) Getafe (3.15) Atl.Madrid (2.05)
18:15: (1.30) Real Madrid (5.50) Rayo Vallecano (10.0)
20:30: (1.63) Ath.Bilbao (3.90) Mallorca (6.25)
20:30: (1.45) Betis (4.60) Las Palmas (7.20)
23:00: (2.15) Sociedad (3.20) Sevilla (3.70)
Monday
23:00: (3.25) Espanyol (3.30) Girona (2.40)
***odds are subject to change***
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