Girona-Rayo Vallecano is a match on the 15th day of La Liga and is played on Thursday at 17:00: odds, predictions, TV and streaming.
La Liga follows closely behind the Premier League and Ligue 1 and is the third major league in Europe to restart after the long World Cup break. In Spain, play resumes in the run-up to New Year’s Eve with an unusual midweek fixture spread over three days.
The fifteenth day’s programme opens with a match between newly-promoted Girona and the surprising Rayo Vallecano, now stable on the left-hand side of the table. The team from Vallecas, a densely populated district of Madrid, have collected 22 points in 14 outings and come from six consecutive useful results, including three victories in a row against Cadiz, Sevilla and, above all, the historic win in the derby against Real Madrid, beaten 3-2 on 7 November. Andoni Iraola’s Franjirrojos are therefore well on their way and in the second half of the season they will try to close any salvation talks as soon as possible and continue to frequent the noble areas, perhaps flirting with Europe. They also performed well in the international friendlies they took part in, getting the better of Galatasaray and holding their own against the third Premier League force, Newcastle.
Rayo, however, did not impress in the round of the Copa del Rey played last week against the small Atletico Saguntino, who were defeated only after penalty kicks.
Girona, on the other hand, failed to make it through the round, falling by surprise 2-1 against Cacereno. Yet the Catalans were coming from a good period: they had closed with two wins in a row against Athletic Bilbao and Elche, and in friendly matches they had won against Standard Liege and Nice. It was a slip-up from which Michel’s men need to recover quickly in order to start scoring points again and reach safety as soon as possible.
Ivan Martin del Girona
The Prediction
The break has probably caused both teams to lose a little bit of their edge, given the difficulties in the King’s Cup against uncompetitive opponents. We could therefore see a deadlocked match for large stretches, in which we struggle to identify a clear favourite. A draw cannot be ruled out, in a match with less than three goals overall.
Guirona v Rayo Vallecano likely line-ups
- GIRONA (4-5-1): Gazzaniga; Martinez, Bueno, D. Lopez, Espinosa; Villa, Herrera, Romeu, A. Garcia, Valery; Castellanos.
- RAYO VALLECANO (4-2-3-1): Dimitrievski; Balliu, Lejeune, Catena, F. Garcia; Comesana, Valentin; Palazon, U. Lopez, A. Garcia; Falcao.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-1
