Rayo Vallecano vs Athletic Bilbao Prediction - Will Bilbao Be Able To Disrupt Rayo's Excellent Moment?

Next Friday, a galvanized Rayo Vallecano will take on a strong and consistent Athletic Bilbao at Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas for round 36 of Liga BBVA on a match that will surely be one of the most interesting of the week at Spanish football.

Rayo Vallecano travelled to Andalusia last week to severely hammer Granada, winning 3-0 after a top quality performance from the Madrid team. Paco Jémez’s boys were lethal on the counterattack as usual and they applied a major blow on Granada’s long quest to escape relegation. On several recent talks with the media, Rayo’s players emphasized the fantastic work of the team’s manager, Paco Jémez, and gov him credit for Rayo’s splendid recovery on the second half of the season.

Rayo’s next match against Athletic Bilbao will certainly not be easy, nevertheless, the team’s midfielder Trashorras stated that the only thing on the players’ minds is to win the match and keep up with their fantastic recent moment.

For the match against the Basque team, Paco Jémez will still not be able to count on the Romanian international left back Razvan Rat, who is suspended, and he is not yet certain if he will be able to count on the midfielders Jonathan Viera, Alberto Perea, and Lass, who are still recovering from recent injuries.

As Rayo, Athletic Bilbao are also very motivated after last week’s win against their closest contenders (Sevilla). Currently at the 4th place of table with more six points than Sevilla, Athletic cannot allow, though, any room for errors if they don’t want to jeopardize their presence at the UEFA Champions League qualifying round next season. The team’s manager, Ernesto Valverde (who has recently been pointed out as a strong possibility to replace Tata Martino at Barcelona next season) claimed at the end of last weekend’s match that it was a very important game but he also stated that his team cannot lose their focus for the three remaining matches of the season.

For the match against Rayo, Ernesto Valverde will not be able to rely on the presence of Gurpegi, who will miss the rest of the season due to injury, and he is not yet certain of the availability of Kike Sola, Borja Ekiza and Ibai Gomez , who are still recovering from their respective injuries.

When both sides met at San Mamés last December, Athletic grabbed a precious 2-1 win thanks to goals from Mikel Rico and Mikel San José. Next Friday’s match will probably be even closer than the one five months ago, as Rayo are now twice as dangerous as they were back in December.

Rayo Vallecano

Stats: W-13 L-18 D-4

Recent Form - LWDWW

Athletic Bilbao

Stats: W-18 L-8 D-8

Recent Form - DLWWLW

Possible Line-ups

Rayo Vallecano (4-2-3-1) - Rubén - Arbilla - Zé Castro - Baena - Nacho - Trashorras - Saúl - Rochina - Bueno - Falqué - Larrivey

Athletic Bilbao (4-2-3-1) - Iraizoz - Iraola - S. José - Laporte - Balenziaga - Iturraspe - Mikel Rico - Susaeta - Ander Herrera - Muniain - Aduriz

Prediction

Rayo Vallecano 1 Athletic Bilbao 1