Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona Prediction: Tight game in prospect

We have a full midweek slate of La Liga action over the course of the next few days and our Spanish Football expert previews the Tuesday night (20:00) clash on Premier Sports 1 from the Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas.

Read on for his thoughts and his full Rayo Vallocano vs Barcelona Predictions...

Barcelona travel to Madrid on Tuesday night for their third league game of the Hansi Flick era against Rayo Vallecano. It's two wins from two for the German so far, but this has not been a happy hunting ground for Barça in recent years.  

They've taken just one point from their last three league trips to Vallecas with Rayo revelling in their status as a genuine bogey team for the Catalan giants. They thrived in this fixture under Andoni Iraola, taking 10 points from the first four league meetings overall, following promotion in 2021. 

The 2023/24 season was a much more challenging one for Rayo though. Following Iraola's departure, Francisco's reign did not last long, but even his struggling side caused Barça problems, securing a 1-1 draw in this fixture last term with only a late Florian Lejeune own goal denying Rayo a third straight home victory over what was then Xavi's team. 

Barcelona did finally break their Rayo hoodoo with a 3-0 home win in May, but they'll be expecting a really tough night in the Spanish capital on Tuesday. 

Flick will be happy to have made a winning start to life in La Liga and he'll have been encouraged by aspects of what he has seen in 2-1 wins over Valencia and Athletic Club. 

Robert Lewandowski has certainly been enjoying life back under the guidance of his old Bayern boss, scoring three of Barça's four goals so far this season. Lamine Yamal also opened his account for the new campaign with another long-range, left-footed curler to break the deadlock at the weekend. 

The latest batch of graduates from La Masia have also mostly looked composed, although Flick has been a little more dependent on them than he might have liked, given the shortage of senior options, particularly in midfield. 

Barcelona's financial limitations continue to loom large over the club, with €55m man Dani Olmo still unregistered as we head towards the third game of the season. Even after the departures of the likes of Clément Lenglet, İlkay Gündoğan and Vitor Roque in recent days, it's unclear whether they'll be able to count on the Spain midfielder in Vallecas. 

They face a Rayo Vallecano side that has made a better than expected start to the season. Opening with trips to Real Sociedad and Getafe, their coach Iñigo Pérez will be delighted to have already chalked up four points. 

Goals from Jorge de Frutos and Sergio Camello sealed a shock win in San Sebastian on the opening weekend.  

They were then involved in a truly dreadful game on Saturday which ended 0-0 at local rivals Getafe. Both sides started without a natural striker in their lineups and it was the first La Liga match in more than 20 years to finish without a single shot on target from either side. 

Rayo could at least draft in Camello for this game. The 23-year-old scored twice in Extra Time as Spain beat France to win gold at the Olympics earlier this month and will be targeting a much improved campaign after only scoring three league goals last term. 

The Rayo supply-line may soon be about to get a considerable boost, with the club reportedly already having an unlikely agreement with former Real Madrid midfielder James Rodríguez. The Colombian was outstanding at Copa América in the summer, with six assists in six games, but will not be signed in time for this match. 

Team News: 

Barcelona have four definite injury absentees with Frenkie de Jong, Gavi, Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araújo all currently sidelined. Ansu Fati is also a doubt while Olmo's participation will depend on approval from La Liga, if the club can meet the necessary requirements to register him in time. 

Flick must also decide whether Pedri is in a position to play again, having completed the full 90 minutes on his first start following his Euro 2024 injury on Saturday. Fermín López may be drafted in for his first league start of the campaign, following a busy international summer. 

As for Rayo, they have injury doubts over forward Raúl De Tomás and full-back Andrei Rațiu. New signing Augusto Batalla is pushing to get the nod over Dani Cárdenas in goal, while Camello should replace Randy Nteka up front. 

Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona Odds

Barcelona head into the game as the 7/10 favourites, with the draw on offer at 3/1 while Rayo Vallecano are available at 18/5 to continue their recent hot streak in this fixture. 

Punters will need to decide how much weight to place on the recent struggles Barça have had on this ground. They are priced at 7/1 to make it a hat-trick of 2-1 wins so far under Flick, while you can back Barcelona -1.00 Handicap at 9/5. 

Both teams to score is on offer at 4/6, while you can back Barcelona to win to nil at 2/1 or Rayo Vallecano to win to nil at 8/1. 

The most likely goalscorer is surely Robert Lewandowski, who leads the early season Pichichi race in La Liga with three. He's 7/2 to score first in this one, 11/10 to score anytime and 18/5 to score last, a winning bet in his two league outings so far this term. 

Fermín López's likely inclusion and strong goalscoring record, makes him one of the more appealing alternative options at 11/5 to score in this game, while his Spain Olympics teammate Sergio Camello is 13/5 to score anytime for Rayo. 

*You can check out all of the Football Odds we offer over at betfred.com

Bet 1 - Double Chance - Rayo Vallecano or Draw @ 23/20 

In the first match of the season in Vallecas, there should be a lot of noise at Rayo's small but atmospheric stadium. It's a tight ground and Barça's recent struggles here are hard to ignore. 

Given their current selection issues, there's not a whole load of options for Flick when it comes to freshening this team up and I can see them having problems once more against a Rayo side that will look to play with intensity and feed off the energy of their home crowd. 

The hosts will be feeling confident after an unbeaten start to the season on the road and I'm backing Double Chance - Rayo Vallecano or Draw at 23/20. 

Bet 2 - Under 2.5 goals @ 11/10 

We may see Rayo try to be a bit more expansive if they can complete the deal for James Rodríguez, but since appointing Pérez as their new coach in February, they have tended to operate relatively defensive, and it's hard to see them throwing too much caution to the wind in this match. 

Six of the eight league matches in Vallecas since he took charge have produced two or fewer goals, while none have ended with more than three. That includes a 1-1 draw against Real Madrid in his first match and I see this being quite tight with odds of 11/10 for Under 2.5 goals looking good. 

Mark Sochon primarily covers Spanish Football for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out Mark's La Liga Betting Tips along with those from the rest of the Betfred Insights Spanish Football writers on our La Liga home page...