Rayo seeks his third consecutive victory in this League against the colchoneros
MADRID, 27 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Atlético de Madrid will visit the Estadio de Vallecas this Monday (9:30 p.m.), within matchday 3 of LaLiga EA Sports, to face a Rayo Vallecano team that has started the official season very well and will seek its third victory in a row against the colchoneros , but having to deal with an obstacle that has lasted 10 and a half years.
The last triumph of the Vallecano team over Atlético dates from February 10, 2013, it was in the League and it was forged with goals from Lass Bangoura and Léo Baptistão. Since then, 11 rojiblancas victories and three draws in 14 matches, including both league appointments along the way and a Copa del Rey tie in the round of 16.
Koke Resurrección and Radamel Falcao survive from that game a decade and a half ago, but the rojiblanco captain is still injured and the Colombian striker is now a member of Rayo. Diego Pablo Simeone was also there, guiding the designs of an Atlético from the bench that still entrusts him with full powers on a sporting and emotional level.
The ‘Cholo’, as the club’s thermometer in each press conference, gives up the option that Miguel Ángel Gil Marín and Andrea Berta sign him a ‘5’. In fact, on the eve of visiting Vallecas, Simeone focused on keeping calm in the face of the economic threat from Saudi Arabia. Clarifying the future of João Félix is no longer the only thing that worries him.
A few days before the summer transfer market ends, the departure of a key player is worse than not hiring anyone else. Bringing in Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg doesn’t seem to work and Thomas Lemar has also added to the list of mattress absences, which already included Josema Giménez and Reinildo Mandava along with the aforementioned Koke Resurrección.
For this reason, Atlético’s spotlight will once again be on the young Pablo Barrios. Regarding the rest of the starting eleven, the main doubts for the Argentine coach will be in lining up his compatriot Nahuel Molina or the Spanish César Azpilicueta for the right lane, as well as finding the right travel companion for Antoine Griezmann.
The Frenchman is fixed day in and day out, but Álvaro Morata and Memphis Depay are fighting for the other place up front. Even Ángel Correa disputes that poster, facing a match that will be a challenge whoever plays. And the blame will lie with the Normacedonian goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski, still unbeaten this season in the First Division.
Not surprisingly, Rayo beat UD Almería 2-0 on matchday 1 and then Granada CF by the same result, in two games away from home that have served Francisco Rodríguez’s pupils to fill their spirits. “The week has been very good. We are very motivated by many factors, such as playing the first game at home,” said the Rayista coach last Saturday during a press conference.
“It’s a complicated team and it’s difficult to get your hands on it,” he added about Atlético. “He does everything well. It seems that he only defends, but he also attacks well. He introduces changes every season and our illusion is to compete 100% at home. We have adopted automatisms to hurt them and try to obtain a result that we can celebrate”, he stressed a Francisco who has landed on the right foot in Vallecas.
DATASHEET.
–POSSIBLE ALIGNMENTS:
VALLEYAN LIGHTNING: Dimitrievski; Balliu, Aridane, Lejeune, Hawthorne; Unai Lopez, Valentine; Palazon, Alvaro Garcia, Trejo; y Sell.
ATHLETIC MADRID: Oblak; Azpilicueta, Savic, Witsel, Hermoso, Carrasco; Barrios, DePaul, Saul; Griezmann and Memphis.
–REFEREE: Munuera Montero (C. Andalusia).
–STADIUM: Vallecas Stadium.
–TIME: 21.30/Movistar LALIGA TV.