Will Rayo’s home strength prevail?
Promoted duel in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey. Rayo Vallecano and RCD Mallorca are two teams that faced each other in the Segunda Division last year, but both made the step up to Spain’s top division. Now one of the two teams is on the verge of reaching the semi-finals of the Spanish cup competition.
In 2022, both clubs are still winless in the championship. The only successes have been celebrated in the Copa. The hosts are nevertheless doing well in the league as promoted teams and are in the top half of the table. The Rayistas still have their sights set on the international competitions. But first, they want to reach the semi-finals against RCD. The bookmakers are offering odds of 2.10 on the home side in the match between Rayo Vallecano and Mallorca.
The visitors, on the other hand, will have to be careful not to go straight back into the second division. After five games without a win, the red and black team has finally arrived in the relegation battle. The kick-off at the Campo de Futbol de Vallecas in Madrid will be at 20:00 on Wednesday evening. Will the visitors be able to surprise the favourites Bukaneros and progress to the next round?
Rayo Vallecano – Statistics & current form
Rayo earned a reputation as a lift team in recent years. After two years in the second division, the red and whites celebrated promotion again last year. The Bukaneros finished the regular season in sixth place, but then beat Girona, Almeria and Leganes in the promotion round.
In the current season, head coach Andoni Iraola’s team seems to have managed to stay out of the relegation battle for the most part. The Madrilenians have already collected a lot of points from the first 21 games and have a total of 31 points thanks to nine wins and four draws. In the standings, this currently means eighth place, although Rayo still have one more game to play than many of their rivals. Rayo are thirteen points clear of the relegation places and only three points behind an international starting place.
Rayo still without a win in the league this year
But at least in the league things don’t quite want to work out after the short Christmas break. Only one draw was drawn from three games. In addition to the 1-1 draw against Betis, there were defeats at Atletico Madrid (0-2) and against Athletic Bilbao (0-1). Iraola’s side won the Copa against the two lower-ranked teams from Girona and Mirandes to advance to the quarter-finals. The home side are also favourites in the next round. In the match between Rayo Vallecano and Mallorca, all predictions see the Bukaneros in front.
Is the defence again the basis for advancing?
The strength of the hosts this season is clearly their defence. Keepers Zidane and Dimitrievski have only had to get the ball out of their own net 22 times. This is the fifth best value in the league. The offence, with 27 goals, is average and there is certainly room for improvement. The most successful scorers are Garcia and Falcao with five goals each.
Predicted line-up of Rayo Vallecano:
Zidane – Balliu, Suarez, Catena, Fran Garcia – Ciss, Comesana – Palazon, Trejo, Garcia – Falcao
Last matches played by Rayo Vallecano:
LaLiga
01/23 2022 – Rayo Vallecano 0 – 1 Athletic Bilbao
Copa del Rey
01/15 2022 – Girona 1 – 2 Rayo Vallecano
LaLiga
01/09 2022 – Rayo Vallecano 1 – 1 Real Betis
Copa del Rey
01/05 2022 – CD Mirandes 0 – 1 Rayo Vallecano
LaLiga
01/02 2022 – Atletico Madrid 2 – 0 Rayo Vallecano
Mallorca – Statistics & current form
Second in the table, the Mallorquinistas made it into the top flight of Spanish football last season. After a decent start to the season, however, the visitors have now found themselves in the relegation battle.
So far, the red and black team has picked up twenty points from 21 games. This puts RCD in seventeenth place and only just above the line. Only four wins have been recorded this season and the lead over the first relegation place has shrunk to a mere two points. The visitors still have one more game to play than their rivals and would gain some breathing space in the bottom of the table with a win in the catch-up game.
Mallorca with just one away win from ten league games
The 2003 Cup winners have had little to gain on their opponents’ pitch in recent games. In the last ten away games, only one three-pointer was achieved. But that came as a complete surprise at reigning champions Atletico.
Now it’s off to Madrid for the Copa quarter-finals. The Rojinegros have already had to survive four rounds. After victories over the underclass Club Gimnastica Segoviana (2:0 n. V.), Llanera (6:0) and Eibar (2:1), they faced their first real test in the round of 16 with Espanyol Barcelona. With a 2:1 victory, Mallorca advanced to the next round.
RCD have yet to pick up a point in the league in 2022
Wins in the Copa have been the only successes for head coach Luis Garcia’s side so far this year. In the league, the visitors have already lost three times and are still without a single goal of their own. It is therefore not surprising that bets on Rayo Vallecano against Mallorca are sweetened with odds of 4.00 at the top.
In total, the players from the holiday island have only scored seventeen times in the championship. Only Alaves is even less successful with sixteen goals. The top scorer is Dario Rodriguez, but he has only scored three times. The defence, on the other hand, has already allowed 33 goals. Only four teams have conceded more goals.
Predicted line-up of Mallorca:
Riquelme – Jaume, Russo, Valjent, Maffeo – Rodriguez, Ruiz de Galarreta, Battaglia, Kubo – Prats, Diedhiou
Last matches played in Mallorca:
LaLiga
01/22 2022 – Villarreal FC 3 – 0 Mallorca
Copa del Rey
01/15 2022 – Mallorca 2 – 1 Espanyol
LaLiga
01/08 2022 – Levante 2 – 0 Mallorca
Copa del Rey
01/05 2022 – Eibar 1 – 2 Mallorca
LaLiga
01/02 2022 – Mallorca 0 – 1 Barcelona
Rayo Vallecano – Mallorca Direct comparison / H2H record
In addition to fifteen duels in the Primera Division and 28 comparisons in the Segunda Division, the two teams have also met a few times in the Copa del Rey. In total, the hosts have had the upper hand fourteen times and the visitors have had the better end on their side twenty times. For Wednesday’s match between Rayo Vallecano and Mallorca, the bookmakers are predicting a win for the home side.
In the first leg of the current season, Rayo won 3-1 against the Mallorquinistas. After an hour, the match was decided at 3-0 and the red and black team only managed to score a goal shortly before the final whistle. Last season, RCD got a three-pointer at the Red-Whites.
Rayo Vallecano – Mallorca Tip
Two teams who have struggled so far this year will determine the first semi-finalist of this year’s Copa del Rey. Both teams are still without a treble in the championship since the winter break, but survived two rounds each in the cup competition.
Although wins have been thin on the ground this year, the hosts remain the second best home team in the league. Last week’s defeat to Bilbao was their first home loss of the season. The visitors, on the other hand, are being pushed further and further down the table after their recent failures and are on the verge of falling to a relegation spot.
We also see the advantage with the red and whites, who had the more difficult opening programme into 2022. At the latest after the defeat against the winless last-place Levante, all alarm sirens must have gone off at the Mallorquinistas. We recommend betting on the hosts in the Rayo Vallecano vs Mallorca match at odds of 2.10 at the top.
A goal festival is not expected in this duel, so that in the match Rayo Vallecano against Mallorca, at odds of 1.60, the bet on a match with a maximum of two goals also has good chances of success.
