(Football news) In contrast, the visitors, who have lost their past three competitive games, will be hoping to get back to winning ways in the midweek La Liga match.
Atletico Madrid has had a string of successful games since falling to Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup semi-final. Their most recent triumph came against Los Blancos in the Copa del Rey final 16, when they prevailed 4-2 in extra time.
Atleti proceeded to go to the Copa del Rey semifinals by defeating Sevilla 1-0 after narrowly defeating Granada in La Liga. Diego Simeone’s side enjoyed another successful outing in Sunday’s home clash with Valencia, as goals from Samuel Lino and Memphis Depay proved enough to secure a 2-0 victory, leaving Atleti in third position and two points clear of fifth-placed Athletic Club.
They will have the chance to extend that gap on Wednesday, before they make the short trip to the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday for their third meeting with Real Madrid in the space of a month.
Atletico will be confident of claiming all three points in their midweek outing, having won 20 of their last 22 home league games (D2) since losing 1-0 to Barcelona in January 2022.
They have also recorded victories in 12 of their previous 15 games against Rayo, including a dominant 7-0 victory in the most recent game between the two sides in August.
Rayo’s encounter with their neighbors in Madrid on Wednesday will begin with them having lost their last three games, having defeated Huesca in extra time during the Copa del Rey third round.
After Girona eliminated Los Franjirrojos from the cup, they lost 2-0 at home to Las Palmas in La Liga.
Rayo would have been happy to salvage a point from a challenging away match against Real Sociedad, a top-six team, even though they were unable to get back to winning ways the previous weekend.
