Celta Vigo will be aiming to stretch their unbeaten in Spain's top flight to eight matches when they head to Madrid on Saturday to tackle Rayo Vallecano.

The visitors are currently ninth in the La Liga table, picking up 12 points from their first 10 matches of the season, while Rayo are 16th in the division on nine points.

Match preview

Rayo boast a record of two wins, three draws and four defeats from their opening nine matches of the campaign, with the capital outfit sitting 16th in the division, collecting nine points, which has left them one point outside of the relegation zone.

The capital outfit, who finished eighth in Spain's top flight last season, will enter this match off the back of a 3-2 victory over Recreativo de Huelva in the first round of the Copa del Rey.

Benat San Jose's side lost 3-0 at home to Elche in La Liga last weekend, though, and they have not been victorious in the league since overcoming Espanyol on September 15.

Rayo have won 22, lost 22 and drawn 20 of their previous 64 matches against Celta in all competitions; the last meeting between the two teams took place in January 2026, with Celta recording a 3-0 victory over the capital outfit.

However, two of the last four meetings between the two sides have been won by Rayo, with both of those successes coming during the 2024-25 La Liga campaign.

Celta played out a goalless draw with Real Betis in the league last weekend, with the result leaving them ninth in the table, boasting 12 points from 10 matches.

The Sky Blues have a record of two wins, six draws and two defeats in Spain's top flight this season, and they are actually unbeaten in their last seven games at this level.

Claudio Giraldez's side, who finished sixth in La Liga last term, have not lost in the league since the end of August, but they were beaten at home by Juventus in the Europa League on October 15.

Celta have been excellent defensively this season, only conceding seven times, which is the best record in the division, but they have struggled down the other end of the field, netting just 10 times in as many matches.

Rayo Vallecano La Liga form:

Rayo Vallecano form (all competitions):

Celta Vigo La Liga form:

Celta Vigo form (all competitions):

Team News

Rayo are again expected to be without the services of Augusto Batalla, Luiz Felipe and Andrei Ratiu for the league contest with Celta.

Alemao scored twice in the Copa del Rey success over Recreativo but is unlikely to earn a start here given that Sergio Camello has seven league goals to his name this term.

Pathe Ciss will miss the match through suspension following his yellow card against Elche, so Oscar Valentin could be introduced into the midfield.

As for Celta, Borja Iglesias, Carl Starfelt, Alvaro Nunez, Miguel Roman and Jones El Abdellaoui are once again expected to miss out through injury.

Ferran Jutgla dropped out of the starting side against Real Betis last time out but is expected to be brought back into the XI for this match.

There are unlikely to be any surprises when it comes to the team selection, with Ilaix Moriba again set to be a notable starter in the middle of the midfield.

Rayo Vallecano possible starting lineup:

Audero; Balliu, Lejeune, Sadick, Pedrosa; Valentin, Lopez; De Frutos, Diaz, A Garcia; Camello

Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:

Radu; Rodriguez, Lago, Alonso; Rueda, Moriba, Febas, Galan; Gonzalez, Jutgla, Alvarez

We say: Rayo Vallecano 1-1 Celta Vigo

This is a tricky match to call, as Celta are on a long unbeaten run, but wins have been hard to find of late. We are expecting it to be tight, with the points potentially being shared in a low-scoring draw.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.