Preview:Rayo Vallecano vs Celta Vigo - prediction, team news, lineups

Celta Vigo's search for their first victory of the 2025-26 La Liga season will continue on Sunday afternoon, when they make the trip to the Spanish capital to tackle Rayo Vallecano.

The visitors have four points to show from their five matches this term, which has left them down in 14th spot in the La Liga table, while Rayo are 13th, collecting four points from four games.

Match preview

Rayo have already played six times in all competitions at the start of the 2025-26 campaign, as they needed to navigate their way through a two-legged Conference League playoff against Neman in order to advance to the league stage of the competition, and the capital side managed to run out 5-0 winners on aggregate.

In La Liga, Inigo Perez's side have a record of one win, one draw and two defeats from their four matches, with four points leaving them in 13th, so it has been an underwhelming start.

Los Franjirrojos started their season with a 3-1 success over Girona, but they were then beaten by Athletic Bilbao before holding the champions Barcelona to a 1-1 draw before the September international break.

Rayo's most disappointing result of the season occurred last time out, suffering a 2-0 loss to Osasuna, and they will be determined to bounce back this weekend.

The capital team will begin their Conference League league stage campaign against KF Shkendija on October 2, while Celta will be playing in the Europa League this term.

Indeed, Celta finished seventh in La Liga last season, qualifying directly for the league stage of the Europa League in the process, and they will begin their European challenge against PAOK on October 2.

The Sky Blues are actually still waiting for their first La Liga win of the campaign, losing their opener against Getafe on August 17 before posting four straight draws.

Claudio Giraldez's side have shared the points with Mallorca, Real Betis, Villarreal and Girona in their last four matches, with four points from five matches leaving them in 14th spot in the table.

Celta have won 21 of their previous 62 matches against Rayo, suffering 22 defeats in the process, and they were beaten twice by Rayo in Spain's top flight during the 2024-25 campaign.

Indeed, the capital outfit won 2-1 at home in January 2025 before posting a 2-1 victory four months later, and Celta have only actually been victorious in one of the last six meetings between these two sides.

Rayo Vallecano La Liga form:

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Rayo Vallecano form (all competitions):

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Celta Vigo La Liga form:

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Team News

Rayo will be missing Abdul Mumin and Luiz Felipe through injury on Sunday, while Fran Perez and Nobel Mendy are both facing late fitness tests for the La Liga contest.

Alvaro Garcia has been in excellent form for the hosts this season, scoring four times in six appearances, and there will again be a spot in the final third of the field for the 32-year-old.

Jorge de Frutos has also come up with two goals this term, and he will feature at centre-forward, while Isi Palazon should also continue in the starting side on Sunday.

As for Celta, the visitors are in excellent shape in terms of their squad, with no issues being reported.

Borja Iglesias has been the team's main provider of goals this season, scoring twice in five appearances, and the 32-year-old is in line to feature in the final third.

Iago Aspas is still waiting for his first goal of the campaign, but the Spaniard remains an important player at the age of 38, and he should again be joined in an advanced area by Bryan Zaragoza.

Rayo Vallecano possible starting lineup:

Batalla; Ratiu, Lejeune, Vertrouwd, Chavarria; Ciss, Lopez; Palazon, Diaz, Garcia; De Frutos

Celta Vigo possible starting lineup:

Radu; Rodriguez, Dominguez, Alonso; Rueda, Moriba, Sotelo, Mingueza; Aspas, Iglesias, Zaragoza

We say: Rayo Vallecano 1-1 Celta Vigo

Celta have been the draw specialists this season, and we can see another stalemate occurring here, with the two teams potentially cancelling each other out on Sunday afternoon.

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