Atlético faces Rayo to extend their league climb

With hardly any time left to savor the important victory against Athletic in San Mamés, Atlético returns to the competition at the Metropolitano with the aim of beating Rayo Vallecano, transferring the good feelings of the last two league games to their own ground home and continue climbing in the domestic competition, where he is already closely watching Barça, second classified with three points more than the mattresses. Cholo’s team intends to add their fourth consecutive victory in the League, where they are leaving behind the many doubts of their contest in the Champions League, where the road to the second round has been extremely complicated.

Rayo hasn’t gotten anything positive out of the Atlético fiefdom since August 1999, on the first day of that League that ended with the surprising rojiblanco relegation to Second. The group led by Andoni Iraola, who remains comfortably installed in the middle of the table, has suffered from irregularity lately and arrives at the Metropolitano after a weak goalless draw against Getafe. He repeats the Madrid duel against Atlético who paid for the victory in Bilbao with Oblak’s ailments, who had to retire due to a blow to the shoulder, and Joao Félix and Koke, who ended up injured, so everything points to the classic rotations of the interweekly days with the aim of dosing efforts in the first part of the season without any respite.

Grbic, who already had an outstanding performance in the final stretch in San Mamés, Witsel, Saúl or Cunha could be some of the novelties for Cholo, who cannot count on Marcos Llorente, Felipe and Reguilón with injuries. It will be in a match to get rid of the bad feelings as the host of the hasty victory against Girona and the draw against Bruges, in a better game but without aim to knock down the Mignolet wall under the Belgian goal posts.

For his part, Iraola has doubts about the red-haired captain, Óscar Trejo, due to a fracture in his hand that could force him to undergo surgery soon. The accumulation of minutes also demands changes in a usually recognizable eleven. That is where the possible ownership of men like Pathé Ciss, Salvi or former mattress player Radamel Falcao fits in, always well received by the athletic parish.