La Liga: Bilbao and Rayo Look To Kick On

Athletic Bilbao vs Rayo Vallecano

Two buoyant teams meet in the Basque on Monday night for their second La Liga match of the campaign, with a win already in the bag. 

Both clubs are in European competition too, Ernesto Valverde’s Athletic Club in the Champions League while Inigo Perez leads Vallecano into the Europa Conference League, where they have already had a win. Last week in the Primera Division the Basque team edged their opener in a five-goal thriller against Sevilla while Rayo Vallecano won 3-1 away to Girona. There will be no lack of confidence at the Estadio San Mames on Monday night which should make for an entertaining bout.   

 

Talking Points

Happy Nico is the Boy for Bilbao

A home game against Sevilla was an exciting prospect for Athletic Club to open up their campaign and the Basque fans were delighted to see Nico Williams in the Red and Whites. The pre-season La Liga 2025 betting odds ranked Valverde’s team as fourth favourites again and that rating solidified when star winger Williams pledged his future to the club, signing a ten-year deal with a new release clause of 63m Euros. It was the biggest La Liga 2025 news of the summer, certainly in the Basque, and both Williams and the Bilbao fans were full of smiles last week. The 23-year-old La Roja star put in a man-of-the-match performance as Athletic Club beat Sevilla in a 3-2 thriller at San Mames. 

Williams opened the scoring with a first-half penalty and then he put a brilliant ball on a plate for Athletic’s winner. Big striker Maroan Sannadi tapped in the second before Lucien Agoume and Dodi Lukebakio levelled for Sevilla. But, with the clock running down Williams put in Robert Navarro who smashed the ball into the top right corner to send the Basque crowd into raptures.  

Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Barcelona have all been courting Williams and the Blaugrana thought they had their man until he did a late about turn, insisting that he always wanted to stay in the Basque, saying: “I am very happy here, I am very proud of the people and how the have embraced me from day one. That is why I stayed here.” And those words must be music to Valverde’s ears. 

And there is more good news for Bilbao fans ahead of the clash with Vallecano as  

striker Oihan Sancet has recovered from injury and has returned to training, with hopes of playing some part on Monday.  

 

Rayo are back in Europe

For only the second time in the club’s history, Rayo Vallecano earned European football with an eighth-placed finish last term and they celebrated their return to Europe after a 14-year absence with a victory away to Belarussian side Neman Grodno. Perez gave first starts to wide man Fran Perez and defender Jozhua Vertouwd, who came close with an early chance from a corner but saw his effort sail over the bar. It was veteran striker Alvaro Garcia who cut in from the right to fire home the winner and he was on target again when Rayo beat Girona last week. 

Vallecano took the game to their hosts in Girona and were ahead after just 18 minutes when Jorge de Frutos scored, and the lively right winger then crossed for Garcia to double the lead two minutes later. Isi Palazon made it 3-0 before the break from the penalty spot and while Girona picked up a late consolation this was a near-perfect start for Rayo. 

The latest odds say Vallecano will struggle to match their top-half finish from last term; but Perez has instilled a winning mentality at the club and they are capable of upsetting plenty of the bigger guns again.        

 

History 

Over the last 22 meetings between these two clubs Bilbao have won 13 to Vallecano’s four and there have been five draws, and last season the Basque club did the double over Rayo, winning 3-1 at the Estadio San Mames in April. 

In terms of recent form Athletic Club got off to a winning start in La Liga after losing all four of their pre-season friendlies, while their visitors have won in both Spain and Belarus.      

 

Betting Tip

Athletic Bilbao are the hot favourites at odds of 1.67 to win with the draw at 3.40 and a Rayo victory is out at 5.00. I suspect the Basque side will win and I’m hoping for more goals after the 3-2 and 3-1 results last week.  

And for a correct score-line, a 2-1 home win is at SBOTOP odds of 7.75.

   

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