Our prediction for this Copa del Rey match:
Real Sociedad
Match Time & Date:
16/01/2025
19:30
Prediction: 1-1
Rayo Vallecano
A place in the Spanish Cup quarter-finals will be at stake when Real Sociedad and Rayo Vallecano face each other at Reale Arena on Thursday evening. The Basques aim to build on a hard-fought 1-0 win over Villarreal and they are surely capable of matching los Vallecanos in front of home fans. Defender Igor Zubeldia is back from suspension, while both Alvaro Odriozola and Hamari Traore should miss out with injuries. Ander Barrenetxea is widely expected to return to the starting XI.
The capital club, on the other hand, aim to build on a 2-1 win over Celta Vigo. Rayo Vallecano are undefeated in the previous five away games in all competitions and given their triumph over Real Sociedad in their last meeting in San Sebastian, a close encounter is on the cards. There are no fresh injury worries in the away team ahead of the trip to the Basque Country.
Highlighted Player (Mikel Oyarzabal):
Intelligence is not an attribute you will find in Mikel Oyarzabal’s stats with Real Sociedad but this tricky winger is a highly knowledgeable winger who will use both brain and feet while playing. For a player born in Eibar, who made his first steps in his hometown club, it was always going to be a choice between Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad for Oyarzabal.
La Real saw their chance and grabbed this gem of a player at a young age, helping him develop into a proper professional throughout their youth ranks. Mikel Oyarzabal has spent the entirety of his senior career with the Basque behemoths where he’d use his ability to fill in a number of positions up top much to his own benefit.
Oyarzabal’s positioning and movement are work of a tactical genius, whereas it is his nous to find details to exploit that best define him as a player. Having come through the youth categories of the Spanish national team, Oyarzabal also has a senior cap next to his name. It was in 2016 that he also represented the Basque region, scoring on his debut to cap a 3-1 win over Tunisia.
Highlighted Team (Rayo Vallecano):
Rayo Vallecano is a Spanish football club from the Valleas neighbourhood in Madrid and are founded in the year 1924. The club is playing in the Primera Division since 2011 after being in active in the lower divisions for a longer period of time. Rayo Vallecano currently plays it’s home games in the Teresa Rivero Stadium which is also known as the Nuevo Vallecas stadium and holds a capacity of 15 500 seats. The Nuevo Vallecas stadium is one of the smallest ones in the Primera Division. The club colors of Rayo Vallecano are white and red and is also known as Los Vallecanos. Rayo Vallecano is known for it’s ultra’s which are radical left winged political sided.
In the clubs history Rayo Vallecano never won any big prizes. The biggest achievement was in 2000 when the club qualified for the UEFA Cup after winning the Fair Play spot. Rayo Vallecano was one of the biggest surprises in Europe that season and even managed to get to the quarter finals where Rayo got eliminated by Deportivo Alaves. There are a lot of famous players that played for Rayo Vallecano during their career such as: Julen Lopetegui, Jordi Figueras, Victor Onokpo and Ismael Urzaiz.
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