Villarreal at Rayo Vallecano: Gamethread

It’s MATCHDAY. A win here puts us into the last 8 in a tournament that has already shown anything can happen. Yesterday in the Copa, Tenerife came inches away from taking down Athletic Club, a reminder to us top flight sides that we are not safe in the unfriendly confines of the lower division stadiums. Frankly, it would suit me just fine if all the lower divisions sides other than Rayo won. Who you beat on the way to a trophy is rarely talked about, it is simply a matter of whether you got there or not.

Rayo’s stadium isn’t very big but it can certainly get loud. Silencing this crowd early- instead of waiting until the second half like we did against Girona- will make our day a whole lot easier.

LINEUPS:

Villarreal: Andrés; Peña, Albiol, Funes Mori, Quintillà; Anguissa, Trigueros, Morlanes, Moi, Ontiveros, Bacca.

Bench: Barbosa; Mario, Santi, Iborra, Samu, Sofian R., Fer Niño.

I’m a little disappointed to see Fer on the bench. You figure Bacca is going to play again on the weekend and he is 33, after all. Otherwise about what we’d expect. There should be enough talent here to win this match.

Rayo: Miguel Morro, Tito, Martín, Milic, Saúl, Mario Suarez, Óscar, Joni Montiel, Isi, Alvaro, Andrés.

Subs: Santamaria, Advincula, Saveljich, De Frutos, Luzzi, Trejo, Ulloa.

It’s not that Rayo are a bad side, they aren’t. They just have a decidedly second tier roster right now and there’s no reason at all why this shouldn’t be a win.

Endavant!!