Atlético Madrid will host Rayo Vallecano at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on Thursday as they aim to bounce back from their unexpected defeat to Las Palmas. Diego Simeone's side currently sits third in the league table, while the visiting team will enter the game in third place as well.

Atlético Madrid lost to their city rivals Real Madrid on penalties in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League and were eliminated by Barcelona with an aggregate score of 4-5 in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey. Meanwhile, the team has been in poor form, losing three of their last six league matches, including a narrow defeat away to Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria on Saturday, which effectively dashed their title hopes.

Diego Simeone's team had expected to play out a disappointing 0-0 draw against Las Palmas. However, due to a defensive lapse, Xavi Muñoz scored the winning goal in the 93rd minute, causing Atlético Madrid to lose at the Gran Canaria Stadium for the second consecutive season. Atlético Madrid is currently 13 points behind the league leaders, and they at least hope to achieve something from Thursday's game, as they have remained undefeated in their last 17 matches against Rayo Vallecano, with 13 wins and 4 draws. This season, Atlético Madrid also has an impressive home record at the Wanda Metropolitano, having won 11, drawn 4, and lost 1 out of their 16 LaLiga home games.

Rayo Vallecano's European aspirations have lost a great deal of momentum in recent weeks, winning only one, drawing three, and losing five of their last nine league matches. Their only victory during this period was away to Alavés at the end of last month, with goals from Pathe Ciss and Pedro Díaz at the Mendizorrotza Stadium, securing a 2-0 win. Rayo Vallecano were quickly followed by a heavy 0-4 defeat at home to Espanyol, and then in their most recent away game against Athletic Bilbao, they gave up their early lead and eventually lost 1-3.

Rayo Vallecano managed to earn only a point in their home game against Valencia, as they saw César Taverga's own goal cancelled out by a equalizer from Umar Sadiq. This means that since 2025, they have gone winless in their last five home games. In the LaLiga games starting in 2025, they had won three consecutive games against Valencia. Despite their recent poor form, the team currently ranked 10th is still chasing a spot in European football, being 2 points behind the position for European competition and 3 points away from a place in the UEFA Europa League.

Rayo Vallecano will try to boost their hopes of competing in European competitions by beating Atlético Madrid for the first time since their 2-1 home victory in February 2013, and they haven't beaten Atlético Madrid in an away league game since their 2-0 victory over them in August 1999.

Possible starting lineup of Atlético Madrid:

Jan Oblak; Koke Llorente, José Giménez, Iñigo Lekue Norman, Marcos Llorente Galán; Pablo Barrios, Rodrigo De Paul, Pablo Barrios, Conor Gallagher; Julián Álvarez, Antoine Griezmann

Possible starting lineup of Rayo Vallecano:

Stole Dimitrievski Batalla; Radu Drăgușin Ratiu, Loïc Badé Lejeune, Unai Gómez Siss, Fran García Chavarría; Valentín Gómez López; Álvaro García De Frutos, Óscar Trejo Díaz, Álvaro García; Alvaro Garcia Enteka