🏏 Sat, 15 Aug 2026 21:30 CEST
Sevilla
vs
Rayo Vallecano
4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1
Substitutes
Substitutes
Match Preview
- Both teams set up in a 4-2-3-1 on the opening weekend, so the double pivots meet head on. Sevilla trust Lucien Agoumé, the 24-year-old Frenchman who came through Sochaux and has since played for Inter Milan, Troyes and Brest, at the base of midfield. Rayo answer with Athletic Bilbao academy graduate Unai López, 30, and captain Óscar Valentín, 31, a grafter who climbed all the way up from Rayo Majadahonda in the lower divisions.
- Isaac Romero leads the Sevilla line. The 26-year-old academy product stands 184cm, strikes ferociously with his left foot and holds the ball up as a classic focal point. Just behind him is Jon Guridi, a 31-year-old left-footer schooled at Real Sociedad who arrived via Alavés, and the passing line between those two will decide how often the hosts can turn possession into shots.
- Sevilla's centre-back pairing is tall and left-right balanced: Kike Salas, a 24-year-old 188cm left-footer who built his career at Tenerife, alongside 189cm Senegalese Arnau Sangante, also 24. Sangante was handed the Le Havre captaincy at 21 and played 36 matches in their Ligue 2 title-winning promotion campaign, so his adaptation to Spanish football is one of the storylines of the night.
- Rayo's attacking three is small and quick across the board: Álvaro García (33, 167cm), Isi Palazón (31, 169cm) and Jorge de Frutos (29, 173cm). García holds the club's LaLiga appearance record and still slaloms down the left, while De Frutos returned to Vallecas after 112 games and 13 goals in three seasons at Levante. Against two centre-backs of 188cm and 189cm, Rayo must win this on the floor.
- Randy Nteka starts up top for Rayo at 189cm, even though he is an attacking midfielder by trade — born in France, capped by Angola, and equally comfortable dropping in to link play. That leaves the recognised strikers in reserve: Spain international Sergio Camello, 25, an Atlético Madrid academy graduate wearing the No.10, and Brazilian Alemão, 28, whose career has taken in Kyoto Sanga and a promotion with Real Oviedo.
- The goalkeeping duel is a meeting of well-travelled veterans. Odisseas Vlachodimos, the 32-year-old Greece international, played Champions League football at Benfica and has also worn the shirts of Stuttgart, Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest. Rayo hand the gloves to Augusto Batalla, 30, an Argentine schooled at River Plate, with the No.1 Dani Cárdenas — a Levante academy product — starting on the bench.
- Rayo's back line leans heavily on experience: 35-year-old Florian Lejeune, a 189cm Frenchman whose CV runs through Manchester City, Newcastle United, Villarreal and Alavés, and 34-year-old Iván Balliu, the Albania international who came out of Barcelona B. Alongside them, Pathé Ciss — the 32-year-old Senegal international and Africa Cup of Nations winner — is deployed in defence rather than in his usual holding-midfield role.
- Sevilla can also change the game from the bench. Rubén Vargas, 28, was a Bundesliga regular at Augsburg and is a Switzerland international left winger; Chidera Ejuke, 28, is the flying Nigeria wide man who made his name at CSKA Moscow, including a Champions League showing against Barcelona; and 172cm Peque Fernández, 23, comes from La Masia via Racing Santander. That is a lot of late pace to unleash on tiring full-backs.