Getafe host Rayo Vallecano at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez on 19 October 2026, a La Liga Matchday 9 fixture with both sides sitting on eight points. Getafe are 14th after eight matches with a goal difference of minus six, while Rayo sit 13th after seven games on minus five and neither side has the buffer to be casual about this one: Getafe are still unbeaten at home this season while Rayo are yet to win away, with Bordalás and San José bringing no prior managerial history against each other into it.
Getafe come off a 0-3 defeat at Barcelona on 10 October, a result that exposed how badly they struggle when pressed high despite their usual defensive organisation and their last five matches yield one win and two draws. Rayo's schedule got complicated when their match against Athletic Bilbao was abandoned amid fan protests and pitch issues, leaving them two wins and a draw from their previous five.
Bordalás, who took charge on 29 April 2023, is short on numbers. Christantus Uche is out with a knee cruciate injury that could keep him sidelined until around 2027, Juanmi is still unavailable with a knee problem and Zaid Romero is absent with a muscle issue. Orel Mangala (muscle), Ramón Terrats (shoulder), Iván Azón (physical discomfort), Enes Ünal (fitness) and Andrés García (muscle) are all doubts. Beñat San José, in his first season after replacing Íñigo Pérez in July 2026, has his own problems: Luiz Felipe, Andrei Ratiu and Augusto Batalla are ruled out through injury while Raúl de Tomás is unavailable through fitness issues.
Getafe under Bordalás are about as Getafe as it gets: compact defensive block, set pieces, quick counters and very little interest in the ball. That approach has served them well at the Coliseum this season but losing Uche strips them of the midfield energy that was sustaining their counters and Djené will need to hold the backline together without Juanmi or Romero alongside him. Nemanja Gudelj has to cover a lot of ground to both protect the defence and give Mayoral a runner to combine with and Martín Satriano is the fallback if Mayoral ends up isolated.
Rayo build through Camello centrally, with De Frutos and García working the flanks, though the absence of three defenders and their goalkeeper through injury puts real pressure on whoever fills in at the back when Getafe start getting direct. The likeliest tactical story here is Rayo's wide players dragging Getafe's full backs out of position, opening central lanes for Camello against a defence already thin on numbers. Rayo's higher defensive line also leaves them vulnerable to long balls and second phase situations where Mayoral and Satriano could combine and while the injury situations on both sides roughly neutralise each other in midfield, Rayo's defensive absences feel slightly more dangerous given how direct Getafe can be.
Getafe's clearest route to goal is from set pieces, given seven of the last eleven meetings have ended level and neither side gives much away in open play and this fixture historically produces few goals and fewer clear winners. Rayo haven't lost to Getafe in the last ten meetings, with Getafe's last victory dating to February 2019. The most recent fixtures were a 0-2 Rayo win at the Coliseum on 3 May 2026 and a 1-1 draw at Rayo on 2 January 2026.
Set pieces are where Getafe do their best work at home, their defensive organisation letting them crowd the box and win the loose ball and Rayo will need to be sharper in the air than they've been recently, particularly without their injured centre backs. Getafe's 1-1 Conference League draw against Universitatea Craiova means they've had competitive minutes this week, while Rayo's abandoned fixture leaves them without a recent competitive reference point.
1-2 Rayo Vallecano. Getafe's home record and their ability to cause problems from dead balls should prevent this from being straightforward for Rayo but losing Uche, Juanmi and Romero all at once genuinely limits what Bordalás can do structurally and Rayo's pace through Camello and the wide players should find enough space when Getafe push forward to take the three points, even if their own defensive absences mean they'll be under pressure every time Getafe win a corner or a free kick in the final third.
Ryan Baldi
Football Writer
Ryan Baldi is a professional football writer with years of experience and has been featured by respected outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, Sky Sports, DAZN, FourFourTwo, ESPN, Yahoo Sport and Football365. He has also written several books including Arsène Who?.
