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It has been another tumultuous week for the Spanish giants, with Madrid failing to make the top eight of the Champions League standings in dramatic fashion on Wednesday.

Having had Raul Asencio and Rodrygo sent off, Madrid succumbed to a 4-2 defeat to Jose Mourinho's Benfica, with goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scoring the Lisbon side's fourth goal deep into second-half stoppage time. 

Trubin's header sent Mourinho's men into the play-offs on goal difference, and Friday's draw then paired them with Madrid once again.

Madrid are also second in LaLiga, albeit just one point behind Barcelona ahead of this weekend's games, and Arbeloa's reluctance to rotate his star players has been debated in the Spanish media.

At Saturday's pre-match press conference, the former full-back said: "I understand the debates, but I want to have the best players on the field. 

"The more minutes they are available to the team, the better. We saw it at Villarreal, where Mbappe's goal came from a very good action by Vinicius. They are players capable of deciding a game at any time. 

"There are people – who are not Madrid fans – who will not want them to be on the pitch, but the players you have mentioned are among the top 10 in the world. 

"It's not my confidence in them; it's their performance levels that keep them on the pitch."

Vinicius has endured arguably his most difficult campaign at Madrid, being limited to seven goals and nine assists so far this term, after registering at least 33 goal involvements in each of the previous four seasons.

But when it comes to attacking sequence involvements, Mbappe (258) and Vinicius (203) have been Madrid's two most influential players since the end of the Club World Cup.

Asked if his team had gone back to square one after their loss to Benfica, Arbeloa added: "No. We are aware of the difficulty of the match against Rayo Vallecano. 

"We are focused on finding a high level again, on continuing to work and improve. Everyone's level will have to be very high to win all the games. That is our goal."

Rayo are 16th in the table, only one point above the relegation zone, and their head coach Inigo Perez expects Madrid to issue a strong response after their midweek loss.

"Against such powerful teams, losing before kick-off is a danger," he said. "Madrid's players have a very high mental capacity, and tomorrow, it won't affect them".