The curtain has closed on another La Liga season, and before the Nations League and the Club World Cup steal away the summer, it’s time to ring up the accounts from the past year. Here is your La Liga Team of the Season.
Arguably one of the great goalkeeping seasons in 21st century La Liga history, when your Sporting Director and manager publicly declare that a significant portion of surviving in La Liga is down to you, it speaks volumes. The most saves in La Liga, the best saves in La Liga, and the most important saves in La Liga. Garcia looks bound for big things – some of his performances will become mythical in Cornella.
Perhaps just as famous for his ‘housery as his goalkeeping, but if anything that has distracted from just how good he has been for Rayo Vallecano. They have the seventh-best defence in La Liga, and that was in no small part down to his heroics on a weekly basis.
A toss-up with Thibaut Courtois, we had to have the Zamora winner on the podium. Oblak’s season won’t go down long in the memory, but he showed up in some big moments, before it all fell apart for Atletico Madrid, most notably at Montjuic against Barcelona in a 2-1 win.
It might sounds strange, but the closest thing La Liga has to Trent Alexander-Arnold – until next year. Played on the right, the left, as a wing-back, in a four and in midfield, Mingueza was moved around and like playmaker at the wrong end of the pitch, because that is what he was. Making his way into the Spain team, he’s held onto his spot, and what he lacks defensively has shown up big for Celta going forward.
The year Jules Kounde became a right-back by position and by profession. Kounde was good at right-back before, but any awkwardness was gone, and with Lamine Yamal ahead of him, got forward effectively too. As Deco has pointed out, often gets left two-on-one, but rarely looks out of his depth.
Tall, quick and good on the ball, it’s hard not to have a soft spot for a right-back that has a penchant for picking out the top corner. Ratiu’s marauding has been crucial for Rayo this year, and he has made a name for himself.
Unfortunately sent off against Manchester United in the Europa League semi-final, Dani Vivian remains one of the reasons Athletic have returned to the Champions League for the first time in a decade. Aggressive, quick, strong, good in the air, a good leader and smart in his reading of the game. A dream of a centre-back for any manager, Vivian is the most underrated Athletic star.
Pau Cubarsi’s form went through more blips this season than in his debut campaign, but it’s all too easy to forget how good he has been on the whole. Adapted to the high line, he remains key on the ball to service Pedri, and despite conceding 39 Liga goals, Cubarsi had a strong season.
Gladiatorial, Cesar Tarrega is a little rougher around the edges than many defenders these days, and all the better for it. Valencia’s revival in the second half of the season is down to players like Tarrega taking a step forward, and he is now the leader of Valencia’s backline, alongside captain Jose Gaya.
So good they’re renewing him twice. At 33 years of age, nobody imagined Inigo Martinez would be Barcelona’s leader at the back this season, still less in a system this risky. The Basque warrior was the marshall of that Barcelona high line, and his absences made it very apparent how important he is. Five assists too.
Alongside Djakonam Djene, Omar Alderete was the leader of the joint-fourth best defence in the division – in a team that finished just two points above the drop. Football requires XI players to attack and defend, but no side in La Liga relied as heavily on the latter, and Alderete was the standout in their backline.
Marc Bartra has always, rightly or wrongly, been regarded as a defender with a soft shell since leaving Barcelona, but the Real Betis revolution would not have been possible without him. As he has aged, he’s become a leader for Manuel Pellegrini, and has held it together in a rotating cast at the back for Betis.
This might be a surprise choice, but in a team that was decent until January, then went into freefall, Miguel Gutierrez was one of the few that gave Girona a chance to regain their balance at times. Five assists and a pair of goals, with Michel Sanchez’s midfield struggling, Gutierrez continued to play two positions this season, moving into midfield in possession, without the structure around him.
Despite some at times alarming defensive lapses, it is very hard to ignore seven La Liga assists for Sergi Cardona, the most of any defender in Spain. Cardona’s timing and ability to find the right cross has improved this season, and became one of Villarreal’s most incisive arms, with Alex Baena often leaving him alone on the left.
It is easy to remember that at the beginning of the season, Alejandro Balde was regarded as a problem starter for Barcelona. He has returned to his best this season, and like so many of his teammates under Hansi Flick. Raphinha played nominally on the left, and Balde was mature this year.
If you can’t fall in love with Isco playing football, it might not be the sport for you. His return from injury completely transformed Real Betis, both in terms of level and in their style of play. Running the game against former side Real Madrid, ending their hoodoo against Sevilla and directing matters on the way to a first European final. Isco is in the process of being deified in Andalusia.
A little unlucky with injuries in the second stretch of the season, when Oihan Sancet is fit, not many sides have an answer for Oihan Sancet. The physique of a Basque farmer, movement that reminds of Thomas Muller and a finish that Steven Gerrard could mistake for his own, Sancet is consistency away from being one of the best in Spain.
Even Fede Valverde couldn’t hold this Real Madrid side together. Even Valverde looked tired this season. At one stage he was playing the best right-back football around too. Valverde has to play every game for Real Madrid – that’s maybe the best indicator of his level.
Similarly to Valverde, Pedri was the one player that Flick never really rested. With almost elastic limbs, he glides around mopping up all the bad passes, and turns them into biblical little miracles that get lost later in the attack. Barcelona would have been overjoyed just to have the old Pedri back, the new one is a phenomenon.
We fear the Conference League final may be his last game for Real Betis. Johnny Cardoso looked absolutely at home in games against the big three this year, and provided a platform for Betis’ attacking quartets to do what they do best. Midfielders like Cardoso are increasingly the most expensive players in the game.
There were stages this season where Mikel Jauregizar was like a Basque Pac Man, gobbling up everything in the middle of the pitch. You might be able to go down a different route, but eventually, Jauregizar would get you.
There are two reasons that Alex Baena has not had the credit he deserves this season; last season he racked up a ridiculous 18 assists, and this season his strikers (with the exception of Ayoze Perez) were a little less than clinical. He remains Spain’s most decisive midfielder in terms of assists (10) and grabbed seven goals to go with them. Magician gets thrown around, but his eye for angles and space is terrific.
It is something of a shame that much of Atletico Madrid’s work will get thrown out with the three-week disaster, but until that point, Rodrigo de Paul (alongside Julian Alvarez) was arguably their best player. Particularly with Antoine Griezmann’s output decreasing, de Paul took on responsibility.
A quiet end to the season obscures that Jude Bellingham was still very good for much of this season. A more defensive role, all the dirty work, and plenty of frustration still yielded 14 goals and 14 assists.
There is nothing more exciting in football right now than when Lamine Yamal gets the ball. The 17-year-old is capable of anything, and he has a habit for producing in the biggest games of the season. Few players have had people falling about themselves to praise them like Lamine Yamal, and maybe only with Pele (beyond our time) at this age.
What at first was a quirky and intriguing loan to watch quickly became must-watch theatre. ‘Antonio de Triana’ has had maybe the best January loan impact in recent memory, and come up with some absurd finishes to push Betis over the line in key games.
Diego Lopez goes under the radar – both in conversation and in games. A dying breed of forward, Lopez has a good touch and a decent finish, but more than anything an understanding of where to be and when to release the ball. He has featured in every game, and with eight goals and five assists, has been present in 13 of Valencia’s 44 goals – crucial in their revival and survival.
One of the stranger seasons for Kylian Mbappe, Golden Boot winner with 31 Liga goals. At first, he wasn’t as bad as they said, but it definitely wasn’t good. Then he was probably better than they said, but it didn’t really matter because of what was happening around him. A tricky season, full of goals, and one of the few people in history (although one of four this season) to have scored a forgettable hat-trick against Barcelona. More to come, and that’s impressive.
A Messi-esque season from Ante Budimir. The Croatian forward finished third behind Mbappe and Robert Lewandowski in the Pichichi race with 21 goals, accounting for 44% of Osasuna’s total this season. He became their top scorer in Osasuna’s La Liga history, and given the service, it’s a brilliant campaign.
Signing of the season for many, Ayoze Perez has 19 goals for Villarreal despite playing just 30 games. He arrived for just €4m, and outside of Baena, was their best player. The 31-year-old was clinical and without him, Villarreal do not make Champions League football. Centre-forward the strongest field in the league.
One of the all time great comeback seasons, Raphinha more than double his production from the last two years, and equalled Cristiano Ronaldo’s Champions League record 13 goals. In his 57 appearances, he scored 34 times and gave 25 assists, but beyond that he set the tone for Barcelona, becoming a leader and navigating adversity in relentless fashion.
We know Dodi Lukebakio usually operates off the right, but Joaquin Caparros mistaken using him on the left gives us an excuse to pay tribute to his 11 goals in this Sevilla season. The Belgian was a lighthouse in a shipwreck of a season, and if Los Nervionenses got off the boat alive, Lukebakio was the one leading the rescue operation.
Very much in a similar sense to Lukebakio, Espanyol were goal-shy at the best of times, and Javi Puado was a lonely bastion of production. A lot of the focus has been on Roberto Fernandez’s impact after arriving in January, and no doubt it changed their season, but Puado’s 12 goals and 4 assists are 40% of Espanyol’s total goals. He’s not Joan Garcia, but his contribution was the next difference-maker in survival.