With yesterday’s 3-1 win over Leganes, Barcelona have equalled the 38-match unbeaten record set by Real Sociedad between 1978 and 1980. Whether the team will be able to go unbeaten this season remains the question.
The top 4 for the UCL are set with 13 points separating 4th placed Valencia & 5th placed Real Betis.
With Sevilla set to take one of the Europa League spots as a result of its finalist status for the Copa Del Rey, there is a 5 way battle for the remaining two slots between Real Betis, Villarreal, Girona, Celta de Vigo & SD Eibar that will be fought till the end of the season.
This article, however, will focus on La Liga’s main protagonists: the players and will highlight five players who have stood out & shone like a million stars this season:
Also Read: Foreign-born La Liga players who could play for Spain
#5 Iago Aspas (Celta de Vigo and Spain)
An evergreen striker born to play and shine for O Celtiña (The Lovely/Little Celta) as the Galician club are fondly called, Aspas has continued to be the go-to guy for this modest outfit and is again leading the charge for a Europa League spot for Juan Carlos Unzué’s team.
The left-footed 30-year-old is almost certain to be at the World Cup for La Furia Roja which is no mean feat for a player in one of the league’s unfancied outfits.
For the 3rd consecutive season, he has hit 10+ goals and has stood up to be counted at various times when he has been needed (he hit a wonderful hat-trick just yesterday against Sevilla).
His ability to drift unto the flanks and draw attention away from fellow strikers Maxi Gomez who has also hit double figures this season (13) has been a defining feature of Celta’s season.
While Aspas is not the best striker to have in an aerial duel given his slight frame, he has more than made up for it with his set-piece abilities as well as his passing (he has set up 5 goals already).
Currently 4th on the league’s scoring chart (no prizes for guessing who the top three are) with 19 goals, he has a good chance to hit his first 20+ season for his beloved Celta which would be an amazing feat for the hometown hero and the Europa League spot will be the cherry on what has been a fantastic 2017-2018 cake for him.
#4 Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid and Portugal)
It may seem a travesty to have the five-time Ballon d’Or winner and bicycle-kick specialist way down on this list but such has been the strange nature of his season in the league so far.
The first half of the 2017/2018 season was an eminently forgettable one for the Portuguese legend as he and defending champions Los Merengues struggled for coherent performances given that last season’s exploits in the league and in Europe had drawn a huge target on the team’s back.
In the first 17 games of the season, Ronaldo found the back of the net just 4 times and given the continued injury issues of Gareth Bale and the inability of Karim Benzema to hit the proverbial barn door with a rocket launcher, the Portuguese maestro came in for a lot of criticism with the “finished” word being bandied about.
The turnaround in his performances in the league have been nothing short of amazing as he has now hit 18 goals since the turn of the year in just 13 matches.
With the Spanish trio of Isco, Marco Asensio and Lucas Vasquez doing the running and prodding coupled with the improved form of full-backs Marcelo and Dani Carvajal, Ronaldo has been able to get back to his best form from last season as he now runs less and concentrates more on being in the right place at the right time.
Said to have a bet with teammates that he will eclipse arch-rival Lionel Messi to win this season’s Pichichi, the eternal duel between both players will remain one of La Liga’s biggest stories and will be replayed again when both teams clash in this season’s second El Clásico at the Camp Nou on May 6th.
#3 Rodrigo “Rodri” Hernández (Villarreal and Spain)
When everyone is raving about a player in his first full season and describing a 21-year-old as the future replacement for Sergio Busquets in the Spanish national set-up, it goes without saying that there is something special about the said player.
Such has been the season that the 21-year-old Rodri has been having that El Submarino Amarillo (The Yellow Submarine) as Villarreal are known have already agreed a €20m deal for the player to join Diego Simeone at Atletico Madrid (the club whose youth system he came through).
He has been the outstanding player in a youthful Villarreal side whose pre-season promise was almost shattered by former manager’s Fran Escriba’s incompetence.
The arrival of former player Javier Calleja as the new manager transformed the Estadio de la Cerámica side and Rodri alongside with it.
Playing in a defensive midfield position, the youngster has averaged an astounding tackle rate of 2.7 per game in La Liga while also making 1.6 interceptions and 2.8 clearances.
He has been the glue that has held the midfield together as his intelligent defending coupled with his passing ability and ball shielding skills have meant that fellow Spaniards Pablo Fornals and Manu Trigueros who has played alongside him at the base of the midfield is often able to drive forward to join the attack.
Having gotten his first La Furia Roja call-up for the 6-1 mauling of Argentina a few weeks ago, it will be surprising if the youngster makes the squad for Russia 2018 but if he does, it will be totally on merit given the exceptional season he is having.
#2 Geoffrey Kondogbia (Valencia CF and France)
The choice of this hulking beast of a player as the second best player in La Liga this season may come as a shock to some fans but if it does, it will only show that they have not been paying attention to happenings in the league this season.
The on-loan French international has become the darling of Los Che fans and it is not hard to see why: his presence in the midfield has added a solidity that the club has not had since the heady days when Valencia could boast of having the quality of David Albelda and Ruben Baraja at the base of the midfield.
His tackling abilities have been instrumental to the club’s new-found solidity in the middle of the park as he has averaged 2.9 tackles per game this season.
His physical strength coupled with his pace and power has made him the ideal foil for midfield partner and club captain Dani Parejo to display the full range of his classy regista attributes (his performances have FINALLY earned him a call-up for La Roja and he made his debut against Argentina last month).
Kondogbia has not only been engaged in repelling opponents, making tackles and interceptions, he has also been very useful up the field as his powerful shots and well-timed runs have led to many a dangerous situation which manager Marcelino’s well-drilled forward line has capitalized upon.
For a central midfielder, his tally of 4 goals and four assists in 25 La Liga matches are quite good and it is almost certain that Valencia will take up his €25m option-to-buy from Inter Milan when his loan deal is completed at the end of the season.
Given the competition for places in Les Bleus midfield, his chances of making the World Cup squad may be slim but on current form, there are few better than him in world football.
Also Read: Coaches who have excelled this season
#1 Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona and Argentina)
The undisputed king of Spanish football and the greatest player ever in a league that has seen more than its fair share of contenders for the G.O.A.T (Greatest of All Time) title, La Pulga Atómica (The Atomic Flea) has again been front and centre of everything good that Barca has done today and if arch-rivals Real Madrid do them a favour today by beating second-placed Atletico Madrid in the El Derbi madrilèno (Madrid Derby), Messi will have won his 9th La Liga title.
In a season where the team under Ernesto Valverde’s tutelage has been more functional than aesthetically pleasing, Leo ha shone brightly and has almost single-handedly dragged the team to the title while remaining unbeaten in the process.
This most special player currently leads the La Liga table for both goalscorers (29) and assists makers (12) and is one of a very select number of players in Europe who have reached double figures for both goals and assists.
His dribbling, passing, scoring and other superhuman feats have meant that following the rather unsavoury incident of the Neymar sale to PSG and the inability of the supporting cast (Ousmane Dembélé, Paco Alcácer and to a lesser extent Luis Suárez) to step, he has had to carry the burden of scoring and creating; things he has over-delivered on.
Unless something truly diabolical happens, he will win the award for the best player in La Liga this season and not even the biggest/most fanatical Madridista will have any qualms about it.
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