La Liga Facts

fixturemagazine: After the draw between Real Madrid and Málaga...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:08:56 -0400

After the draw between Real Madrid and Málaga CF last weekend, the gap between the top two has slimmed to 8 points. How will this effect the race for the title?

Marca has an interesting graphic available where you can plug in your predictions for the remaining matchdays to predict who will be crowned champions of La Liga. We’ve posted our prediction above…what do you think? Fill out your predictions of the remaining matches this season. (Instructions: “1” means the home team will win, “2” means the visiting team will win, “X” means there will be a tie. Click on your prediction and the graphic will automatically adjust to reflect the change.)

…read more.

Very interesting. We definitely recommend checking out this Marca graphic. We won’t tell you what our predictions were, but let’s just say we think this season will be very, very close and fought to the very last jornada.

Did you know? (As of 2/25/12) Three of the top five scorers in...

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:02:00 -0500

Did you know? (As of 2/25/12)

Three of the top five scorers in La Liga are Real Madrid CF players. The deadly trio of Cristiano Ronaldo (28), Gonzalo Higuain (14), and Karim Benzema (13) together have scored 70% of Real Madrid’s 79 goals so far this season.

Some fun facts:

- Out of the three, Cristiano is the only one to have scored with a header. In fact, 4 of his 28 goals were headed in.

- Higuain scores almost exclusively with his right foot. He has scored one left-footed goal so far this season.

- Twelve of Benzema’s 13 goals were scored at home. The only away goal he scored was against Valencia, Nov 19th of last year.

- Minutes the trio have played: Cristiano (2013), Higuain (960), Benzema (1351). Higuain is the player most likely to be substituted on (12 times), whereas out of the three Benzema is the most likely to be substituted off (11 times).

As of 2/19/12… After FC Barcelona’s 5-1 thrashing of...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:35:52 -0500

As of 2/19/12…

After FC Barcelona’s 5-1 thrashing of Valencia CF, there is a curious phenomenon in the league table.

Out of the 20 teams in the top flight of La Liga, 15 of them have negative goal differences, meaning they have conceded more goals than they have scored. The remaining teams have positive goal differences, but only in the single digits. There are two giant exceptions: Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, who are completely dominating the entire table with goal differences of 58 and 51, respectively.

Literally, from 7th place down, every team has a negative goal difference. Even RCD Espanyol, who is occupying a Europa League spot currently, has a goal difference of -1.

As of 2/18/12 Real Madrid continued their run of wins in La Liga...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 12:38:23 -0500

As of 2/18/12

Real Madrid continued their run of wins in La Liga yesterday against Racing Santander (4-0). Real Madrid kept a clean sheet, which surprisingly is only the second they’ve managed to keep at home this season in the league. Real Madrid is actually more prone to dominating in away games, where they have 7 clean sheets.

Fun fact? The last time Real Madrid kept a clean sheet at home this season was late last year, on October 26.

Weird News of the Day

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 10:55:56 -0500

Valencia CF midfielder Éver Banega has been taken into emergency surgery this afternoon just hours before Valencia’s match against FC Barcelona. While the club has not issued a statement on the particulars of the accident, it appears that Banega was run over by his own car in a gas station when he forgot to put the handbrake on. Banega has suffered a broken ankle.

[As of 1/31/12] Manolo Preciado, formerly of Sporting Gijon, was...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:47:00 -0500

[As of 1/31/12]

Manolo Preciado, formerly of Sporting Gijon, was fired today. He had been La Liga’s longest serving manager in current times, in place at Sporting Gijon since 2006. His firing comes on the heels of his side’s recent 5-1 loss to Real Sociedad. Here is an article with some rather colorful anecdotes of Preciado’s time as manager, and here is a collection of Sporting Gijon players on Twitter expressing their sadness at hearing the news.

Now that Preciado is gone, the next longest serving managers of La Liga are Unai Emery of Valencia CF and Pep Guardiola of FC Barcelona.

Football: It's a contact sport.

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:04:02 -0500

Jornada 21 proved to be a weekend of freak injuries in La Liga. Video here. (Warning: Lots of blood.)

We posted earlier about Real Sociedad midfielder David Zurutuza’s broken nose, but it turns out he sustained a serious fracture and had to be operated on later that day. The player he collided with, Sporting Gijon’s Gregory, was also bloodied in the collision and had to receive 7 stitches.

In the intense match between Racing Santander and Valencia CF, Ever Banega had to be brought off mid-game for a muscle tear. The substitute brought on to replace Banega was Mehmet Topal. Later in that same game, Topal went for a header and suffered a concussion—briefly losing consciousness and was later hospitalized. The player whom Topal collided with was Racing Santander’s Pape Diop, who also had to be taken out of the game from the head trauma.

Also from the Racing-Valencia match: Another contested header between Christian Fernández and Aritz Aduriz left the former with 12 sutures to stop the bleeding from his head. He played the rest of the match, as did Aduriz. Aduriz stayed on the pitch long enough to score a goal, but later suffered double vision, nausea, and memory loss—he was unable to remember scoring the goal. He too was hospitalized overnight.

(The video ends with a Segunda division player whose jaw was fractured by an opposing player’s elbow. Oh, and two of his teeth were broken in. Ouch.)

[As of Jornada 21] Today’s match was a massive win for...

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:06:00 -0500

[As of Jornada 21]

Today’s match was a massive win for Real Sociedad against Sporting Gijon. The final score was 5-1. Why is this extraordinary? The last time Real Sociedad scored five or more goals in the league was in December 2004, over seven years ago.

FC Barcelona, on the other hand, has scored five or more in a match already five times in this season alone.

[Jornada 21] Today’s match between Real Sociedad and...

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:47:01 -0500

[Jornada 21]

Today’s match between Real Sociedad and Sporting Gijon has been quite eventful for one David Zurutuza. In less than five minutes, the midfielder has managed to score two goals and break his nose. Here’s a quick recap:

Minute 1: Zurutuza scores a goal for Real Sociedad! 1-0

Minute 2: Zurutuza scores a second goal! 2-0

Minute 4: Zurutuza’s face is smashed in by a Sporting player, Gregory. Zurutuza’s nose is broken.

Minute 6: Zurutuza is substituted out.

[As of Jornada 21] Did you know? Fernando Llorente of Athletic...

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:30:11 -0500

[As of Jornada 21]

Did you know? Fernando Llorente of Athletic Bilbao scored his first ever hat-trick in La Liga today. Fun fact? It has been five years since an Athletic Bilbao player has scored a hat-trick in an official La Liga game.

[Jornada 1] Forget Clasicos. In a few short minutes, Real Betis...

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:00:00 -0500

[Jornada 1]

Forget Clasicos. In a few short minutes, Real Betis and Sevilla FC will play each other in the highly dramatic derbi sevillano. The first match played between the two clubs was in 1915, in which Sevilla was leading 4-3, but the match had to be suspended due to crowd violence. The Seville Derby has seen quite a few incidents of violence over the years, and more than a few have been suspended and resumed in an empty stadium.

Fun fact? In the last derby between these two clubs (Feb 2009), Real Betis actually won 1-2. Sevilla’s only goal came from Freddie Kanouté in the 90th minute of play. Kanoute’s consolation goal seemed inconsequential at the time, but had he not scored that goal, Real Betis would not have been relegated that year.

Feeling the Clásico fatigue yet? Well you’re not the only...

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:02:12 -0500

Feeling the Clásico fatigue yet? Well you’re not the only one. For 8 seasons straight (2002-2010) there were only ever two clashes between Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona per year.

Last season there were 7. And this season we’re already guaranteed to see 4, perhaps more depending on how the Champions League goes. And then there’s the Supercopa as well… All in all, the maximum number of times that Real Madrid and Barcelona can potentially face each other in one season is 8 times in all competitions, which has never happened before. Prior to last season’s Clásico overload, the most Real Madrid and Barcelona had ever met in one season was 5 times.

[The above graphic is from Marca, who have on their website a super informative graphic with the results of every Clásico ever played, top scorers in El Clásico, etc. Enjoy.]

Did you know? (As of 1/15/2012) Has your team gotten off to a...

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:03:00 -0500

Did you know? (As of 1/15/2012)

Has your team gotten off to a disappointing start after La Liga’s winter break? Well they’re not alone. In last week’s fixtures, there was only one win in the entire top half of the table. That’s right. The top ten teams in La Liga all drew or lost, with the exception being Real Madrid CF’s one win.

This week has seen better results for the top 10, but still poor results for the top 5. In fact, CA Osasuna’s loss today sees them tumbling from #5 on the table to #6. (They are on level with Athletic Bilbao on points, but have a lower goal differential.)

The only game left to play today is FC Barcelona’s match against Real Betis. Will Barcelona shake the post-break blues?

Did you know? We’ve given our fact about the young today,...

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:45:43 -0500

Did you know?

We’ve given our fact about the young today, perhaps now a fact about the old?

Alfredo Di Stéfano is an iconic figure in Real Madrid CF’s history. But few remember that after his time at Real Madrid, he spent two more years playing for RCD Espanyol. He was the oldest player to ever play for Espanyol, and the oldest to score an official goal for Espanyol (39 years and 231 days old.)

(As of 1/8/12) Did you know? With today’s match, Iker...

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:00:37 -0500

(As of 1/8/12)

Did you know? With today’s match, Iker Muniain has reached 100 official matches with Athletic Bilbao. He is the youngest player to have played 100 games with any team in La Liga, having turned 19 years old only a few weeks ago.

For comparison? Lionel Messi reached 100 games with FC Barcelona at 20 years and 8 months. Raúl González reached 100 games with Real Madrid CF at 19 years and 5 months.

Fun fact? When Muniain first debuted with Athletic, he was only 16 years old. He was also the youngest player to score a goal for Athletic (16 years and 7 months.)

Did you know? (Looking ahead to Jornada 18 match…) In less...

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:38:00 -0500

Did you know? (Looking ahead to Jornada 18 match…)

In less than an hour, the two La Liga teams with the most and least goals scored will face off against one another. Real Madrid CF has scored the most goals thus far (56), whereas Granada CF has only managed to score 10 goals this season.

In fact, Real Madrid’s top scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, alone scored two times more than the entire team of Granada combined. Fun fact? Granada’s top scorer isn’t even a striker. He is Brazilian defender Guilherme Siqueira and he’s only scored two goals.

Did you know? It’s getting to that time of the year again....

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:28:00 -0500

Did you know?

It’s getting to that time of the year again. That time of the season where club administration take a good hard look at their position in the league table and start firing coaches.

Racing Santander has seen 3 head coaches forced out in 2011 alone. The latest one, Héctor Cúper, left before a replacement could be found. So Racing has instead given the title to a triumvirate of 3 coaches: Juanjo González, the sporting director; Fede Castaño, the director of youth football; and Pablo Pinillos, a recently retired player. This is the first time that a team in La Liga has had 3 head coaches at the same time. (And it’s pretty hilarious to see them all shouting from the bench at once.)

The triumvirate seems to be working, as Racing managed to squeak out a win against Villarreal CF a few weeks ago, whereas previously they had only won one game in 13 played.

Nevertheless, it looks to be a tough season for Racing fans. The club faces a number of financial and management problems that you can read more about here. (Fair warning, it’s a Sid Lowe article, so it’s rife with lurid prose.)

Did you know? Sometimes the symmetry of some statistics can be...

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:57:00 -0500

Did you know?

Sometimes the symmetry of some statistics can be quite interesting. For example, the number 6. Real Madrid have been awarded the most penalties this season, 6, and not a single one against. FC Barcelona has seen the most expulsions go their way this season, 6 opponents sent off and not a single Barcelona player sent off.

On the flip side, RCD Espanyol has seen all their refereeing decisions go the wrong way. They’ve had 5 penalties called against them and not a single penalty called in their favor. In addition, they’ve had 4 of their players sent off (tied for the most with Osasuna) and seen only one opposing team player sent off. And guess who it was? Yup, the infamous youngster Eneko Satrústegui.

Did you know? Both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have scored 50...

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:14:53 -0500

Did you know?

Both Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have scored 50 goals in La Liga so far. The league total is 397, so together the two teams make up roughly 25% of the entire league. The average number of goals scored by each team is about 20.

The team with the smallest number of goals scored? Granada CF, 8 goals.

Did you know? (As of Jornada 14) Real Madrid CF are currently on...

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:14:00 -0500

Did you know? (As of Jornada 14)

Real Madrid CF are currently on an incredible 9 game winning streak, the longest so far this season. They are followed by fourth-place Levante UD, whose 7 game consecutive win streak took them to number one in La Liga for 2 jornadas, the Cinderella story of the season.

Surprisingly, second-place FC Barcelona has not been able to string more than 3 wins in a row this season. Neither has third-place Valencia CF. Instead, the third team with the most consecutive wins goes to Real Betis, who are currently hovering near the bottom half of the table. The reason for this? After their run of 4 wins, Betis had a streak of 6 straight losses.

Fun fact? Racing Santander has only won one game this entire season. It took them 10 games to get that win, and they haven’t won since.