La Liga Facts

(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.)

An in-depth look:

The player that has taken the third most number of shots in La Liga is Villareal CF’s Giuseppe Rossi. Rossi, unfortunately, also has one of the worst shot-goal ratios this season: he’s taken 40 shots over the course of 9 games, about one shot every 19 minutes of play. But he’s only scored 3 goals.

Rossi is currently in the process of recuperating from a knee injury that will sideline him for an estimated 6 months. The striker’s absence only compounds Villareal’s current problems. Last season, he was their top scorer and helped them to a solid 4th place in the league. This season, Villareal are struggling at 13th in the table and a -8 goal difference.

Fun fact? Rossi is currently La Liga’s only American player. Although Rossi technically plays for the Italian National Team, he was born and raised in New Jersey. He also spends a hilarious amount of time talking about his love for M&Ms.

Did you know? (As of Jornada 12)

Lionel Messi is now top scorer in the league with 14 goals. But did you know? If you were to erase all of Messi’s goals, FC Barcelona would still be in second place in the league. However, if you were to erase Cesc Fabregas’ 5 goals, Barcelona would drop to fourth place in the league. Crucial?

A similar phenomenon occurs when you apply this demonstration to Real Madrid CF.

Also: Explanation post here.

As of Jornada 10…

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are currently tied as top-scorers in La Liga at 10 goals each. The quirk? All 10 of Messi’s goals were scored in Camp Nou. Messi has not scored in an away game yet this season in La Liga. Ronaldo, on the other hand, has scored 6 away goals and 4 home goals.