La Liga Facts

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).

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.

We would like to take a moment to dedicate our thoughts and prayers to Carlos Martins and his family, especially little Gustavo.

Carlos Martins, midfielder for Granada CF, was on international duty with Portugal this past week and played the final six minutes against Serbia in their Euro play-off match. In the hours shortly before the match, Martins received the terrible news that his 3 year old son, Gustavo, had been diagnosed with thrombocytopenia, a serious medical condition that requires a bone marrow transplant to save his life.

Please visit this link for more information, to show your support and to spread the word. Joining the Bone Marrow Registry is another way you can help the thousands of people searching for a life-saving match.

Martins has received an outpouring of support from the footballing world, especially from his teammates on the Portuguese National Team and Granada CF. Martins’ captain on the Portuguese National Team, Cristiano Ronaldo, took to Twitter to spread the message to his 5 million followers, urging them to visit several testing sites set up in Portugal. Martins’ club captain, Manuel Lucena, let Martins know the team is behind him: “All the players feel like one of your family. We hope that a donor is found quickly to save [Gustavo’s] life.”

Martins has yet to decide if he will play with Granada CF this weekend, but the club has made it clear that: “The person is above the player. The club is at his disposal for whatever he needs. He has our support and any action we can take to help, we will be there, at the side of Carlos and his family.” 

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)

Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored 13 goals in La Liga this season. But did you know? If you were to erase all of Ronaldo’s goals, Real Madrid would still be in first place in the league. However, if you were to erase Gonzalo Higuain’s 11 goals, Real Madrid would drop 4 points to merely second place in the league. Crucial?

The FC Barcelona version of this demonstration is even more drastic.

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.