La Liga Team of the Week: Toni Kroos and Andre Gomes Impress at Mestalla
La Liga is already under way in 2016 and Jornada 18 saw some fantastic matches, surprising results, a change in leadership and another managerial departure as Rafa Benitez left Real Madrid.
For our team of the week, we take the best individual displays from Spain's top flight and combine the most impressive player from each position into a viable formation, with our selection process seeing us analyse every game to pick out a star XI from the weekend's fixtures.
This week, it's a 4-2-3-1, with only the best players in each position included here, leading—as always—to several tough decisions along the way.
In addition to individual form, we take into account such factors as opposition quality and overall contribution to the team's display.
GK: Andres Fernandez, GRA
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Taking his place between the posts is Granada's Andres Fernandez, who had a fine match to keep Sevilla at bay in the second half as his team ran out 2-1 winners.
A vital three points for Granada moved them out of the bottom three and, despite conceding on the brink of half-time, Andres was a big part of their success at the weekend.
He made a number of impressive stops, particularly just after the restart as Sevilla poured forward, and his reflexes and bravery were in evidence to help record a second win in four Liga games.
RB: Ander Capa, EIB
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Eibar were excellent throughout their 4-0 win at Real Betis, and it was their right flank in particular which did a lot of damage.
Defensively sound and a constant menace on the overlap going forward, Ander Capa had a standout game as he continually raided into the final third, provided plenty of good passes into the area and was a menace to Betis' back line throughout.
Eibar moved up to eighth with the win, with a second successive clean sheet well merited in the process.
CB: Stefan Savic, ATM
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Having perhaps his best game for the club since joining in summer, Stefan Savic impressed at the heart of Atletico Madrid's defence at the weekend as they beat Levante 1-0 late on to go top of the table.
Savic might have thought he'd be in for an easy game given Levante were bottom, but Atleti's opposition counter-attacked well during the first half and had plenty of set-piece opportunities to test the back line with.
Savic was calm on the ball and brought it out of defence a couple of times, but it was in his defensive work that he impressed most. He was aggressive, strong in the air and made several important interventions around the edge of the box.
CB: Victor Ruiz, VIL
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Villarreal's great run of results continued as they beat Deportivo La Coruna 2-1 in stoppage time on Sunday, with the central-defensive partnership of Victor Ruiz and Mateo Musacchio once again impressing.
We've gone for Ruiz as the pick of the duo this time after he consistently swept up balls into the area, and made clearances in open play and from set pieces. Generally, he looked difficult to get past for an in-form Depor attack.
The one goal Depor did score came after a mistake down the left side, with Ruiz not really able to do much about it.
LB: Filipe Luis, ATM
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Filipe Luis looked far better at the weekend than he has been in recent games, with the Atletico left-back adventurous and creative with his raids forward against Levante.
He combined well down the left flank and was given space to race into, with Angel Correa typically drifting infield early on and leaving the channel open for his fellow South American Luis to surge into.
Fine one-touch play and some neat dribbling created crossing opportunities, and the left-back will be disappointed that his offensive team-mates didn't make better use of the clever deliveries he made.
CM: Toni Kroos, RMA
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Our central-midfield pairing comes from the same game, with Toni Kroos the Real Madrid representative.
The German has been woefully below par this season but had a big impact on Real's early dominance in the match at Mestalla, winning the ball centrally and keeping Real on the front foot as their 4-3-3 system out-played Valencia's.
Kroos had plenty of defensive work to get through later on, especially once his side were down to 10 men, but he worked hard and protected the defence as best he could—it seemed a lot of the one-on-ones in front of Real's back line went against Luka Modric rather than Kroos, which the Croatian lost.
Kroos also provided the delivery for Gareth Bale's goal late in the game.
CM: Andre Gomes, VAL
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On the other team, Valencia's Andre Gomes was a huge threat throughout the game, save for perhaps a 15-minute spell where he gave the ball away too often.
His surging dribbles through the middle of the pitch, his presence close to the attacking line and his ability to pick up clever positions in space meant that most of Los Che's good buildup play came through him, while he was near-unstoppable one on one when he got into his stride.
On the counter or in more methodical buildup, he was vital to Valencia's double comeback in the 2-2 draw. He just needs to find consistency in this approach and an end product once in the box—he certainly should have scored at least once.
AM: Marco Asensio, ESP
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Barcelona drew 0-0 at Espanyol in the Catalunya derby at the weekend, but it wasn't a creative player from the former table-toppers who impressed most.
Instead we pick Marco Asensio, the on-loan Real Madrid man who had a fine game, starting as a No. 10 and later moving to the left side.
Asensio continually pressed high upfield to start with, playing as a second striker at times, while his link play, dribbling and willingness to try and create danger often looked like Espanyol's best route to goal.
He was tough to pin down to one area for the Barcelona defence and again showed why he has a great chance of being involved with Real's first team next season.
W: Keko, EIB
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Probably our No. 1 performer of the weekend in La Liga, Keko was in fine form for Eibar to torment and tear open Real Betis time after time.
His prodigious work rate and good pace make him a fantastic starting point for Eibar to defend high upfield, but he can ally that to a great delivery from wide. The confidence in his game was evident in his dribbling, cross-field passes and movement across the attacking line.
Keko scored one and assisted another, but he was involved in all four goals in the 4-0 win.
W: Joao Cancelo, VAL
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The best outlet for Valencia in the first half-hour of the game, when they were under a lot of pressure from Real Madrid, was Joao Cancelo.
Usually seen as a full-back, he has played much higher upfield of late and his powerful running, ability to win back the ball and deliver good balls into the area was very much in evidence for the first hour or so.
He later moved to left-back as Valencia shuffled their subs and tactics, and Cancelo was aggressive and tenacious, diligent with his defensive work and showed good pace to cut out attacks down that side.
CF: Adalberto Penaranda, GRA
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No picture available yet, but it surely can't be long—Granada's 18-year-old Venezuelan forward Adalberto Penaranda again makes waves for his all-action display, just the seventh in his top-flight career so far.
Sevilla found him too much to handle, especially in the first half, and he netted a fine solo goal with another display of his strength, power and direct finishing from range—a great bottom-corner strike while holding off a defender.
It's four goals for Penaranda already in a Granada shirt and it won't be long before he comes to the attentions of the wider footballing world at this rate. Thankfully, you lucky B/R readers will already be well aware of him by then.
