La Liga Team of the Week: Bale, Messi Trebles and Clean Sheet for Diego Godin
La Liga reached the halfway point this past weekend, with Atletico Madrid leading the way after Jornada 19—but it was the second- and third-placed teams who stole the headlines as Barcelona won big and Real Madrid won even bigger, in Zinedine Zidane's first game in charge.
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 an offensive 4-4-2, 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: Vicente Guaita, GET
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Once in a while, Vicente Guaita puts in a performance that reminds you of the goalkeeper he might have become, had horrendous errors and confidence issues not become the dominant factors in his season-long form.
Getafe's 1-0 win over Real Betis was one of those games, with the former Valencia man looking assured and safe with the vast majority of his handling, looking confident in coming anywhere outside his six-yard box to claim the ball and making the couple of saves he had to with ease.
The win boosted Getafe up to 12th and saw Betis boss Pepe Mel get the sack.
RB: Carlos Martinez, RSO
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Just edging out the excellent Dani Carvajal from the right-back spot was Carlos Martinez of Real Sociedad, a top-class performer throughout the match in both halves of the pitch as his side beat Valencia 2-0 at Anoeta.
A tight game was settled late on by two Jonathas strikes in three minutes—both set up from right-wing deliveries by Martinez. The first was slightly deflected and bundled over the line by the striker, but the second was textbook: a fantastic curled delivery and a powerful header into the bottom corner.
Defensively, Martinez was extremely sound, making lots of tackles around the edge of his own area and being tough to beat one-on-one.
CB: Doria, GRA
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Granada lost 4-0 against Barcelona, and it could have been close to double figures, so you wouldn't initially expect any of their players—especially defenders—to have put in a particularly notable performance, but Doria was exceptional.
Playing on the left of the back three for most of the game, Doria made last-ditch challenges, clearances on the edge of his own box and covered behind his defensive team-mates when they made errors—he prevented at least three certain clear chances on goal, including an early tackle on Arda Turan.
He's only on loan from Marseille and will provide a great signing for someone in the summer if the Ligue 1 side continue to ignore his talents, as they have done—almost since signing him—for a variety of reasons.
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CB: Diego Godin, ATM
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Uruguayan centre-back Diego Godin has been in monstrous form of late, and this weekend was no different as he repelled all comers, ground and air, to preserve another clean sheet for Atletico Madrid.
Comfortably the stand-out defender in Spain this term, Godin beat back Celta Vigo with a series of bruising but well-timed tackles, some imperious aerial work and an ability to ruffle a few feathers—especially of Iago Aspas—without getting himself booked.
The mighty triangle of Godin, Josema Gimenez and Jan Oblak were all excellent as Atleti won 2-0, but Godin was the best of the trio.
LB: Adrian Marin, VIL
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Spain have another fantastic prospect at left-back, in case you hadn't noticed yet. Following the likes of Juan Bernat, Jordi Alba, Alberto Moreno, Jose Gaya and others is now Villarreal's Adrian Marin, a breakthrough starter this season, with full-backs Mario Gaspar and Jaume Costa both having injured themselves this term.
Marin has shown great composure on the ball, aggression in the tackle and an ability to surge into space and combine well going forward—all were in evidence against Sporting Gijon at the weekend, when Villarreal won 2-0.
Marin's form has been so good that the usual back-up left-back, Bojan Jokic, has been allowed to leave on-loan to Nottingham Forest. Marin turned 19 just last week; this was his fourth Liga match of the season and all in the last six weeks or so.
CM: Saul, ATM
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Atletico Madrid's excellent Saul Niguez continued his recent run in the side at the weekend, playing the full 90 minutes against Celta Vigo and starting at right midfield, moving to the left, then going central in the second half and playing both as an offensive outlet and then a destroying holder.
He has everything in his locker, and it's no wonder Diego Simeone feels no need to pin him down to one role just at the moment—he is contributing to the team in all areas, so simply having him in the team means Atleti benefit.
Celta couldn't cope with his physicality or pace in tracking back when they tried to counter, nor could they close him down when moving through the thirds of the pitch with the ball at his feet.
CM: Sergi Roberto, FCB
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Barcelona made a few changes for the game against Granada, with Sergi Roberto coming in to hold the base of midfield as one of those switches, with Sergio Busquets rested.
After an excellent run of form earlier this season for the 23-year-old, the past month or so has been rather more stop-start with injuries and, now, greater options in midfield for Luis Enrique to pick from, so his versatility is likely to be an important factor for getting more game time.
Luckily for Barca and for Sergi himself, he appears to excel in all roles. Against Granada was no different, as he won back the ball, tracked back when needed and was exceptional in possession, passing quickly forwards and always available to take the ball in space.
W: Gareth Bale, RMA
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The battle for attacking spots is fierce this week, and it was tempting to go for a table-football style 2-3-5 formation just to fit them all in—but we have standards here at Bleacher Report, damn it, so one or two have to miss out. That's the case for Real Madrid in general, too: Carvajal has been mentioned, but Karim Benzema and Luka Modric also looked excellent.
That said, neither came close to the performance level of Gareth Bale, who has hit a rich vein of form of late and continued that against Deportivo La Coruna, scoring three and going close to another one as he helped Zidane take a 5-0 win in his first game.
Bale was unstoppable with his driving runs, his cutting infield and his movement inside the box that allowed him to win headers, while his combination play with Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo was also far better.
Real's attack has taken a big step forward over the last two Liga games, Valencia and Depor.
W: Neymar, FCB
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Neymar took until the latter stages of the game to find the back of the net, but his performance in the preceding 80 minutes was to be admired quite apart from the lack of a goal.
The Brazilian's touch and ability to wind infield or out, dribble past a defender or switch play with a sweeping pass, was outstanding and a big part of the reason for Barcelona's continual ability to open up Granada's defence.
A lofted finish from close range into the roof of the net put the seal on the 4-0 win and took Neymar level with Luis Suarez at the top of the scoring charts.
FW: Lionel Messi, FCB
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Lionel Messi started the match on the right as usual for Barcelona, but such was the space afforded to the home side between Granada's defensive and midfield lines that he spent much of the match infield wreaking havoc with his touch, dribbling, through balls and shooting.
The No. 10 scored twice in the opening quarter of an hour with good finishes, sweeping home after a cross from the left and then netting from a narrow angle after a lovely team move, and could easily have had his treble racked up before the break.
Messi did eventually net his hat-trick, but it was his all-round performance on the ball that made him a standout in Barcelona's impressive 4-0 win.
FW: Cedric Bakambu, VIL
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No Luis Suarez, no Benzema and not even an Antoine Griezmann—instead, Cedric Bakambu of Villarreal takes our final spot up front after an excellent and decisive performance in the 2-0 defeat of Sporting.
It was Bakambu who scored both goals—a tap-in from two yards and a brilliant curled finish from inside the corner of the box—but his all-round game was impressive, too. He linked play and bullied the defence, combining well with Roberto Soldado, and he generally looked a big attacking threat.
Bakambu has eight goals in 16 La Liga games this season, a strike rate of a goal every 114 minutes. If Villarreal keep him fit and firing, they could get a top-four finish.
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