La Liga Team for Weekend of October 17-20
The international week granted La Liga sides time to reassess their objectives and hopes for the 2014-15 season after the initial seven gameweeks, but Spain's top flight returned with a bang this weekend, with plenty of notable results and big performances.
Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona all won their matches handsomely—but Valencia lost against Deportivo, Athletic Bilbao were unable to break their winless streak against Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad suffered another defeat at home, this time against Getafe on Monday night.
All the sides have played their first game back, and here is our team of the weekend from the eighth jornada. We line up this week in a 3-4-3.
GK: Sergio Asenjo, VIL
1 of 11
In goal we go for Sergio Asenjo, the Villarreal keeper who kept a clean sheet against Almeria this weekend in a 2-0 victory.
Twice he denied Edgar for the opposition and was a commanding presence behind his defence, sweeping up the odd time when Almeria sought to stride forward in numbers. He also took the ball well from set pieces and distributed largely well when not launching kicks downfield.
DC: Jose Gimenez, ATL
2 of 11
In for Miranda for his first league start of the season, Uruguayan centre-back Jose Gimenez took his chance with both hands and put in an excellent performance for Atletico Madrid as they beat Espanyol 2-0.
The teenage defender was committed and aggressive when he needed to be, but he left most of the initial duels to team-mate Diego Godin, while he performed Miranda's usual role of mopping up loose balls, second challenges and through passes very well indeed. He even claimed an assist as he headed back across goal for Mario Suarez to tap in.
DC: Alexis, GET
3 of 11
Our second defender is Alexis, Getafe's centre-back who marshalled the back line well against Real Sociedad on Monday night. Alexis kept La Real's new striker Alfred Finnbogason quiet, read the game extremely well and was on hand to make a number of clearances inside his own box.
He and his defence held firm for much of the game, with all the strikes in the 2-1 win coming in the last seven minutes.
DC: Nico Pareja, SEV
4 of 11
Sevilla's rise to the top places in La Liga this season has been remarkable, after a campaign of inconsistency and lethargy last year—though finished with the Europa League win, of course.
Nico Pareja was in exemplary form at the weekend as they picked up yet another victory, defeating Elche 2-0 on the road, with Pareja's good showing key to the clean sheet. He moved the ball out of defence quickly, going long too often at times perhaps, but defended well in every aspect for his side.
RM: James Rodriguez, RMA
5 of 11
James Rodriguez started the game centrally for Real before switching to the right side of midfield, though he had the freedom to roam and run with the ball down the middle, where he made plenty of impact.
His aggressive dribbling—a trademark of his—is starting to come back and was on show in full force in Real Madrid's 5-0 win over Levante, while his eye for a good pass was also in evidence. James claimed a goal and an assist as he shone once more.
CM: Haris Medunjanin, DEP
6 of 11
Bosnian central midfielder Haris Medunjanin joined Deportivo La Coruna on a free transfer this summer and has quickly set about proving himself a very capable player in La Liga and a key individual in their side.
From his screening position in front of the back four, Medunjanin performed the dual roles of protector and aggressor going forward, making challenges in the middle to dominate Valencia and also striding forward to help create chances. His free-kick effort struck the woodwork a little before half-time, which led to the corner and opening goal as his side picked up their first win of the season.
CM: Xavi Hernandez, FCB
7 of 11
Xavi Hernandez might no longer be a regular first pick for Barcelona, but he's not exactly a bad option to have coming off the bench or rotating in for select games, either. Indeed, his form when starting this season suggests it is exactly what he needed: To be saved to give maximum output when called upon.
Against Eibar he was one of Barça's big performers, constantly recycling and probing, pressing and posing problem after problem, until he finally found the key to unlock them with his untracked run and composed finish for the opening goal.
LM: Isco, RMA
8 of 11
On the left side of midfield we have James Rodriguez's team-mate and mirror image, Isco, who was hugely impressive once again, surely giving Carlo Ancelotti a real headache over who starts in the limited attacking positions at the club.
The young forward was in full destruct mode as he ran tirelessly on and off the ball, set up one goal for Cristiano Ronaldo and scored another himself near the end of the match. He worked hard out of possession, but really, this was a game all about Madrid's attack and he contributed enormously.
FW: Leo Messi, FCB
9 of 11
While Xavi was key for Barcelona, Lionel Messi was their best player once again. The No. 10 could have had a couple of goals but for some unusually wayward shooting, but he kept going and eventually got his reward, first setting up Xavi's opener and then scoring himself in the 3-0 win.
Messi dropped deep, opened spaces, tried to run in behind and produced the odd moment of dazzling footwork to bemuse the Eibar defenders. He now needs just two more goals to be the all-time record La Liga goalscorer.
FW: Cristiano Ronaldo, RMA
10 of 11
And the goals just keep on coming. Cristiano Ronaldo took just a quarter of an hour to score this time, from the penalty spot, before drilling in another near-post effort around the hour mark, scoring twice in the 5-0 win. As ridiculous as it sounds, Ronaldo's two goals in this game actually dragged his average strike-rate per game down a little—that's how consistent he has been so far this season.
This was a game in which Real were afforded all the time and space to play in they could wish for, and Ronaldo ran riot as a result with his dribbling, laying off the ball for team-mates and getting shots away. The only surprise was the lack of another hat-trick.
FW: Nolito, CEL
11 of 11
Barcelona and Real might steal the limelight with the attacking players, but we always try to find one somewhere who is worthy of fitting in with them—and it is increasingly Nolito who shines for Celta Vigo each week.
The inside forward scored again at the weekend, his fifth of the season, to rescue a point for his team against Athletic Bilbao. He was a buzzing menace as usual during the match, peppering the goal with shots and always looking to cut infield and run at the defence. Nolito has been in tremendous form at the start of 2014-15 and fully deserves the recognition coming his way as a result.
