La Liga Team of Week 13: Carlos Vela Hat-Trick Gives David Moyes 1st Win
Jornada 13 of La Liga's 2014-15 season is all but done, save for Monday night's fixture between Almeria and Rayo Vallecano, with the big three once more all picking up victories—though Barcelona left it late indeed this time around.
Elsewhere, Eibar and Espanyol picked up wins in mid-table and David Moyes won his first three points as a manager in Spain courtesy of a treble from Mexican forward Carlos Vela. Athletic Bilbao also continued their revival and Sevilla won big as the race for fourth place begins to heat up.
Here's our selection for team of the week from Spain's top flight.
GK: Xabi Irureta, EIB
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We had three huge candidates for team-of-the-week goalkeeper, with Valencia's Diego Alves and Malaga's Carlos Kameni both producing some outstanding saves against Barcelona and Real Madrid especially.
The nod just about goes, though, to Xabi Irureta of La Liga minnows Eibar, who kept a clean sheet in the face of almost constant onslaught in a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo.
Many of Irureta's saves were fairly routine, shots he'd expect to keep out, but goalkeeping isn't about the spectacular, but rather the consistency and concentration. He gave both, kept a clean sheet and got his side the unlikely victory.
DF: Carlos Martinez, RSO
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Carlos Vela might have scored the goals which gave Real Sociedad their 3-0 win over Elche, but the service came from those behind him: Xabi Prieto from midfield and, particularly, Carlos Martinez from right-back.
A great whipped cross from the right by the full-back led to the opening goal of the game, before he later on showed good composure to drift infield and play a pass into the area for Vela's hat-trick strike.
Defensively Martinez was sound and more than played his part in helping his team keep the clean sheet and a second win in three games for La Real.
DF: Jose Gimenez, ATM
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With Miranda out, Atletico Madrid have an all-Uruguayan central defensive lineup at present, with Jose Maria Gimenez coming in to partner Diego Godin. The younger defender played well earlier in the season when called upon and has looked to take his chance again this time around.
He was impressive in defence against Deportivo La Coruña, setting the platform for his team's clean sheet in the 2-0 win.
Like his compatriot Godin, Gimenez was quick to make clearances around the edge of his penalty box, but also showed good strength in the air and was sensible with his passing from deep.
DF: Nicolas Otamendi, VAL
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Valencia centre-back Nicolas Otamendi has been in terrific form this season and, after a bit of a slow start against Barcelona, proved his massive worth once more on Sunday.
The Argentine was caught out once shortly after kick-off and was lucky not to concede a penalty for a trip on Neymar—who in turn should have been sent off for moving his head into Otamendi's face—but his aggression and consistency quickly returned as he almost single-handedly kept Barça at bay at times in the second half.
His massive recovery and sliding block on a 90th-minute Lionel Messi shot looked worthy of a point by itself—until a late winner for the away team came despite Otamendi's, and Diego Alves', best efforts.
MD: Arda Turan, ATM
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Atletico Madrid don't often dominate possession in games, but there were times at the weekend when Depor just couldn't get close to them. As the reigning champions against a newly promoted side perhaps that's not unexpected, but one or two players were clearly a level above, with Arda Turan one of those.
The Turkish wide midfielder was creative, aggressive in getting forward and clever with his movement, always giving the away defence plenty to worry about both on and off the ball.
He scored the telling second goal of the game, a low drive deflected in off a defender, but his link-up play and contribution in open play were his real impact.
MD: Stephane Mbia, SEV
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Sevilla rocked up and tore Granada apart at the weekend, getting back to winning ways with a 5-1 result after three La Liga matches without a victory.
Stephane Mbia was a massive performer in the centre of midfield, rampaging around the middle third of the pitch winning the ball back off loose passes, being positive in his passing and looking to make up ground into the attack—which was rewarded with a late goal from a towering header.
The midfielder gave away a penalty given for handball as he slid to block a cross—nothing he could do about, and nothing which changed the eventual outcome of the game.
MD: Benat, ATH
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Just edging out Mbia's team-mate Ever Banega to the other central midfield slot is Athletic Bilbao's Benat—and how nice of him to finally join in with the season.
The No. 10 has been a disappointment this term but returned to the starting XI and to form with an all-round display of composure, creativity and most importantly of all, end product from his set pieces. He left the field in the 90th minute to an ovation from the away fans as Athletic beat Getafe 2-1.
Benat's corner gave Miki San Jose the chance to leap and head home the opener, before Benat himself curled a free-kick into the bottom corner for Athletic's second.
MD: Michael Krohn-Dehli, CEL
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We've already covered that Eibar beat Celta Vigo 1-0 away from home, but we also noted that Celta dominated and created hoards of chances. Much of that was thanks to the industrious work and quality of possession provided by Danish midfielder Michael Krohn-Dehli.
Starting from a central role, he roved the entire width of the pitch looking to spark his team-mates into enough movement to provide a telling pass and even had a few efforts on goal himself—but between Irureta and some profligate finishing, there was no route to goal.
That doesn't negate from the performance of Krohn-Dehli who was influential throughout and unlucky to end on the losing side.
FW: Carlos Vela, RSO
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To the headline-maker: Carlos Vela had been in woeful form for Real Sociedad earlier this season, mirroring the form of the team as a whole to some extent, but he has found a new lease of life in the three games—plus the international break—since Jagoba Arrasate departed.
He hit a hat-trick against Elche, a header and two deft left-footed finishes, to help his side record a 3-0 win and move up to 14th in La Liga's table.
It shouldn't be a surprise that Vela has started to find better spaces, make more impressive runs and find the scoresheet after being moved from his usual right-sided berth back into the centre of the front line. He now has six goals in his last five games for club and country.
FW: Carlos Bacca, SEV
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After star names Ronaldo, Neymar and Messi, La Liga's highest goalscorer is Sevilla's Carlos Bacca, with the Colombian adding another two goals to his tally this weekend, moving to nine for the season.
His penalty-box prowess is well known and feared in Spain's top flight, with his two goals in the 5-1 thrashing of Granada coming from a combined total of about eight metres, only highlighting that awareness and threat he possesses.
Aside from his two finishes, Bacca's power and pace down the channels kept Granada pinned back and wary of committing players forward, he linked well with the wide attackers and gave Sevilla a real focal point to their attack. With this win, and Valencia's loss, Sevilla moved back into fourth.
FW: Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid
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We finish up with an almost weekly name, Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo.
He didn't score this time around but still made the victory for his side with two excellent assists which showed both his technical quality and his awareness of his fellow attackers, firstly providing a cut-back for Karim Benzema and later providing a flicked-on header for Gareth Bale to race onto and score from.
Ronaldo's tactical appreciation in the team this season has clearly gone up a notch, partly due to his altered role, and Real continue to reap massive rewards from it.
