La Liga Player Rankings After Gameweek 15, December 12-15
The penultimate weekend of La Liga football for 2014 saw Real Madrid reach a milestone 20th victory in a row in all competitions as they extended their lead at the top of the table.
Barcelona and Atletico dropped points, Deportivo La Coruna won a huge match at the bottom and all of the sides chasing fourth place, with the exception of Sevilla who are in fourth, won their matches, too.
Here we have our updated player rankings from Spain's top flight, based on their weekend performances and their form over the past few weeks.
Mentions
1 of 21
Just one change in our top 20 this week, with one name dropping out:
Diego Godin, Atletico Madrid
Elsewhere, we're keeping tabs on a whole list of in-form players at the moment:
Pablo Piatti, Valencia
Sergi Darder, Malaga
Dani Carvajal, Real Madrid
Carlos Vela, Real Sociedad
Bruno, Villarreal
Gareth Bale, Real Madrid
Samuel, Malaga
Stephane Mbia, Sevilla
In particular, Dani Carvajal was unlucky not to break into our top 20 this week and would have done if more than one name from last week dropped out of this latest update. Another big performance before the winter break and he could be in.
20. Tiago, ATM
2 of 21
Change: -3
Tiago was at the heart of Atletico Madrid's midfield once more for their weekend fixture against Villarreal, but this time around, he and partner Gabi were outworked and outplayed for once.
The Portuguese midfielder was busy and got involved in play going forward, but couldn't affect play positively for his side often enough and ultimately lost the midfield battle.
19. Carlos Kameni, MGA
3 of 21
New entrant
Carlos Kameni follows the likes of Fabricio (Deportivo) and Claudio Bravo (Barcelona) and becomes our second goalkeeper currently in the top 20 after a string of excellent recent performances.
His reactions and reflexes to make saves have always been impressive, and this has been evident in past weeks, but his all-round performances have also been top-drawer—demonstrating quality distribution, safe-hands to gather aerial balls, efficient organisation of his defence and consistency.
18. Marcelo, RMA
4 of 21
Change: +1
Another step up the ladder this week for Real Madrid left-back Marcelo, who played extremely well again in the side's 4-1 win at Almeria on Friday night.
He got forward to great effect a number of times, overlapping to make use of space down the flanks and also breaking inside the channel at times to create a central overload. Defensively, Marcelo wasn't exactly stretched, but he did his duties well enough—despite clumsily conceding a slightly harsh penalty, which was missed.
17. Luciano Vietto, VIL
5 of 21
Change: +3
Luciano Vietto has been very impressive for Villarreal this season and just needs to add more goals to his game to look like a very rounded centre-forward.
Against Atletico Madrid at the weekend, he did exactly that. He showed great skill and composure to navigate his way past Diego Godin and finish a late winner in the 1-0 win away from home, after a game full of running off the ball, harassing the opposition defence and being an outlet for his team.
16. Grzegorz Krychowiak, SEV
6 of 21
No change
Sevilla dominated the match but were held 0-0 at home by Eibar at the weekend—not the first team to have found the tiny Basque side a lot more difficult to break down than expected.
Grzegorz Krychowiak and Stephane Mbia controlled the midfield again, but the Pole's passing was a little off-key at times, especially when going long too frequently.
He won the ball back well in the centre as ever, pressing aggressively on account of Eibar not committing great numbers forward, but didn't perhaps do enough in possession to warrant climbing higher this time.
15. Neymar, FCB
7 of 21
Change: -5
After a couple of games with fairly minimal impact, Neymar takes a sharp fall as he missed out on Barcelona's weekend game.
14. Diego Alves, VAL
8 of 21
Change: -1
Diego Alves remains our top-ranked goalkeeper in La Liga and kept a clean sheet at the weekend in the 3-0 win for Valencia over Rayo Vallecano.
In truth, Alves didn't have that much to do despite Rayo sending in plenty of shots—mainly off target—but still almost cost his team a goal as he tried to dribble past Leo Baptistao and failed epically. He was lucky to not concede as a result, though made up for it somewhat with a double save in the second half.
13. Ignacio Camacho, MGA
9 of 21
Change: +1
The Ignacio Camacho-Sergi Darder midfield partnership continues to look one of the most rounded and well-balanced midfield pivots in La Liga. The duo helped Malaga to a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo this weekend with a mix of strong defensive work and supporting the final third players from deeper positions.
Camacho was particularly aggressive in trying to win the ball back for his side, against a Celta team who like to play possession football but are struggling to create chances of note at present. Camacho won the physical battle and then allowed his own team to fashion better scoring opportunities.
12. Nolito, CEL
10 of 21
Change: -3
On the other side of the pitch, Celta Vigo changed things around as they desperately seek to stop their slide—but it's four defeats in a row now.
Nolito was left on the bench and only came on for the last 25 minutes, during which time he made just a single shot.
11. Isco, RMA
11 of 21
Change: +4
Isco came back into the Real Madrid side after the injury to James Rodriguez and performed extremely well in the offensive central midfield role vacated by the Colombian. He benefits from the falls in our rankings from absent players such as Nolito and Neymar.
The playmaker dribbled through the spaces in the Almeria midfield with direction and purpose, looked to get involved with the front three at every opportunity and managed to set up several shooting chances with his vision and execution on the final ball.
His goal was another example of his willingness to get into clever attacking positions just as much as his skill on the ball.
10. Jeremy Mathieu, FCB
12 of 21
Change: +1
Jeremy Mathieu was back in the centre of Barcelona's defence for the 0-0 draw with Getafe, but there remains no sign of his partnership with Javier Mascherano that was instrumental in the side going several games without conceding at the start of the season.
Mathieu wasn't hugely troubled by a defensive Getafe intent on frustrating, but he did make a few challenges to break up potential counter-attacks and drove forward with the ball a few times.
9. Karim Benzema, RMA
13 of 21
Change: +3
Karim Benzema didn't score, but worked selflessly for the team again with his off-the-ball running and by creating space for the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Isco to exploit. His link play was good, and he ended the match with two assists to his name as Real beat Almeria 4-1.
The French striker won't get headlines the way some of his team-mates do, but whether in the 4-4-2 or the 4-3-3 system, he can at times be key to getting the best out of other players.
8. Arda Turan, ATM
14 of 21
Change: -1
Atletico Madrid couldn't find a way through against Villarreal this weekend, with their usually effective attacking players thwarted at every turn by the away defence.
Arda Turan was one of those well shackled by the visiting players—though he did provide a cross for a goal that was harshly ruled out.
7. Sergio Ramos, RMA
15 of 21
Change: -1
Sergio Ramos did not play in Real Madrid's win over Almeria.
6. James Rodriguez, RMA
16 of 21
Change: -1
James Rodriguez picked up an injury last week and didn't play for Real either.
5. Nicolas Otamendi, VAL
17 of 21
Change: +3
Partly for his own performance and partly for others dropping, Nicolas Otamendi rises significantly back into our top five after a solid display for Valencia against Rayo Vallecano, becoming our top-rated defender once more.
Otamendi was the rock at the back for Los Che after they took a commanding first-half lead—3-0 at the break—then sat back and let Rayo come at them in the second. The Argentinian won everything that came his way, ground or air, and was consistent with his passing out of defence.
4. Koke, ATM
18 of 21
No change
Spoiler alert: no change to any of our top four. Koke, like Turan, was frustrated by the hard-working and resilient Villarreal midfield and defence and was unable to ultimately break through and find a winner for his team.
He still put in a good shift and was progressive and inventive when he could be, worked hard off the ball and defended well—but just couldn't be the match-winner this time around.
3. Toni Kroos, RMA
19 of 21
No change
Toni Kroos continues to lead the midfield in an unbeatable Real Madrid team, spraying the ball about effortlessly, delivering his masterclass set pieces and winning the ball back when the opposition break centrally.
Real's 4-1 win owed plenty to a late crumble from Almeria, but Kroos and Co. controlled the game throughout, regardless, and he's in superb form in his deep role. The German provided a great cross from the right for Gareth Bale's headed goal for 2-1.
2. Lionel Messi, FCB
20 of 21
No change
Lionel Messi was Barcelona's biggest attacking threat and probed throughout the game against Getafe, but couldn't find the route to goal in the 0-0 draw.
He struck the woodwork with a fantastic free-kick that was as close as his team came to the breakthrough, but other than that his shots were a little lacking in accuracy or conviction this time.
Messi dropped deep, linked play, dribbled and tried to pass through—but the defence and conditions conspired against his team.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo, RMA
21 of 21
No change
Still at No. 1, Ronaldo took himself to 25 league goals for the season with his second-half brace in the win over Almeria.
It wasn't his best display of the season by a long stretch, but it still caused the home team plenty of problems with his constant shooting and sprints into space centrally. Two fine low finishes on the run got the No. 7 his goals.
