La Liga Team of the Week: Ivan Rakitic and Luis Suarez Star for Barcelona
Gameweek 25 in La Liga brought the usual clutch of impressive performers and performances with it, yielding big victories at the top for Barcelona and Valencia while the other top-six clubs drew with each other.
There were also important wins for Athletic Bilbao, Malaga and Espanyol further down the table with none of the bottom eight managing a victory this weekend. Andoni Iraola made his 500th appearance for Athletic as substitute, and Cristiano Ronaldo hit his 30th league goal of the season—but neither of those two notable statistics yields a place in our team of the week for the players.
Here's our team for the top flight in Spain, featuring both of Barcelona's heroes and the player of the weekend in La Liga, Alberto Bueno.
GK: Jaime, EIB
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In goal, we pick a defeated player to start with, Eibar's Jaime, who saw his side lose 1-0 to slip further down the table after a six-game losing streak.
He couldn't do anything about the winning goal—a fierce header from close range—but he certainly prevented the scoreline from spiralling out of control as Athletic Bilbao took the game to their fellow Basque side.
Jaime produced a string of good saves and blocks at close quarters and reacted well to bounce up and make the second stop when required, as too often his defenders stood around, static and unresponsive. A good performance, but not one that yielded points.
DF: Oscar de Marcos, ATH
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The first of two Athletic Bilbao defenders in our team, Oscar de Marcos played at right-back and was a massive presence in the game in the attacking third.
So much of Athletic's best work and many of their chances came down his flank, with the winger-turned-utility man bombing down the touchline and providing a series of searing, accurate crosses from that side. He took on players when there was space to do so, but just as impressive was his willingness to deliver early when the opportunity arose.
He was Athletic's best outlet and provided the ball in for the goal, but he also did his defensive work well.
DF: Carlos Gurpegi, ATH
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Carlos Gurpegi benefited from de Marcos' cross from the right to power in a header and give his team the win at Eibar, but it was his assured and, for once, quite calm performance in defence that gets him into our selection this week.
An aggressive and combative defender, Gurpegi has been known to overstep the mark of commitment at times when things aren't going his way—but this time was solid, consistent and intelligent with his defensive work.
He helped keep Eibar's chances to a minimum, working well with the reliable Xabier Etxeita beside him, but just about gets the nod in our team as he made the all-important winning goal contribution, too.
DF: Jordi Alba, FCB
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Barcelona boast a three-man haul in our team this week, starting with flying left-back Jordi Alba.
The Spanish international has been in great form over the past couple of months and was somewhere near Barcelona's best outlet for much of the game against Granada, racing down the left wing to provide an out-ball for a midfield that wasn't at its best level in terms of retention and seeking out attacking runners.
Alba consistently hit the dead-ball line with his runs on the ball, looked to play intelligent cutbacks and passes when he got into dangerous areas and made sure Granada had no chance of making their own attacks down his side of the pitch.
MD: Ricardo Horta, MGA
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Ricardo Horta put in another very good display for Malaga at the weekend, floating across from right to centre of the attacking midfield line to cause problems for Getafe every time he got on the ball.
The creative and skilful attacker can sometimes be frustrating and inconsistent with his end product and decision-making, but this time, he seemed to pick the right move whenever the ball came near him. He used space well, linked with the likes of Juanmi and Samuel in impressive fashion and made a telling final-third impact.
An assist for Sergi Darder wasn't completely intentional though still ended up setting up the game's best goal, a thunderous drive from range, before he also scored the winner himself with an acrobatic backward volley of sorts from six yards.
MD: Vicente Iborra, SEV
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Sevilla vs. Atletico Madrid was billed as an important and potentially exciting game, but when it came down to it, the fixture was a bit more of a war of attrition, a battling skirmish of wills with neither team knowing they needed to win but not being able to afford defeat.
Vicente Iborra and Ever Banega were the two standouts, with Iborra's willingness to burst forward from deep an important part of Sevilla's ability to create better chances against their opponents.
Iborra came close to scoring when he struck the woodwork, was combative and strong in midfield and was the most likely route for the deadlock to be broken with his unmarked and unmatched runs from the second line of attack.
MD: Ivan Rakitic, FCB
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A changed Barcelona midfield didn't have its usual fluid passing rhythm against Granada, so it was important they could come up with something different. In Ivan Rakitic, they have exactly that—someone who will break the lines from deeper and get into the box beyond the forward line.
The Croatian grew in stature and importance as the game went on, and it was he who made the decisive contribution to put Barcelona in charge, running into the area to score on a rebound after an initial shot was blocked.
Rakitic then fed some fantastic passes through to his attack, setting up Luis Suarez for a goal and later to claim an assist himself.
MD: Pablo Piatti, VAL
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Pablo Piatti's form since returning from injury has been exceptional for Valencia, and the Argentine was the key man at the weekend, hitting both goals in a 2-0 win over Real Sociedad.
His runs into the box as his team moved forward were key, showing good movement and intelligence to avoid being marked. Piatti hit one in at the near post, off Jon Ansotegi, before following it up shortly afterward with a far post run to score first time off another low cross. The rest of his game was just as impressive, running at the defence, picking out clever passes and generally making life miserable for La Real's back line.
Elsewhere in the team, Dani Parejo and Sofiane Feghouli also came into the reckoning for the team of the week.
FW: Alberto Bueno, RAY
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Onto the forward line now, and only one place to start: La Liga's star man for the weekend, Rayo Vallecano's Alberto Bueno.
The deep forward saw his team fall behind early on in the game at home to Levante, but he responded magnificently with a four-goal haul in the space of 15 minutes before the half-time interval.
Header, left foot and right foot made it a perfect treble before he smashed in a two-yard fourth at the second time of asking to take his tally for the Liga season to 12. Bueno was continually able to evade the attentions of the Levante defence with his clever movement and showed tremendous composure at times, notably in his third goal, to give his team three vital points and an eventual 4-2 victory.
FW: Luis Suarez, FCB
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While Rakitic starred for Barcelona in midfield, further forward, it was Luis Suarez who had his second major impact in the space of four days for the Catalan club.
The movement and intensity in his game was too much for Granada to handle even with Barcelona's overall tempo lower than it should have been. He had already escaped a number of times before the game's opening goal, only to be called back by erroneous offside flags or poor passes, but he eventually broke free and hit a wayward shot at goal—which was blocked into the path of Rakitic for 1-0.
Suarez showed great anticipation and link-up for his own strike, running onto a clipped return pass and showing fine composure to double the lead before again escaping the defence for the third goal, which he put onto a platter for Lionel Messi to finish. The last goal was technically a few inches offside but not given, and Suarez made a huge contribution to the three points.
FW: Alvaro Vazquez, GET
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As we started the team, we finish it, with a player deserving of mention but ending up on the losing side.
Alvaro Vazquez scored twice for Getafe at the weekend, but it wasn't enough to give his side points as they went down 3-2 to Malaga.
The forward showed good link-up work for most of the match and a lot of selfless running, as Malaga were the better and more dominant side, but he also came up with the goods in the box for his team with two close-range finishes. It wasn't enough, and Getafe are fairly close to the drop zone still, but the goals should boost Alvaro's confidence, and if the team continue to find him in good areas, he can score more to keep them up.
