La Liga Team for Week of April 3-6: Cristiano Ronaldo Back with 5-Goal Haul
As we head into April and La Liga starts up again after the international break, teams know they are now in the final stretch to the end of the season when trophies will be handed out and relegation places confirmed.
Big performances and results are an absolute requisite—and they don't come much bigger or better than Real Madrid's 9-1 thumping of Granada this weekend. It will come as a surprise to nobody that Cristiano Ronaldo and his five-goal haul make our Liga team of the week, but he's just one of four Real stars included after they stole the show.
Find out who else makes the cut with the Portuguese Pichichi leader from the weekend's games by reading on!
GK: Sergio Asenjo, VIL
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Valencia and Villarreal fought out a much quieter than expected 0-0 draw, with the two offensive sides seemingly giving each other too much respect at times.
Villarreal's Sergio Asenjo was the busier of the two keepers, not necessarily making tremendous saves throughout the game but certainly showing a calmness and capable manner of dealing with a busy penalty box, taking high balls and dominating his area late on in the game as Los Che pressed for the win.
Asenjo has been superb this term and takes our No. 1 spot again this week.
DF: Benoit Tremoulinas, SEV
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We have reverted to a four-man defence this week in our team of the week due to the performance of Sevilla's Benoit Tremoulinas, who was just too good to leave out.
Both in attack and defence he contributed enormously to Sevilla's 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao, getting forward to good effect and providing an assist too.
At the back he was rock solid against the wide threat of the Basque team, using his pace and strength to match Inaki Williams and covering in behind his centre-backs when needed too. A very good all-round display.
DF: Nicolas Otamendi, VAL
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Back to the Valencia-Villarreal match and while Asenjo had plenty to do in sweeping up danger, his opposite number Diego Alves was unemployed for much of the match—largely because of the man in front of him.
The bearded wonder that is Nicolas Otamendi has been immense all season long, and put in another exemplary display at the Mestalla to shut out the threat of Luciano Vietto and Gerard Moreno. The Argentine thundered into a few challenges, won everything in the air and even found space to bombard his way forward on the ball and open up the game at times.
Otamendi came close to scoring with a header off a set piece and was probably the man of the match in the game.
DF: Gerard Pique, FCB
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It was a fairly close call between Barcelona's two central defenders for one place in our team, but we'll give it to the once-again excellent Gerard Pique. He was a little more solid and reliable defensively than partner Jeremy Mathieu, who scored the winner in the 1-0 victory over Celta Vigo.
The home side were far better than Barcelona in the first 45 minutes, enjoying more possession and chances, and only some good interventions by Pique prevented them having more clear efforts on goal.
During the second half the Spaniard made a huge saving tackle to prevent a certain goal and, as is expected of him, he was composed on the ball and careful in his passing. He continues to grow in maturity and is one of the league's best defenders on current form.
DF: Marcelo, RMA
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For many, despite Real Madrid putting in a nine-goal showing against Granada, left-back Marcelo was the top performer in the game.
It's not hard to see why; technically of course he is superb, providing width and balance when needed for the team. He has a great ability to find team-mates with crosses as well as ground delivery, but he is also imperative for the team's tactical setup.
Marcelo doesn't just bomb down the wing but comes infield into midfield, allows those ahead of him to utilise space to their advantage and shows good covering ability when possession is lost. Another marvellous game from him.
MD: Luka Modric, RMA
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Into midfield we go and our side is largely dominated at this point by Real, now featuring Luka Modric.
The Croatian has immediately stepped up following recovery from injury and the team look totally different with him in place. His ability to always be in space to receive possession and quickly move it on make Real a different animal to deal with. As good as Toni Kroos is on the ball, Modric is the one who makes Carlo Ancelotti's team tick.
Modric is still working back to full fitness but he carved Granada apart after the first 20 minutes—and although they gave him ample space to work in, he still had to make the most of it. And did.
MD: Andreas Ivanschitz, LEV
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Down at the bottom end of the table, Levante faced a must-win game against Almeria—and win it they did, 4-1.
It took Levante out of the bottom three and creative midfielder Andreas Ivanschitz was a big part of the reason why, working himself into space continually during the game, especially the second half, to get between Almeria's defensive lines and pick passes into the front three.
Ivanschitz's set-piece delivery was also as fine as usual and he ended the game with a brace of assists.
MD: James Rodriguez, RMA
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While Modric gets the team moving quickly and efficiently, the return from injury of James Rodriguez is what has seen Real return to a more fluid, offensive and creative unit.
The Colombian drives forward from deep, overlaps and cuts inside at his own whim, never lets opponents get near him and dovetails perfectly in the Marcelo-left midfield-Ronaldo troika down that channel of play.
His crossing and short passing into the box created no end of problems for Granada to deal with, or not deal with as the case was, and he ended with two assists despite only playing an hour. As he recovers full match fitness, his importance to the team will only increase.
FW: Alberto Bueno, RAY
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Into the attacking lineup, we begin with Rayo Vallecano's frequent match-winner Alberto Bueno, who capped another big performance with a vital goal in the 2-1 win over Eibar, this time the equaliser for his side.
Bueno finds space and time to play in just off the front man, always looks to receive possession, move it on and then attack from deep—to devastating effect.
His strike was his 16th of the season in la Liga, making him comfortably the highest-scoring Spaniard in the top flight and the man who is keeping Rayo up again. With this third win in a row, Rayo are back up to ninth.
FW: David Barral, LEV
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Levante's 4-1 win over Almeria might have had its roots in Ivanschitz's build-up play and delivery, but the fruit of the points came from the boots of David Barral.
Having goalscorers in the squad is always critical to surviving the relegation battle and in Kalu Uche and Barral, Levante have them—Barral notched a hat-trick in the victory this weekend to display his own prowess and send his team out of the bottom three.
It's nine for the season for the striker now and a huge three points for his team.
FW: Cristiano Ronaldo, RMA
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Of course, we finish up with Cristiano Ronaldo.
The No. 7 scored five of Real's nine, and really could have scored about seven himself—he spurned two or three golden chances which you'd normally expect him to finish with his hands tied behind his back. Granada were hopeless, but also powerless against the relentless onslaught which was led by Ronaldo and once he had hit the net once, he just kept going.
He took over a dozen shots himself, never allowed himself to be marked and utterly ruined the defence and the confidence of a side who look destined for relegation. Simply for the awesome tally and his refusal to take his foot off the pedal in the game, he's our player of the week.
