La Liga Player Rankings After Gameweek 29, April 3-6
With the return of La Liga action comes also the return of our player rankings, updated after the weekend games around Spain's top flight.
Of course there will be no surprise that Cristiano Ronaldo and several of his Real Madrid team-mates got a bump-up of a few places after their 9-1 win, but not every player did so. We also, finally, have a new No. 1 to appreciate.
This latest version of the rankings takes into account only the gameweek 29 fixtures, from the weekend, and not the midweek bout of games in La Liga which will be accounted for in next week's player rankings.
Mentions
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Just one new face in our top 20 this week as Malaga's Ignacio Camacho drops out, with suspension and injury costing him a fall from the top 10 over the past month or two.
On the watch list, right at the top:
Vitolo, Sevilla
Michael Krohn-Dehli, Celta Vigo
Alberto Bueno, Rayo Vallecano
And further down:
Tiago, Atletico Madrid
Xabier Etxeita, Athletic Bilbao
Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid
Claudio Bravo, Barcelona
Ever Banega, Sevilla
Mateo Musacchio, Villarreal
20. Dani Parejo, VAL
2 of 21
Change: -1
Dani Parejo was involved, but not influential, in Valencia's 0-0 draw with Villarreal at the Mestalla.
The creative midfielder was deployed a little deeper than usual by Nuno, looking to get him on the ball at every opportunity to start attacks from further away from the Villarreal penalty box, but in truth the movement ahead of him was never really progressive enough to offer many outlets.
He struggled to impose himself in an attacking sense and the game disappointed somewhat overall.
19. Jose Gaya, VAL
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New entrant!
Our one new face this weekend is fully deserving of his spot in our 20 at last and is a team-mate of Dani Parejo's: left-back Jose Gaya.
The flying youngster has been superb for much of the campaign down the left channel, but was also one of the few individuals to really impress in the 0-0 draw with Villarreal. His constant runs, his accurate crosses and his solid defending are all big parts of his game.
The link play he has with Pablo Piatti, who plays ahead of him, is one of the biggest features of Valencia's game.
18. Sergio Asenjo, VIL
4 of 21
Change: +2
A third player in a row from the 0-0 draw, Sergio Asenjo underlined his credentials as one of La Liga's finest stoppers with a commanding display.
He wasn't overly threatened by shot after shot from Valencia, but with regard to high balls, set pieces and general play inside his area, Asenjo was unbeatable. He frequently came early to collect to relieve his defence of pressure, his distribution set his team away to attack quickly and he was the calmest man around as Los Che went for broke late on.
Sergio Asenjo is a goalkeeper destined for big things.
17. Arda Turan, ATM
5 of 21
Change: -1
Arda Turan was left on the substitute bench for Atletico Madrid at the weekend, in anticipation of a busy run of fixtures. He came on with just 20 minutes to go with the game already won.
16. Jordi Alba, FCB
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Change: -2
Jordi Alba was suspended and missed Barcelona's 1-0 win at Celta Vigo.
15. Marcelo, RMA
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Change: +3
One of our biggest movers up the charts this week, Marcelo was superb once again from left-back for Real Madrid.
He was one of the stars, tactically speaking, of their 9-1 win over Granada, constantly looking to create or make the most of space with his forays forward, darting both infield and wide on the overlap to help James Rodriguez find room and time to work his magic.
Marcelo didn't pick up an assist but was instrumental throughout the game and involved in a lot of the team's best play early on when the match was still tight.
14. Isco, RMA
8 of 21
Change: -1
Isco was the unlucky one to miss out for Real Madrid, suspended. It could cost him his place in the near future.
13. Toni Kroos, RMA
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Change: -2
Let's be clear, Toni Kroos didn't exactly have a bad game for Real—can anybody in a 9-1 win?—but he was comfortably the third-best of their three central midfielders and didn't really get to grips with Granada's early counter-attacking style.
The German has suffered a dip of late which he will hope to arrest now that Luka Modric and James Rodriguez are back fit and in form, but Kroos himself is perhaps feeling the effects of having to carry the midfield through a difficult period.
His set pieces weren't always at their best either this weekend.
12. Gerard Pique, FCB
10 of 21
Change: +3
The alterations in Gerard Pique's game play and consistency levels between October/November time and now are simply astonishing.
After not being able to even get in the Barcelona 18 early on in the season, he's now easily the most in-form player they have and there's a case to be made for him being one of Barcelona's top three players over the course of the campaign as a whole.
Against Celta Vigo he was aggressive, read the game well, made one perfectly timed sliding tackle and showed his usual ability on the ball. He was immense in a game Barcelona struggled to contain their opponents in for an hour and had a big say in the clean sheet and eventual 1-0 win.
11. Neymar, FCB
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Change: -4
At the other end of the pitch and the other end of the scale performance-wise, Neymar was pretty much an embarrassment on the day.
His control and first touch were off from the first whistle, he struggled to get involved in the game whether pulling wide or roving central and he was utterly unable to get the better of Celta's left-back Jonny.
The Brazilian saw out the full 90 minutes but made no positive impact at all in truth.
10. Pablo Piatti, VAL
12 of 21
No change
Like Jose Gaya, Pablo Piatti was one of the few players who offered something positive and offensive minded for Valencia, looking to get early crosses in and being a big threat to Villarreal's well-marshalled back line.
The Argentine is one of the form players of 2015 in La Liga and would have risen another place this weekend for the work rate and quality he put in, despite the 0-0 draw, except for a certain individual who leapfrogged him even as he climbed above Neymar—resulting in a no-move week for Piatti.
9. Cristiano Ronaldo, RMA
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Change: +3
Like Marcelo and Pique, Cristiano Ronaldo shoots up three places in our rankings this weekend after a virtuoso display.
The Portuguese forward cracked in five goals of his own against Granada, missed enough chances to at least add another brace to that tally and generally was a total menace with his darting runs infield, penchant for shooting on sight and pace which the away defence couldn't cope with.
A whole range of types of goals on the day from Ronaldo saw him surge in front in the top scorers' charts again and his performance should revitalise him for the remainder of the campaign.
8. Diego Godin, ATM
14 of 21
Change: +1
Diego Godin continues his ascent up our charts with another reliable and rock-solid performance for Atletico, keeping another clean sheet as they travelled to and beat Cordoba 2-0.
With the goals going in early enough Atleti opted to sit back as they often do, and thus Godin was often called upon to read the game, make interceptions or clearances and generally ensure the bottom team received no encouragement to continue attacking with hope.
His partnership with Josema Gimenez was once again near-perfect.
7. Antoine Griezmann, ATM
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Change: +1
French forward Antoine Griezmann started in attack again for Atleti and got his best work done early, scoring after just five minutes to set the team on the way to victory.
His pace and runs both behind and in front of the defence meant he was his usual troublesome self to the opposition defence, with Griezmann constantly able to pick up possession and help a triangle of team-mates move further up the field.
He was subbed with 20 minutes still to play with the game won and a big week or two ahead.
6. Koke, ATM
16 of 21
No change
This was the sort of game where it was at times easy to overlook the contribution of Koke, but the Atletico Madrid man was again very good.
Early on he was involved in some of the more creative, fast-flowing Atleti attacks as they sought to stamp their dominance on the scoreline quickly, while later his work rate, willingness to fill in and close out spaces and his ability to make tackles in midfield were exactly what the team required.
Koke remains key to Atleti's progress and top-three hopes.
5. Diego Alves, VAL
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Change: -2
A bit of a slip for Diego Alves this weekend despite his clean sheet.
The Valencia keeper didn't have too much to do in the way of making saves, but several times his distribution in the match was less than assured for once and he also fumbled an early set piece, being lucky not to concede.
Alves didn't have much to do, but this time what he did have he made a bit of a fuss of.
4. Karim Benzema, RMA
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Change: +1
Karim Benzema won't get many of the headlines this week after his Real Madrid side scored nine, but he netted twice in quick succession to ensure his team kept up their momentum after half-time when it would have been easy to take their collective foot off the pedal.
Benzema deserved his goals for the great work rate he put in as usual in the first half, linking with his forward team-mates to good effect and being involved in much of the plays which led to Ronaldo finding space centrally.
He was subbed after an hour, robbing him of the chance to finish off a treble of his own.
3. Luis Suarez, FCB
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Change: -1
Luis Suarez found it tough going against Celta Vigo, deprived of service from midfield for long stretches and having to try and work a little deeper than usual for much of the game to try and get himself involved.
Celta's dominance and Barcelona's lack of direct threat from midfield meant that Suarez was either bypassed or ignored too often and his frustrations led to him searching for free-kicks too easily—the ref booked him for simulation, wrongly, but after at least one other incident which could have gone either way.
The forward was subbed late on with his team ahead.
2. Lionel Messi, FCB
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Change: -1
After spending most of 2015 atop our rankings, Lionel Messi is finally usurped this week after another fairly quiet weekend, at least by his standards.
The No. 10 recovered from injury on international duty to take part for Barcelona against Celta, but like Suarez he was left isolated and frustrated for the first hour or so as the home team had the better chances and possession.
Messi got himself more involved once Xavi had come on, but overall he's had far more involved performances.
1. Nicolas Otamendi, VAL
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Change: +3
The fourth and final big jumper in our rankings is Valencia's central defender Nicolas Otamendi, an almost faultless performer again who was a big reason why Diego Alves had largely nothing to do during the 0-0 draw with Villarreal.
Otamendi was aggressive and resilient with his challenges, ensured his team stayed organised and compact at the back and was very quick to attack any potential areas of danger before the Villarreal forwards could really link with each other.
The Argentine has been comfortably La Liga's best overall defender this season and his most recent form only serves to back that up—and he's our new No. 1.
