Ranking the Top 20 Best Matches of the Liga Season
The end of another Liga season leaves us with plenty of lasting memories, from records broken to goals scored and emotion-charged objectives being completed at both ends of the table.
Along with all of those, La Liga gave us countless memorable matches over the course of the 2014-15 season, 90-minute bouts filled with passion, energy, crazy scorelines or incredible feats of attacking play.
We've compiled the best of them all into one list for you, ranking our top 20 from the past year.
Mentions
1 of 21
We've ranked the top 20, but there were at least double that number that could have been considered. Here are 11 of those that just failed to make the cut, in gameweek order rather than ranked.
Rayo Vallecano 2-3 Elche, Gameweek 3
Valencia 3-1 Atletico Madrid, Gameweek 7
Eibar 3-3 Levante, Gameweek 7
Sevilla 2-1 Villarreal, Gameweek 9
Valencia 3-1 Sevilla, Gameweek 20
Rayo Vallecano 4-2 Levante, Gameweek 25
Deportivo La Coruna 3-4 Sevilla, Gameweek 26
Barcelona 2-1 Real Madrid, Gameweek 28
Sevilla 2-2 Barcelona, Gameweek 31
Real Madrid 2-2 Valencia, Gameweek 36
Almeria 2-3 Valencia, Gameweek 38
20. Eibar 1-0 Real Sociedad, Gameweek 1
2 of 21
The opening day of the season usually throws up one surprise result, but few expected it to come at the home of newly promoted Eibar.
With a stadium capacity of only 6,500, the tiny Basque club were an improbable early season success in La Liga as teams perhaps underestimated them, and they rode the crest of a wave to hit as high as eighth early on...though, of course, they were relegated after an awful second half of the season.
Against Real Sociedad, though, their first game in the top flight was impressive, full of intent to attack and robust, organised defending—and an eventual 1-0 win thanks to Javi Lara's spectacular free-kick.
See the highlights here.
19. Atletico Madrid 4-0 Sevilla, Gameweek 6
3 of 21
Early on in the campaign, this was a game that had Atleti fans believing they might be capable of retaining their Liga trophy, won in such breathtaking and amazing fashion last year.
The trademark work rate, dedication and bodies on the line from the Rojiblancos was all in evidence with their defensive work, but set pieces and clinical edge came together in attack too as the likes of Koke and Saul got on the scoresheet.
See the highlights here.
18. Deportivo La Coruna 2-8 Real Madrid, Gameweek 4
4 of 21
It's little wonder Real Madrid were able to reach 118 Liga goals for the season, when barely a month into the year they were already hitting teams for five, six or more—including eight in La Coruna.
All the star names found the back of the net in style: James got one, Bale got two and Ronaldo hit a hat-trick, before a late and spectacular brace by Javier Hernandez. This was simply a display of ruthless attacking intent from Real Madrid, who were rarely troubled by the developing scoreline yet were still carved open on the break a fair few times.
Not that it mattered by full time.
See the highlights here.
17. Levante 4-1 Malaga, Gameweek 22
5 of 21
Levante picked up half a dozen wins from February onward to eventually keep themselves safe from relegation by some distance, a feat that always looked on the cards after they added proven goals to their attack in January by signing Kalu Uche.
With him and David Barral in place, there was enough of a strike force to better the other troubled teams at the bottom—and the pair showed that in a crushing of Malaga, with Uche scoring once and Barral netting a hat-trick. Levante actually won more times than Malaga from this point until the end of the season.
See the highlights here.
16. Real Madrid 3-1 Barcelona, Gameweek 9
6 of 21
The first Clasico of the Liga season looked like a pivotal one, as Real Madrid won 3-1 at home.
Up until that point, Barcelona were unbeaten and hadn't even conceded a goal, with new stopper Claudio Bravo finally being beaten by a Ronaldo penalty. Second half strikes for Pepe and Karim Benzema did the damage, but all that came after Neymar had silenced the home crowd with an early goal for Barca.
It was tempestuous, exciting and tense, and it was perhaps not as smooth a game as the Camp Nou reverse fixture, but it was certainly a more memorable spectacle overall for the neutral.
See the highlights here.
15. Barcelona 3-1 Atletico Madrid, Gameweek 18
7 of 21
Barcelona and Atletico Madrid played each other three times in as many weeks in January, and it's fair to say that with all three games going Luis Enrique's team's way, the Catalans had the measure of their Madrid rivals.
The first game gave an example of where Atleti were going wrong; while they tried to get too involved in the physical battles, the arguments and the crunching challenges, Barcelona stepped above it with some sumptuous football and a display of how all three strikers were beginning to work together seamlessly.
Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi all got on the scoresheet in the 3-1 win as some measure of revenge was exacted for the Rojiblancos winning the title at the Camp Nou last season.
See the highlights here.
14. Celta Vigo 6-1 Rayo Vallecano, Gameweek 31
8 of 21
Celta proved they were well and truly over their midseason goal-shy habits as they ran riot against Rayo Vallecano, a tremendous match that essentially saw both teams go out to play their own brands of attack-minded football—and Celta simply had too much for Rayo to cope with, along with being far more clinical.
It was largely the game where Santi Mina announced himself to anyone who had obstinately refused to already see his talent, netting four of the six—and all that came after Rayo had taken a lead inside the first minute!
See the highlights here.
13. Barcelona 5-1 Sevilla, Gameweek 12
9 of 21
History being made, a statement of intent and a thorough beating of one of the best teams in the league.
Barcelona carved Sevilla's otherwise-impressive defence apart in late November as Lionel Messi inspired his team to victory, courtesy of a hat-trick of his own—including a 253rd Liga goal, slid in at the far post, which made him the all-time top scorer in Spanish league football.
The Catalan club were irrepressible at times in that second half after a fairly slow start to the game and tore open what was one of La Liga's most structured and settled sides.
See the highlights here.
12. Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Real Madrid, Gameweek 26
10 of 21
Not all the best games see half a dozen goals, of course.
Athletic Bilbao proved that top-class performances come in all shapes and sizes with a 1-0 win over Real Madrid midway through the campaign; they had a plan, stuck to it religiously, got their rewards, and then, when further goals weren't forthcoming, Athletic finally stopped their high press and manic attack down the channels to sit deep, frustrate Real and claim the points.
Aritz Aduriz scored one and went close with another, but it was the performances of Mikel Rico, Andoni Iraola and Co. in the midfield that really won the game.
See the highlights here.
11. Barcelona 6-1 Rayo Vallecano, Gameweek 26
11 of 21
Barcelona against Rayo Vallecano is almost like watching the same team play itself, or perhaps a slightly crazier, less-abled B team against the perfect seniors.
In any case, Rayo fell behind early on here with some suicidally high defending being exploited four or five times in the opening stages. They then tried to match Barcelona with possession and attacking intent. It didn't work, and Luis Suarez was absolutely rampant, scoring twice and tearing Rayo open again and again.
Lionel Messi floated through the game on the fringes, did very little and then scored a 13-minute hat-trick in the second half. Job done.
Oh, and there were two red cards, too.
See the highlights here.
10. Real Sociedad 4-2 Real Madrid, Gameweek 2
12 of 21
Earlier we saw how Real Sociedad lost their opening game of the season at Eibar—here we see how they bounced back in dramatic fashion to smash Real Madrid 4-2.
Things looked great for the away team early on as they took a two-goal lead in barely 10 minutes, but some awful defending and poor goalkeeping saw Real back on level terms before the break.
If Carlo Ancelotti gave a rousing speech to get his team focused at the break it didn't show, as Anoeta exploded with delight as Sergio Canales ran the show and David Zurutuza netted a brace, his only goals of the season as it turned out.
See the highlights here.
9. Athletic Bilbao 1-4 Atletico Madrid, Gameweek 16
13 of 21
After a hot-and-cold start to life at Atletico Madrid, this game just before Christmas was Antoine Griezmann's announcement that he was ready to shine.
The French forward was irrepressible in the second half as Atleti totally turned the tables on a game that Athletic Bilbao had dominated entirely in the first 45, leading 1-0 at the break. Griezmann notched a hat-trick in an eventual 4-1 rout at San Mames, doubling his tally for the season at that point. He went on to finish with 22, joint-third top scorer.
See the highlights here.
8. Real Madrid 9-1 Granada, Gameweek 29
14 of 21
The biggest win of the season went to Real Madrid against Granada, as the European champions showed a horribly ruthless streak to crush and humiliate their opponents at the Bernabeu in early April.
To be quite blunt, the scoreline could easily have ended up 12-1 or even 15-1, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring five but missing at least three other seemingly simple chances. Karim Benzema scored a couple and Gareth Bale hit the opener, as Granada's defence just utterly fell apart in shambolic fashion.
It will be memorable for the scoreline as well as the five-goal haul, but at the time it also gave a magnificent insight into the mindsets of the players: Real were determined to fight to win the title, Granada looked down and relegated and bereft of confidence.
By the end of the season, neither of those things happened.
See the highlights here.
7. Real Madrid 7-3 Getafe, Gameweek 38
15 of 21
The Liga season must have been so impressed with itself that it decided to treat onlookers to one final spectacular occasion from the last game of the last day: a 10-goal thriller that Real Madrid won.
Ronaldo netted his eighth hat-trick of the league season, Martin Odegaard made his senior bow for the club and Marcelo scored Real's seventh with practically the last kick of the campaign. And before most of that happened, Getafe had stunned the Bernabeu with some spectacular goals of their own to lead at one point and be level at 3-3 at the break!
A fantastic, senseless, ultimately pointless game that made for great viewing.
See the highlights here.
6. Cordoba 0-8 Barcelona, Gameweek 35
16 of 21
Weirdly, Cordoba were defensively excellent for just over 40 minutes in a game this season. Even more strangely, it was against Barcelona, despite the away side dominating possession and having bucket-loads of chances.
Once that dam broke, though, it was a non-stop demonstration of killing sides off: the quick passing, selfless play of the forward line and unstoppable clinical edge came to the fore. Ivan Rakitic thundered in the opener on 42 minutes and Barcelona went on to score eight in the next 46 minutes of football.
Suarez got a hat-trick, Messi got two, and Neymar and Pique notched a goal each. The two sides unsurprisingly finished at absolute opposite ends of the table.
See the highlights here.
5. Real Sociedad 4-3 Sevilla, Gameweek 24
17 of 21
Real Sociedad didn't exactly have a season to remember, but a couple of their games were very special indeed—including this seven-goal thriller that they turned around late on against Sevilla.
The Andalucians had already come from behind twice by the time Kevin Gameiro struck a late penalty to leave his side 3-2 up, and heading into the last 10 minutes of the game, it looked as though La Real would be facing yet another defeat.
An own goal and a last-minute Xabi Prieto goal, his second of the game, stunned Sevilla, and a crazy, end-to-end fixture ended with the points staying at home after all.
See the highlights here.
4. Barcelona 3-2 Villarreal, Gameweek 21
18 of 21
Another one of La Liga's crazy, back-and-forth matches, this fixture saw Barcelona and Villarreal go at each other with everything they had; two technical, attack-minded sides with plenty of speed and the need to create chances and score goals.
Ultimately, Barcelona just about had the edge—but it was a close thing, and Villarreal felt that more than a few decisions went against them at key moments at the time.
Denis Cheryshev and Luciano Vietto were in prime form and both scored, but it wasn't enough, as Neymar and Rafinha twice pulled Barcelona back from behind before Messi secured the points.
See the highlights here.
3. Celta Vigo 2-4 Real Madrid, Gameweek 33
19 of 21
A madcap first half of football in Vigo late on in the season gave witness to one of the best matches of the entire campaign.
Celta Vigo's fast-paced passing and movement gave Real Madrid no end of problems in defence, with Nolito a key performer who tormented the back line throughout. In just over half an hour of football, five goals went in as Celta took the lead, fell behind, levelled things up and still went in at half-time a goal down.
James Rodriguez was splendid and Cristiano Ronaldo put in a hugely important and selfless performance, as Madrid bounced back to eventually prove they had more firepower and win 4-2.
See the highlights here.
2. Valencia 0-1 Barcelona, Gameweek 13
20 of 21
While having nowhere near as many goals as several of Barcelona's other top games during the season, the 1-0 win over Valencia at the Mestalla simply had everything.
Fantastic attacking approach play met perhaps the most committed, organised and bodies-on-the-line defending seen in this Liga campaign, with a few goalkeeping heroics thrown in for good measure. And, just when it seemed a 0-0 draw would be the outcome, the unlikely figure of Sergio Busquets netted a last-gasp winner for Barcelona back in late November.
This was a massively hard-fought three points for the eventual title-winners, and a vital win it proved to be.
See the highlights here.
1. Atletico Madrid 4-0 Real Madrid, Gameweek 22
21 of 21
The perfect exhibition of Atletico Madrid under Diego Simeone, Atleti went into the Madrid derby with a ferociously ambitious tactic in mind: stop the ball reaching Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.
It worked too; monstrous pressing in midfield, fast attacks after winning the ball and relentless, thundering challenges to win back possession and leave Real Madrid cowed on the pitch resulted in chance after chance falling the way of the home players.
Tiago and Saul put Atleti in the driving seat by the break, and before Real could alter the flow of the game, Griezmann had also gotten in on the act in the second half. Mario Mandzukic wrapped things up late on for a perfect three points and clean sheet.
This was tactical execution meeting determination in perfect balance, all wrapped up in pivotal occasion, and it wins our pick for Liga game of the season.
See the highlights here.
