La Liga Team of the Week: Leo Messi, Fernando Torres and Keylor Navas All Shine
We're back with our latest instalment of La Liga's team of the weekend, featuring all 10 games over the past few days in Spain's top flight.
Our selection process means we analyse every game to pick out a star XI from the weekend's fixtures, choosing the best players to form a viable formation—this time we go for an old Carlo Ancelotti favourite: the Christmas tree formation, 4-3-2-1. Only the best players in each position from this weekend's action make the cut, leading, as always, to several tough decisions along the way.
In addition to individual form, we take into account such factors as opposition quality and overall contribution to the team's display.
Here are the players who make the team from Jornada 4 in La Liga.
GK: Keylor Navas, RMA
1 of 11
Keylor Navas was placed in an unfortunate and unusual position around the closure of the transfer window, being his team's No. 1 goalkeeper—yet, his club was trying to replace him in extremely public fashion. It didn't happen, he stayed, and now he is setting about frustrating every attack he comes up against.
Another clean sheet this weekend against Granada was no easy feat; Real were lucky an offside decision went their way on one occasion, but every other attack was thwarted by Navas' bravery and reflexes. More than once he dived out at the feet of the forward and a late tip over the bar was important, too.
Five games, five clean sheets, a new club record and, per Marca, just 10 minutes off Iker Casillas' best-ever streak at the club—it's a fantastic start for Keylor.
RB: Damian Suarez, GET
2 of 11
This week we've got a fair number of players in our XI from the big three of Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid—but some of the smaller teams in La Liga also picked up important victories and had good performers, too.
Right-back Damian Suarez, now at Getafe, was one of them.
The Uruguayan was impressive at both ends of the pitch in the 1-0 home win over Malaga, being a great outlet for his side down the flank and delivering a string of balls in toward his forwards but also remaining strong in defence and stopping Malaga's threat from wide with a series of interceptions and challenges.
CB: Marc Bartra, FCB
3 of 11
At almost any other team, Marc Bartra would be an absolute stand-out and one of the first names on the team sheet. At Barcelona he's back-up to Gerard Pique, understandably, yet still puts in a huge performance almost every time he is called upon.
Bartra was once again outstanding for Barca against Levante, defending the infrequent attacks of the away side in the first half and then being the spark the home team needed to finally break Levante down. He started the move outside the box, which culminated in the opening goal—Bartra himself controlling a lofted pass and finishing inside the near post.
There's a reason he's frequently in Spain national team squads despite not seeing huge amounts of playing time—these types of performances are why.
CB: Raphael Varane, RMA
4 of 11
Bartra might not be first choice at Barcelona, but Raphael Varane very much is now at Real Madrid. He is the established pick alongside captain Sergio Ramos under Rafa Benitez, although it was Pepe he partnered at the weekend, with Ramos sidelined.
Varane was exceptional, clearing up the mess both Pepe and Marcelo left strewn around them—and largely in gaps behind them—with aggression, diligence and great reading of the game.
Challenges over in the left channel, clearances in the centre of the penalty area and more than a few footraces won against pacy attacking opposition all served to make this Varane's best outing of the season so far.
LB: Filipe Luis, ATM
5 of 11
Filipe Luis had a fairly comfortable afternoon in attack, but a testing one in defence—he passed both examinations well for Atletico Madrid as they beat Eibar 2-0.
Eibar's main attacking threat was right-winger Keko, who was aggressive in his pressing, always looking to dribble one-vs.-one and, as the team's main outlet, was frequently sought out with diagonal passes by his team-mates.
Filipe then stood up to the task of repelling him extremely well, getting a block in on attempted crosses and forcing Keko either into dead-end channels down the wing or else infield to look for a pass. Invariably it was only when he went more narrow that Keko had any final-ball impact. Going forward, the Atleti left-back was neat in possession, linked up well in the second half with Antoine Griezmann and Angel Correa and was a consistent performer who helped his team to victory.
RM: Hernan Perez, ESP
6 of 11
Into our midfield three and we've got goalscorers throughout—but also players who put in a big all-round performance.
Hernan Perez is first up after a fiery and effective display on the right for Espanyol, who started with a five-man midfield before going 4-4-2 in search of the victory against 10-man Real Sociedad. They eventually got the win, too, with Perez himself heading in an injury-time winner for 3-2.
Before that, Perez was buzzing relentlessly down the channel, sending over searching crosses or dribbling directly at the defence to cause problems for La Real's back line. His winning goal, a header from an awkward angle following a corner, was just reward for his endeavour and quality.
CM: Bruno Soriano, VIL
7 of 11
In the centre of the park we've got Villarreal's Bruno Soriano, who is making up for lost time after a two-game ban for receiving a red card on the opening day of the season.
The skipper was excellent this time against Athletic Bilbao, dominating the midfield zone of the pitch with his challenges, passing ability and greater mobility than his direct opponents. It was no surprise to see Villarreal be more incisive and effective with their attacking play given the middle- to final-third selections for each team, but Bruno was clearly a cut above the rest.
Bruno scored the penalty before half-time to open the game up a little, with his side eventually running out 3-1 winners.
LM: Nolito, CEL
8 of 11
Left side for Celta Vigo and left side for our XI, Nolito continued his impressive start to the season with an early goal and telling performance for his side as they overcame Sevilla.
His goal was a well-struck effort from the corner of the area, the opener in the 2-1 victory, but once more he remained a danger for the entire game with his dribbling at defenders, willingness to get shots away and his link play with Celta's other final-third players.
More than once Nolito set up chances for others to shoot at goal, he used the ball well throughout and worked hard in the latter stages of the game to stop Sevilla having an easy passage out of their own half of the pitch.
AM: Marco Asensio, ESP
9 of 11
Our system this week incorporates two attacking midfield players, and the first of those is Espanyol's Marco Asensio. The 19-year-old is on loan from Real Madrid and was a huge performer in the 3-2 win over Real Sociedad.
Asensio started as the 10 but also played wide and almost as a second forward as Espanyol changed systems a number of times during the game, adapting to falling behind early on but then having a man advantage for the second half.
No matter where he played, Asensio continually demanded possession and looked to turn immediately to run at La Real's defence or else play a clever pass into space.
It was his run behind the defence that saw the game's turning point, a red card for Geronimo Rulli for bringing Asensio down, while striker Gerardo Moreno equalised with the resulting penalty. Asensio played a big part in Espanyol's second-half revival and went off to huge applause from the away fans and bench at 2-1 late on in the match.
AM: Leo Messi, FCB
10 of 11
Playing in much more of a central playmaking role than his usual free-from-the-right station, Leo Messi was naturally the one who eventually forced the breakthrough for Barcelona as they overcame Levante 4-1.
All the goals came in the second half as Levante initially repelled a weakened, rotated Barcelona attack—but Messi had the key to unlock yet another defence with a fantastic lofted assist for Bartra's opener, before also netting two goals himself, a penalty and a driven shot from the edge of the area.
Messi won another penalty himself in the second half, but he blazed that attempt over the bar at 3-1. He now has three goals for the season in four Liga matches.
FW: Fernando Torres, ATM
11 of 11
Our starting striker began the weekend on the bench, but Fernando Torres had a massive impact for Atletico Madrid after entering at half-time.
Atleti were dominating against Eibar but lacking in final-third threat, with Luciano Vietto off the pace and Jackson Martinez not getting scoring chances, so Diego Simeone made a double change at the break
Torres, along with Oliver Torres, came on—the 31-year-old striker set up the opener around 15 minutes later, spinning behind the defence and laying a pass on for fellow sub Angel Correa to score. The two combined again later in reverse fashion, Torres this time clipping his finish over the keeper for 2-0.
The Atleti No. 9 provided all the penetration and stretching of the Eibar defence his team had lacked in the first half, and he was instrumental in turning the match from frustrating possession to worthwhile incision.
