La Liga Player Rankings: Neymar's Irresistible Form Continues, 4 New Faces Join
Domestic football is once again interrupted by an international break this week, but we've still got our updated player rankings to bring you first from the top flight in Spain.
Jornada 11 saw the end of the final unbeaten start to the season come the way of Real Madrid, while Barcelona went clear at the top and a third manager—David Moyes of Real Sociedad—lost his job in La Liga.
The rankings are based on players' last six games, continually updated throughout the season, with slightly more emphasis placed on their most recent outing.
Only La Liga performances are counted and, typically, one-week wonders do not find their way in—instead, search our team of the week for the top performers over a single weekend.
We look beyond the statistical measures and into the performance, reviewing tape and gauging impact.
It's not just goals, assists and heroic clearances that impress; it's about how a player contributes to the tactical plan at hand and what impact he has over the entire 90-minute period.
Mentions
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Celta Vigo's Iago Aspas is gone after his third sub-standard display in four games, while Jaume Costa of Villarreal drops out, too, after his errors against Barcelona.
The third departure is Aymeric Laporte of Athletic Bilbao, who played no part this weekend, with Asier Illarramendi the fourth and final player to exit our top 20 after two successive games without impact for Real Sociedad.
The top three here are right on the verge of our list of 20, the others are strongly worth keeping an eye on.
Mikel San Jose, ATH
Borja Baston, EIB
Yannick Carrasco, ATM
Xabier Etxeita, ATH
Daniel Wass, CEL
Mario, VIL
Michael Krohn-Dehli, SEV
Marco Asensio, ESP
Bruno Soriano, VIL
Alen Halilovic, SPO
Dani Parejo, VAL
Yevhen Konoplyanka, SEV
Ivan Cuellar, SPO
20. Ruben Castro, BET
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New entry
The first of our four new faces this week comes in the shape of Real Betis goalscorer Ruben Castro.
One of the playing-field levellers of our six-week rolling form guide is that it sometimes allows those with steady and important, though not necessarily spectacular, performances on a consistent basis to break through—and that's exactly what Castro gives his side.
The 34-year-old is a fine outlet, he works tremendously hard in attack and has, importantly, found a scoring touch this season. His goal against Malaga was his seventh of the season, and his side won 1-0.
19. Tiago, ATM
3 of 21
No change
Tiago and midfield partner Gabi were in reasonably good form for Atletico Madrid without really doing enough to justify staying on the pitch against Sporting Gijon, as Diego Simeone's side struggled to break them down.
Neither midfielder really pushed on and looked to carve out an opening, instead being content to sit relatively deep, spray passes wide and hope the four attacking players did the damage—which one did in the end, for a late 1-0 Atleti win.
Tiago doesn't move up or down in the rankings, but his overall form value has dropped a little.
18. Diego Godin, ATM
4 of 21
New entry
Diego Godin makes a first entrance of the season in our rankings after a compelling display at both ends to go with his recent improvement in performances following a below-par start to the season.
The 29-year-old managed to get a vital flick to a ball into the area in injury time to assist the winning goal for Atleti. He was tough defensively, cleared a number of balls into the area and then looked to surge forward late on.
A big display from the centre-back at both ends.
17. Augusto Fernandez, CEL
5 of 21
Down 1
Augusto Fernandez was back in the Celta Vigo team against Valencia and performed fairly well in possession, helping his team dominate play and move the ball around quickly. He even got his name on the scoresheet.
Those are the positives, now for the negatives: Charged with holding together the midfield, he was completely overrun on the counter-attack by Valencia's central players, he was rarely able to protect his defence adequately and soon lost all shape and hold on the game in the second half.
Celta lost 5-1.
16. Inaki Williams, ATH
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New entry
Our third new face of the week belongs to Inaki Williams, who made our watchlist last time out after a third successive impressive performance for Athletic Club—and went one better this time with a sumptuously taken goal and a bright all-round game.
Williams, 21, netted his fourth goal in his last four Liga games—six in five in all competitions, though Europa League doesn't count here—and his decisive actions have been key in Athletic's good recent run of form.
His pace, good first touch and far more cavalier attitude to creation and inventiveness makes him a real stand-out in the Athletic attack, and he deservedly rises into our 20, even if he's still searching for full fitness at present.
15. Jose Maria Gimenez, ATM
7 of 21
Down 2
Josema Gimenez missed the match against Sporting, with Stefan Savic taking his place. After a poor game last time out, he needs a big performance after the international break to avoid dropping out of our 20.
14. Sergio Busquets, FCB
8 of 21
New entry
Sergio Busquets is our fourth and final new face, and the Barcelona man flies in reasonably high for a newcomer on account of some excellent displays in his last few matches.
The holding midfielder was typically assured, combative and controlled in the match against Villarreal, stopping the counters of the away side in the first half and then dominating play entirely after the break as Barcelona turned the screw.
Some fluctuating form early in the campaign stopped him being in our 20 earlier, but he looks back to his consistent best now. It would be no surprise to see him soar up the charts in the coming weeks, especially if he performs in El Clasico on November 21.
13. Victor Ruiz, VIL
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Up 7
It's not often that a centre-back puts in a tremendous performance and still loses by three goals, but that's what happened with Victor Ruiz and Villarreal against Barcelona.
The Spanish defender was nigh-on unbeatable when Barca tried to penetrate through the centre, winning the ball both in the air and on the ground, and he can consider himself unfortunate that those around him suffered lapses at key moments.
Ruiz's big rise is due in part to his own cumulative good form, but also the drop-outs of four players below and the likes of Gimenez missing his fixture.
12. Marcelo, RMA
10 of 21
No change
Marcelo didn't play at the weekend as he was injured, with his spot at left-back taken by Nacho for Real Madrid. He now faces a race to be fit for El Clasico.
In terms of our top 20, he doesn't change places, but his coefficient is severely lowered by missing a game, and he's much closer to 20th than the top 10 now as a result—it's all very bunched in the lower half of our rankings at present.
11. Aritz Aduriz, ATH
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No change
No movement either for Athletic striker Aritz Aduriz, who was typically aggressive in attack against Espanyol, bustling about and causing problems for the defence with his hold-up play but without ever looking a threat on goal himself.
This was more of a selfless display than a dangerous one, with the likes of Williams instead proving the difference. However, it's another performance which signifies why the 34-year-old is so important to the team even if he doesn't score.
10. Rene Krhin, GRA
12 of 21
Down 1
Rene Krhin still just about clings on to a top-10 spot on account of earlier performances, but there's a big gap now between himself and the players above after two consecutive displays where he has failed to shine.
Granada lost 2-1 at Rayo Vallecano, a disappointing result made worse by the fact Rayo played 70 minutes with 10 men.
Despite that, Krhin and Co. never really took control of the midfield with enough authority, pace or movement to seize the advantage.
Although he did some good defensive work at times, Krhin's quality means he should have been looking to push his side on from deep as well.
9. Luis Suarez, FCB
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Up 6
A gap opens up here as we move into the top nine, and most of these players have been in great form of late.
Luis Suarez scored another goal for Barcelona this weekend, his ninth of the season in La Liga, as he netted a penalty to send his side toward a 3-0 win over Villarreal.
Suarez's running and movement were hugely impressive again, and he worked tremendously hard down both channels to stop the full-backs dribbling or passing the ball out of defence. His irritation with the referee was also correctly channeled toward doing damage on the Villarreal defence.
Suarez also picked up an assist with a great clipped pass into the box for the final goal for his side.
8. Keylor Navas, RMA
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Down 3
Keylor Navas missed his second successive match in La Liga at the weekend, and it is, perhaps, telling that Real Madrid kept a clean sheet in neither game. They'll want him back for El Clasico.
7. Luka Modric, RMA
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Up 1
Most of Real Madrid's players would have dropped down had they been in the 20 after the performance against Sevilla.
Real started the better team and dominated early on, but they capitulated in rather pathetic style once Sevilla equalised and realised they could dictate the game.
The one player who comes out with a semblance of credit is Luka Modric, who continued working hard to take the game to Sevilla and probed with his forward runs and passes throughout the encounter.
Even late in the game when others had visibly given up, Modric was the one chasing and closing down. He, at least, deserved better.
6. Juanfran, ATM
16 of 21
Down 2
Juanfran lasted only 45 minutes of Atletico Madrid's match against Sporting Gijon before being subbed off at half-time, with Jesus Gamez taking his place.
The injury picked up by Atleti's first-choice right-back means he'll miss the international break, having been named in Spain's squad.
However, the 30-year-old didn't have too much to do defensively in the time he was on the pitch.
5. Antoine Griezmann, ATM
17 of 21
Up 1
Antoine Griezmann is still searching for his very best form after a good, but not tremendously explosive, start to the season.
However, he did break his recent goalless run and helped Atletico Madrid to a vital three points at the weekend with an injury time-winner against Sporting.
The forward nicked in to head the ball home in the 93rd minute, his fifth Liga goal of the campaign, to push Atleti up to third.
Before that, the 24-year-old had been busy and involved in the build-up play, but he was left frustrated by an excellent goalkeeping display from Ivan Cuellar—who made our mentions list this week after several stand-out performances of late himself.
4. Raphael Varane, RMA
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Down 1
Real Madrid centre-back Raphael Varane, maybe, gets let off a little easy this week, after his unexpected introduction as a substitute early on in the match against Sevilla.
The French defender was rotated out by Rafa Benitez but had to take the place of Sergio Ramos, who injured his shoulder in scoring in the 32nd minute. However, Varane was unable to stem the tide of Sevilla's attacks afterward as the Andalusian side ran out 3-2 winners.
The movement of Ciro Immobile gave both Pepe and Varane problems, but the centre-backs spent most of the game scrambling to cover gaps as Yevhen Konoplyanka dribbled infield and tore the rest of the defence apart. Not a good day.
3. Nolito, CEL
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Down 1
Like Varane, Nolito gets off lightly because nobody below him had a truly stand-out performance.
The 29-year-old couldn't get into the game at all in terms of providing end product against Valencia's defence, despite seeing lots of the ball in the first half.
Celta Vigo's left-sided forward was continually blocked off, turned infield or crowded out inside the box as he tried to fashion room for shots.
The 5-1 defeat owed more to Celta's porous defence than lack of attack, but Nolito was still way below his best.
2. Sergi Roberto, FCB
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Down 1
A mature and confident performance from Sergi Roberto this week, rather than a decisive or barnstorming one, but this was still another game which showed his growing importance to Barcelona's midfield.
Whether the 23-year-old continues in the centre of the park once all players are fit is up for discussion, but he has certainly underlined that he deserves to be in the XI, even if it's not always in the same role.
Roberto pulled the strings in the middle to keep the ball flowing for Barcelona against Villarreal, and he helped win back possession and controlled the space so the visitors couldn't counter.
1. Neymar, FCB
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Up 6
No surprises anywhere that Neymar flies up to top spot.
It seems that the Brazilian has been in world-class form for a couple of months now, but with only La Liga displays counting toward our ranking we've had to ignore his sumptuous form in the Champions League.
However, it's his last few Liga games which have seen him become the most dangerous player in world football right now.
What we can say is that his rolling coefficient is, right now, far above those challenging him for top spot after another outstanding display in the 3-0 win over Villarreal.
The Barcelona No. 11 scored twice—the second goal a sublime piece of invention and technique—to send his team three points clear at the top of La Liga, and give himself a two-goal advantage in the Pichichi charts with 11 overall. He also seals top spot in our rankings.
