La Liga Player Rankings: Gareth Bale Closes in on Top 20, Atletico Star into 1st
Jornada 16 in La Liga saw Atletico Madrid miss out on a chance to go top of the table in Spain, Real Madrid put 10 goals past Rayo Vallecano and Barcelona not take part, as they won the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan instead.
Our latest player rankings have been updated to reflect those who did take part in domestic action: The rankings are based on players' last six games and are continually updated throughout the season, with slightly more emphasis placed on their most recent outing.
Only 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
1 of 21
On the verge
Gareth Bale, RMA
On the watchlist
Shkodran Mustafi, VAL
Koke, ATM
Gerard Pique, FCB
Jefferson Lerma, LEV
Adalberto Penaranda, GRA
Heiko Westermann, BET
Fabian Orellana, CEL
Alejandro Arribas, DEP
20. Claudio Bravo, FCB
2 of 21
Down 2
Claudio Bravo was one of several from last week's rankings away with Barcelona on Club World Cup duty, which doesn't count in our formula.
19. Denis Suarez, VIL
3 of 21
New entry
Villarreal's creative midfielder Denis Suarez has been in fantastic form of late, finding end product to go with his undoubted talent in possession. This week, he makes his first move into our 20.
His two goals against Real Sociedad gave Villarreal a big three points this weekend, showing his composed nature to go with an unusually clinical edge. He has been a big factor in the Yellow Submarine's good recent results, playing from the left of the midfield four, and he deservedly takes his spot.
After more than one disappointing campaign where he hasn't quite produced, this looks like being Suarez's big breakthrough season.
18. Saul Niguez, ATM
4 of 21
New entry
Saul has had a run of games over recent weeks, mainly playing from the centre of midfield for Atletico Madrid—especially in the wake of Tiago's long-term injury.
Most frequently playing as the tough-tackling holder in the middle, Saul has protected the defence with aggression and composure and has also contributed going forward—after Antoine Griezmann, he's the second-top scorer in the Atleti squad.
With big competition set to arrive for his position in January, it remains to be seen how long Saul can stay in the side, but he has certainly performed well of late.
17. Timothee Kolodziejczak, SEV
5 of 21
Up 2
Sevilla centre-back Timothee Kolodziejczak had a busy evening as he helped his team keep a clean sheet in the local derby, a 0-0 draw with Real Betis.
It certainly wasn't the finest-ever spectacle in La Liga and there was far more to the game in terms of stoppages, refereeing interventions and defensive clearances than actual free-flowing attacking, but that simply means Kolodziejczak did his job well.
A slight move up the charts for the French defender, who has been in good form of late.
16. Andres Iniesta, FCB
6 of 21
Down 1
Iniesta was away with Barcelona winning the Club World Cup.
15. Yannick Carrasco, ATM
7 of 21
Down 3
Atletico Madrid winger Yannick Carrasco burst onto the scene with a run of tremendous performances after breaking into the side, but he hasn't been at his best of late. It's another drop for the Belgian as a result.
Against Malaga, he simply couldn't get involved in an attacking sense, with Atleti on the back foot and not really getting bodies forward in support of the frontmen.
On the left of a 4-3-3 and later wide in a 4-4-2, Carrasco worked hard and tried to dribble his way toward danger, but very little came off for him and he was subbed again early in the second half.
One more mediocre performance will see him drop out of our 20.
14. Mariano, SEV
8 of 21
No change
While Kolodziejczak impressed centrally, right-back Mariano put in a similarly good display at right-back for Sevilla.
The Brazilian wasn't really able to get forward and support the attack with any great regularity or authority, but he held his position well and won back possession a number of times after stopping crosses coming into the box.
Mariano continues to keep Coke out of the team with his good displays.
13. Victor Ruiz, VIL
9 of 21
Up 4
Villarreal centre-back Victor Ruiz impressed early on this season alongside Eric Bailly and now he—and the team's defence, in turn—looks even more sturdy and consistent next to Mateo Musacchio.
Up against La Real's in-form attack, Ruiz was imperious at the back and again kept a clean sheet in the 2-0 win, clearing plenty of angled and aerial balls toward the Villarreal penalty box and showing good recovery pace on more than one occasion.
Ruiz was his usual calm self in possession and looked to build from the back as his team kept to within a single point of the top four.
12. Juanfran, ATM
10 of 21
Down 1
Juanfran performed reasonably well for Atletico Madrid in their 1-0 loss to Malaga, but he drops a place on account of others outscoring him over the rolling six-game trend.
The right-back was kept pinned back inside his own penalty box for large stretches of the game; he defended well, stopped crosses coming over with regularity and also put in a few thunderous challenges, but at the other end, he could barely get forward to support.
Atletico missed the chance to go top.
11. Lucas Perez, DEP
11 of 21
Up 2
Another game, another goal for Spain's version of Jamie Vardy. Or something.
Lucas Perez plundered yet another strike for Deportivo La Coruna in their 2-0 win at home to Eibar, this time from the penalty spot to record his 12th goal in La Liga—already double his tally of last term.
Quite aside from his regular end product, Lucas continues to be exemplary in his displays with a total performance of high work rate, linking the midfield to attack and being on hand inside the penalty box to get shots away with regularity.
10. Sergio Busquets, FCB
12 of 21
Down 3
Busquets' poor last league performance saw him slip, not playing in La Liga this time out sees him repeat the trick.
9. Nolito, CEL
13 of 21
Down 4
Celta Vigo forward Nolito is out with an injury and will not be in our top 20 for much longer as a result.
8. Aritz Aduriz, ATH
14 of 21
Up 1
Basque striker Aritz Aduriz was in good form for Athletic Bilbao's 2-0 win over Levante, even though he didn't get on the scoresheet himself.
As busy and powerful as ever and a handful for the away defence to stop, Aduriz claimed an assist and was a constant source of danger with his movement and with balls being aimed his way inside the box.
It wasn't his most refined game by a long shot, or one in which he was pivotal, but he was effective at creating space for others. On another day, he could have scored at least a couple with the chances that fell his way.
7. Luka Modric, RMA
15 of 21
Up 3
Real Madrid's central midfielder Luka Modric was one who benefited enormously from the extra space afforded to the home side after Rayo Vallecano had two sent off.
Modric, along with James Rodriguez, roved unchecked through the centre and was consistently able to pick out passes between the lines, creating chance after chance for the front players—which were put away with regularity, ending in the 10-2 scoreline in Real's favour.
The Croatian certainly had it easy in terms of not being closed down or tracked, but he still had the quality to make that time on the ball count.
6. Augusto Fernandez, CEL
16 of 21
Up 2
Another good performance for Augusto Fernandez in the Celta Vigo shirt, one of which might be his final games for them.
The holding midfielder is linked with a move to Atletico Madrid in January, per Marca's Alberto R. Barbero, and with displays such as those he has given for Celta recently, it's no real surprise that bigger clubs have come looking, especially with a price tag of just €6 million.
Fernandez was again impressive as Celta beat Granada 2-0, winning back the ball with frequency and keeping possession adeptly.
5. Luis Suarez, FCB
17 of 21
Down 2
A first move outside the podium spots in a long time for Luis Suarez, who scored twice in the Club World Cup final.
4. Jan Oblak, ATM
18 of 21
Up 2
Jan Oblak came within five minutes of another clean sheet before being beaten at his near post by a heavily deflected shot, but before that, he had kept Atletico Madrid on level terms with two splendid saves and some impressive aerial handling.
An early low shot was well saved by the Slovenian, and he later made two good blocks in one-on-one situations, while his punching clear of set pieces and good distribution led to a couple of Atleti counter-attacks.
There was no blame attached to Oblak for the goal conceded, and he has been comfortably La Liga's best goalkeeper over the past month or two.
3. Neymar, FCB
19 of 21
Down 2
Neymar is finally off top spot after missing the past two weeks' action in La Liga.
2. Antoine Griezmann, ATM
20 of 21
Up 1
Antoine Griezmann rises on account of his six-game total amounting to more than Neymar's does, but it's certainly more because the Brazilian has missed two in a row rather than because the Frenchman was spectacular at the weekend.
Atletico's best attacker this season again, Griezmann struggled this time to get into the match against Malaga as the home side were more aggressive, created more shooting chances of note and generally stopped the Atleti support breaking forward.
Griezmann worked hard and tried to initiate counters, but he had minimal impact in the final third.
1. Diego Godin, ATM
21 of 21
Up 3
Diego Godin, on the other hand, was extremely busy for Atletico in defence against Malaga and performed very well throughout—but he saw the winning goal hit the back of the net off his heels at the wrong end after he deflected Charles' wayward shot past Oblak late on in the match.
Until that point, Godin had been excellent, making plenty of big challenges to stop shots coming in and forcefully pushing Atleti out of their own defensive third.
He rises to top spot after a great run of form—but he'd doubtless preferred to have kept a clean sheet on Sunday instead.
