La Liga Team of the Week: Atletico Derby Quartet In, Muniain and Suarez Impress
The big news from La Liga's weekend round of games was Atletico Madrid beating Real Madrid in El Derbi, and accordingly, four of those starters for Los Rojiblancos make our team of the week—though, in truth, we could almost have doubled that.
For our team of the week, we take the best individual displays from Spain's top flight and combine the most impressive player from each position into a viable formation, with our selection process seeing us analyse every game to pick out a star XI from the weekend's fixtures.
This time we've opted for a 4-4-2, with only the best players in each position included, 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.
GK: Gorka Iraizoz, ATH
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Valencia vs. Athletic should have been reasonably well matched as a fixture, given each side's current form and standings, and for some time it was—but Gorka Iraizoz kept Los Che out at one end, then the home side collapsed.
The final score was 3-0 in Athletic's favour, with all the goals coming late on in the final 20 minutes.
Before that all came about, though, Iraizoz had to be alert with some fairly comfortable saves, one impressive stop and an awful lot of catching practice in crowded penalty boxes. It wasn't the most competitive weekend ever for the goalkeeper spot, but Iraizoz did everything he needed to with competence and kept a clean sheet.
RB: Juanfran, ATM
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It won't be much of a surprise to anybody to find that three of Atletico's four names in our XI come in the defensive line.
Juanfran is our first pick, an excellent performer on the right side who limited the impact of Cristiano Ronaldo to nothing from the flank, forcing the Real attacker infield if he wanted to have a say on the game. Later, Juanfran also dealt with the likes of Isco and Jese as Real changed things up a bit, but none had any way past the determined Spain international.
Going forward, Juanfran's impact was sporadic but impressive; several runs down the right forced corners, and he was constantly on hand to help support the build-up when required.
Eric Bailly of Villarreal was also a consideration for the spot.
CB: Josema Gimenez, ATM
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The best player on the Santiago Bernabeu pitch at the weekend, Josema Gimenez was monstrous with his defensive work, blocking off Ronaldo's runs from the channel and also stopping James Rodriguez's attempts to flit inside from the opposite flank.
Aerially, he was near-unbeatable, and his timing in the challenge on the ground was also exceptional.
Gimenez read the game extremely well, which was needed on more than one occasion when Real broke behind the full-backs, and there was very little chance of Real's attackers finding room in the penalty box with the Uruguayan on top of his game.
CB: Aymeric Laporte, ATH
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The only Atletico defender not to make our team is Diego Godin; not that he had a poor game by any means, but he wasn't quite as flawless as some of his team-mates.
Elsewhere, though, Aymeric Laporte made a welcome return to form in what has been a very stop-start season for him in terms of reaching his best level.
The Athletic defender was kept extremely busy for the first hour, repelling Valencia continually for long stretches of the match, and he showed good concentration as well as his defensive technique to help preserve his side's clean sheet.
LB: Filipe Luis, ATM
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Just edging out Villarreal's young left-back Adrian Marin, Atletico's Filipe Luis had an excellent game in El Derbi.
He stuck extremely well to the task of blocking off whoever Real had on the right—and the job changed frequently, with James trying to come infield and be involved in the buildup, Lucas Vazquez staying wide and running at pace and Dani Carvajal frequently trying to overlap.
Luis broke forward well and was involved in Atleti's winning goal, getting into the box and staying composed to pick out the pass for the end strike.
RM: Saul, ATM
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Our fourth and final choice from the Atletico side is Saul Niguez, the terror in midfield who did everything right: He broke up play, kept position, passed the ball well and supported the attack.
Real Madrid couldn't keep up with his work rate, couldn't overpower him and couldn't circumnavigate him—Saul played narrow from the right, but he was able to help double up with Juanfran down the flank as well as block off avenues centrally.
Saul almost scored himself with one break forward and was a real problem for Real to keep track of.
Marco Asensio was a big consideration for the position, having starred for Espanyol against Sporting Gijon.
CM: Sergio Busquets, FCB
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Barcelona ran out 2-1 winners over Sevilla on Sunday night after a tough match in which they had to come from behind to take victory.
Sergio Busquets was prominent and important throughout, holding off play centrally and winning the ball back for Barca with great frequency, while, of course, being the usual starting point for switching play, playing between Sevilla's midfield lines and setting team-mates on their way to attack.
It wasn't as neat a performance as Busquets can give, but it was certainly a vital one as the Andalucians sought to get back into the game on the counter.
CM: Pape Diop, ESP
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Espanyol finished up with a 4-2 win over Sporting, but it was hard work for a long time in a back-and-forth game.
One of the central figures in both halves of the pitch was Pape Diop, winning back the ball for his side on the edge of the box or in the middle third and trying to support the resulting counter-attacks too at times, though for the most part he left that to his midfield partners.
Diop was too powerful and full of running for Sporting to cope with over the entire 90 minutes, and he was often the starting point for Espanyol's telling counters.
LM: Iker Muniain, ATH
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Iker Muniain made a long overdue return to the scoresheet this weekend as he helped in Athletic's late win over Valencia.
It was his first goal of the season, partly due to a long injury absence, but his overall game was a step up from recent displays, with his dribbling infield from the left, continuous through balls for the likes of Mikel Rico to latch onto and some good defensive work high up the field.
Burgui of Espanyol, Charly Musonda of Betis and Samu Castillejo of Villarreal could also have been considered candidates.
FW: Luis Suarez, FCB
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No goal for Luis Suarez this weekend—the Pichichi leader looked to add to his 25 strikes for the season in La Liga, but he put in a good all-round performance to help his side toward the three points.
The Uruguayan worked extremely hard off the ball, closing down Sevilla's back line and always pulling into space to be available for cut-backs or short passes from his team-mates, also leaving room centrally for others to exploit.
He set up the winning goal with a nice piece of link play, touching the ball into Gerard Pique's path for the second goal in the 2-1 victory.
FW: Gerard Moreno, ESP
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Ruben Castro and Adrian Lopez, of Betis and Villarreal, were both options to play up front in our team of the week—but Gerard Moreno was clearly the pick of the bunch.
He scored twice in the 4-2 win for Espanyol and was an utter menace throughout, making runs in behind the defence, sprinting across to the near post for crosses and showing all the best dribbling and one-touch technique he possesses that made him quite a stand-out at Villarreal last term.
One of his two goals was immaculate, too—a fantastic bending strike into the far corner after dribbling in from the edge of the box. More consistency of this type of performance and he'd be seen as one of La Liga's most impressive forwards, rather than usually being Felipe Caicedo's backup.
