La Liga Team of the Week: Keylor Navas Saves Real Madrid Again, Leo Messi Stars
Another busy weekend in Spanish football saw all three of the biggest teams take victory in Jornada 29—though Real Madrid were unimpressive in their win, with only one player involved in our XI showcasing that. By contrast, Barcelona's big win sees four of their starters involved.
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 an offensive 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: Keylor Navas, RMA
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"Keylor Navas plus 10" is how Spanish football correspondent Kieran Canning described Real Madrid's performance on Twitter, and it wasn't too far wide of the mark.
The Costa Rican goalkeeper made several huge saves to keep his team ahead at 1-0 against Las Palmas, only finally being beaten when his team gifted possession in their own half and left Willian Jose unmarked.
Before that, Navas denied the forward multiple times and saved from Nili and Momo at big moments too.
Guillermo Ochoa made his first Liga start of the season for Malaga on Friday and deserves a mention, as does Atletico Madrid's Jan Oblak.
RB: Mariano, SEV
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One of the most pertinent games of the weekend in La Liga saw Sevilla overcome Villarreal 4-2, reopening the race for fourth place and a spot in next season's Champions League.
Right-back Mariano was in impressive form for the home side with his constant raids down the channel, overlapping the midfield and providing a series of balls into the box for the likes of Kevin Gameiro to attack, while also defending solidly at the other end.
Eneko Boveda of Athletic Club Bilbao was another contender.
CB: Gerard Pique, FCB
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A big performer for some time now, Barcelona's Gerard Pique was near-perfect in the routine and flamboyant 6-0 win over Getafe.
Pique showed his pace when he needed to recover once or twice as Getafe countered reasonably well in the opening quarter of an hour, but in a one-on-one situation he handled things comfortably.
He had to be more switched on during sustained possession for the away side after the break, but it was a professional and impressive display from the Spain international.
Pique was subbed on the 70-minute mark to enjoy a rest ahead of European action this week, having claimed an assist for Arda Turan's goal.
CB: Adil Rami, SEV
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Sevilla conceded twice, but they were on top for much of the win over Villarreal and defended very well, individually and as a team.
Adil Rami was the rock at the back who continually repelled the Yellow Submarine's best efforts to force their way goalward and the two occasions Cedric Bakambu managed to score were moments he could do nothing about: a clearance Rami had made which fell to the striker's feet, and a brilliant ball lofted over the entire defence.
At 3-2 he made a tremendous block on the line to keep his side ahead and defended manfully when down to 10 men.
LB: Inigo Lekue, ATH
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Athletic's versatile defender Inigo Lekue filled in at left-back in a much-changed team against Real Betis—and he put in a tremendous shift in both halves of the pitch.
With Iker Muniain cutting infield ahead of him, Lekue surged forward constantly and was an outlet for his team, running at Betis' own reshuffled defence and looking for short-range crossing opportunities or to recycle the ball infield.
Defensively the 22-year-old barely let Joaquin get a look-in, using his pace to good effect and blocking plenty of attempted crosses.
Filipe Luis of Atletico was also a consideration for the spot.
DM: Sergi Roberto, FCB
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Barcelona rested Sergio Busquets at the weekend and left Sergi Roberto to man the holding midfield role.
As has been the case so often this season, the 24-year-old performed the task admirably, shining in his defensive duties for the opening stages of the game before realising the dearth of talent he was facing—and surging forward to great effect to showcase his attacking instincts.
Roberto was the instigator—if not the assister—of more than one Barca goal against Getafe with his passes between the lines and aggression in possession, running forward and committing defenders.
CM: Gabi, ATM
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Gabi, Saul and Koke could have made up an all-Atletico Madrid midfield this weekend, but we'll take the captain as our pick of the bunch after an excellent performance.
Right from kick-off, Gabi was aggressive and tenacious in making sure Deportivo La Coruna were pinned back in their own half, winning tackles and pouncing on loose second balls to leave the away team unable to break out of shape and leave their penalty box.
His passing was exceptional, and he claimed an assist with a great through ball for the final goal. He also put in a responsible and proactive 90 minutes.
CM: Mikel Rico, ATH
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Athletic's 3-1 win over Real Betis was extremely impressive, not just in beating an in-form side but also for their territorial dominance in the first 45 minutes. By that time they were 2-0 up and a few minutes after the break it was three.
Mikel Rico played as one of two holding midfielders, and both he and Mikel San Jose were excellent in winning back the ball and immediately putting Athletic onto the front foot, finding the pushed-up full-backs or searching out the movement of Raul Garcia and Iker Muniain.
Rico scored a wonderful left-foot volley on the run and then saw another long-range effort saved and tapped in on the rebound.
RW: Lionel Messi, FCB
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A tremendous display from Lionel Messi means that most teams have no chance of victory, but when the opposition is as weak and disorganised as Getafe were, that goes for double.
The Argentinian missed a(nother) penalty in the first half, but that only seemed to underline how good the rest of his game was. Messi found spaces, picked out diagonal passes, took on defenders and scored an outrageous strike from beyond the edge of the penalty box.
He ended the match with a hat-trick of assists, setting up Munir once and Neymar twice, and generally put in the sort of 90 minutes which makes defenders want to give up their profession for an easier life.
CF: Kevin Gameiro, SEV
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Sevilla scored four and main starting striker Kevin Gameiro netted none of them—yet his performance more than warranted his spot in our team.
The French striker was incredibly selfless and a little unlucky, those being the key reasons he didn't find the back of the net.
It's probable that he would have taken an early shot himself more often than not, but being such a key fixture against Villarreal he made sure the chance was taken by playing in Vicente Iborra for an open goal.
Gameiro terrorised Victor Ruiz and Daniele Bonera all afternoon, forcing an own goal off one and beating the other to a long pass in injury time, which ended with a save from the goalkeeper and a tap-in for Jose Reyes to wrap up the scoring.
LW: Neymar, FCB
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It needed a big performance to rob the left-sided role off Yevhen Konoplyanka this weekend—and that's what Neymar brought to take our final spot.
The Ukrainian was excellent for Sevilla, scored a blinding goal from range and was a constant threat, but he can't hold a candle to Neymar's vibrant display, two cool finishes and unstoppable movement behind the Getafe back line.
Barcelona's No. 11 was spot on with the timing of his runs, kept his composure when he needed to and was a joy to watch with his dribbling past defenders and linking with fellow attackers.
