2017–18 La Liga


The 2017–18 La Liga season, also known as La Liga Santander for sponsorship reasons, was the 87th since its establishment. The season began on 18 August 2017 and concluded on 20 May 2018. The fixtures were released on 21 July 2017.
Real Madrid were the defending champions. Barcelona, under new manager Ernesto Valverde, won the league title on 29 April 2018 with four matches to spare. It was the second part of a double-winning season for Barcelona, who also won the 2018 Copa del Rey Final.
Levante, Girona and Getafe were the newly promoted clubs competing in the season, with Girona entering La Liga for the first time in its history. At the end of the season, Málaga, Las Palmas and Deportivo were all relegated to Segunda División.

Summary

Prior to the season, several teams hired new managers, among them the previous season's runners-up Barcelona, who enlisted the services of Ernesto Valverde from Athletic Bilbao after the exit of Luis Enrique. Meanwhile, Valencia, who had struggled in the previous campaign hired Marcelino.
In the transfer window, Barcelona were involved in the new world record transfer, selling Brazilian forward Neymar to French club Paris Saint-Germain for €222 million. They replaced him with young Frenchman Ousmane Dembélé, who signed for an initial €105 million fee that could rise to €150 million. Defending champions Real Madrid sold striker Álvaro Morata to Chelsea for €80 million and lost veteran defender Pepe to Turkey's Beşiktaş on a free transfer, while its largest fee paid during the window was €24 million for young defender Theo Hernandez from city rivals Atlético Madrid.
Barcelona first topped the table on 16 September after winning 5–0 in its third match of the season against neighbours Espanyol, eventually making a run of seven wins from the start of the season that ended with a 1–1 draw at Atlético Madrid. Valencia improved on its previous campaign and began its new season well, with Marcelino getting the best out of players such as Italian striker Simone Zaza and on-loan Portuguese winger Gonçalo Guedes. Real Madrid struggled in the first half of the season, with problems including a smaller squad, injuries and the comparatively poorer goalscoring form of Cristiano Ronaldo relative to recent seasons.
In January 2018, Barcelona added to its attack by spending €160 million on Brazilian Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool, while the end of a transfer ban allowed Atlético to register Diego Costa and Vitolo for action. Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane made no signings. Málaga were the first team to be relegated, ending its ten-season stay in La Liga with its descent confirmed after a 0–1 loss against Levante on 19 April. Three days later, Las Palmas' relegation was also confirmed after the Canarian team lost 0–4 at home to Alavés to end its three-year top flight status.
On 29 April, Barcelona sealed its 25th league title with a 4–2 win at Deportivo de La Coruña, with Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick. Barcelona still had four matches to play, and it was the second part of its double, having earlier won the 2018 Copa del Rey Final. The result also made Deportivo the final of the three relegated teams, sending them back to Segunda División for the first time in four years.
A day later, Real Betis, under new manager Quique Setién, booked its entry to the UEFA Europa League following a 2–1 win over Málaga. Betis had a chance of occupying Spain's fourth UEFA Champions League spot after Barcelona, Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid, but that was soon taken by Valencia, which returned to the competition for the first time in three years. In its second-last match of the season, Sevilla drew 2–2 with city rivals Betis to confirm seventh place and qualification for the UEFA Europa League at the expense of Getafe. Barcelona were on track to complete the first unbeaten La Liga season since the Spanish Civil War, but surprisingly lost its 37th match 4–5 at Levante, having only conceded 24 goals all season to that point.

Teams

Promotion and relegation (pre-season)

A total of 20 teams competed in the league: the 17 sides from the 2016–17 season and the three promoted from the 2016–17 Segunda División. This latter three included the two top teams from the Segunda División and the winners of the play-offs.
Levante was the first team from Segunda División to achieve promotion, after a one-year absence from La Liga, on 29 April 2017 after winning 1–0 against Oviedo. Girona were promoted as the runners-up after drawing 0–0 against Zaragoza on 4 June 2017, this was its first promotion to the top division. It became the 62nd team to participate in the Spanish top level league. Getafe was the last to be promoted after defeating Huesca and Tenerife in the play-offs, one year after its relegation.
The three promoted clubs replaced Sporting Gijón, Osasuna and Granada, which were relegated at the end of the previous season.

Stadia and locations

played for the first season at their new stadium, Wanda Metropolitano, replacing the Vicente Calderón Stadium, where they played since its opening in 1966.
Deportivo La Coruña signed a sponsorship contract with Abanca for renaming their stadium as Abanca-Riazor.
Real Betis completed their stadium renovation and it was grown to 60,720 seats, becoming the fourth biggest stadium in Spain. Meanwhile, after their first promotion ever to La Liga, Girona expanded Estadi Montilivi temporarily for hosting 13,450 spectators.
TeamLocationStadiumCapacity
AlavésVitoria-GasteizMendizorrotza
Athletic BilbaoBilbaoSan Mamés
Atlético MadridMadridWanda Metropolitano
BarcelonaBarcelonaCamp Nou
Celta VigoVigoBalaídos
Deportivo La CoruñaA CoruñaAbanca-Riazor
EibarEibarIpurua
EspanyolCornellà de LlobregatRCDE Stadium
GetafeGetafeColiseum Alfonso Pérez
GironaGironaMontilivi
Las PalmasLas PalmasGran Canaria
LeganésLeganésButarque
LevanteValenciaCiutat de València
MálagaMálagaLa Rosaleda
Real BetisSevilleBenito Villamarín
Real MadridMadridSantiago Bernabéu
Real SociedadSan SebastiánAnoeta
SevillaSevilleRamón Sánchez Pizjuán
ValenciaValenciaMestalla
VillarrealVillarrealEstadio de la Cerámica

Personnel and sponsorship

Managerial changes

League table

Standings

Positions by round

The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological evolvements, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled, but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.
Team \ Round1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738
Team \ Round
Barcelona22111111111111111111111111111111111111
Atlético Madrid84653244444433322222222222222222222222
Real Madrid15748653333344444444444333333343333333
Valencia78994432222222233333333444444434444444
Villarreal181913791498665666666655555656665566666655
Real Betis191215127569788981112814107111310810791088655555566
Sevilla119322325856555555566666565556777778777
Getafe13141014141012141411121012871081199911119111011119111110997888
Eibar411161313161816171717171513139778887779789111010121212121099
Girona96111515171617151310111012971013101010910810877788888991110
Espanyol1013181616121413131013141315161615151414141515161513151314131516161615151411
Real Sociedad3123688799777910119121515151414121415121415151311111110111012
Celta Vigo141612171713111010141113910111311141177891181191010999101011121313
Alavés1518202019201919192018192019181817181716171616151614161616161615151313131214
Levante6788591012121214121414151516161617161717171717171717171717171717161515
Athletic Bilbao1210461011131111151515161614141281212121313141212141213121213131414141616
Leganés535101177657981178121391313111212131316131512141414141516171717
Deportivo La Coruña2015171818181515161616161717171718171818181819191919191919191818181818181818
Las Palmas1620141112151718181819201918202020202019191918181818181818181919191919191919
Málaga1717191920192020201920181820191919191920202020202020202020202020202020202020

Source:

Leader and 2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage
2018–19 UEFA Champions League group stage
2018–19 UEFA Europa League group stage
2018–19 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round
Relegation to 2018–19 Segunda División

Results

Season statistics

Scoring

Gabriel for Leganés against Alavés
Philippe Coutinho for Barcelona against Real Sociedad

Top goalscorers

RankPlayerClubGoals
1 Lionel MessiBarcelona34
2 Cristiano RonaldoReal Madrid26
3 Luis SuárezBarcelona25
4 Iago AspasCelta Vigo22
5 Cristhian StuaniGirona21
6 Antoine GriezmannAtlético Madrid19
7 Maxi GómezCelta Vigo17
8 Gareth BaleReal Madrid16
8 GerardEspanyol16
8 RodrigoValencia16

Top assists

RankPlayerClubAssists
1 Lionel MessiBarcelona12
1 Pablo FornalsVillarreal12
1 Luis SuárezBarcelona12
4 Karim BenzemaReal Madrid10
5 Antoine GriezmannAtlético Madrid9
5 Gonçalo GuedesValencia9
5 Pione SistoCelta Vigo9
5 Daniel WassCelta Vigo9
9 Jordi AlbaBarcelona8
9 José ÁngelEibar8
9 Andrés GuardadoReal Betis8
9 José Luis MoralesLevante8

Zamora Trophy

The Zamora Trophy is awarded by newspaper Marca to the goalkeeper with the lowest goals-to-games ratio. A goalkeeper has to have played at least 28 games of 60 or more minutes to be eligible for the trophy.
RankNameClubGoals
against		MatchesAverage
1 Jan OblakAtlético Madrid22370.59
2 Marc-André ter StegenBarcelona28370.76
3 Vicente GuaitaGetafe26330.79
4 NetoValencia33331.00
5 Pau LópezEspanyol31281.11

Hat-tricks

PlayerForAgainstResultDateRound
Lionel MessiBarcelonaEspanyol9 September 20173
Simone ZazaValenciaMálaga19 September 20175
Lionel Messi4BarcelonaEibar19 September 20175
Cédric BakambuVillarrealEibar1 October 20177
Iago AspasCelta VigoLas Palmas16 October 20178
Ibai GómezAlavésGirona4 December 201714
Michael OlungaGironaLas Palmas13 January 201819
Cristiano RonaldoReal MadridReal Sociedad10 February 201823
Luis SuárezBarcelonaGirona24 February 201825
Antoine GriezmannAtlético MadridSevilla25 February 201825
Antoine Griezmann4Atlético MadridLeganés28 February 201826
Cristiano Ronaldo4Real MadridGirona18 March 201829
Iago AspasCelta VigoSevilla7 April 201831
Lionel MessiBarcelonaLeganés7 April 201831
Carlos BaccaVillarrealCelta Vigo28 April 201835
Lionel MessiBarcelonaDeportivo La Coruña29 April 201835
Emmanuel BoatengLevanteBarcelona13 May 201837
Philippe CoutinhoBarcelonaLevante13 May 201837

;Note
4 Player scored 4 goals; – Home ; – Away

Discipline

A match played behind closed doors is not included.

LFP Awards

Monthly

Number of teams by autonomous community

Source:
Autonomous CommunityNumber of teamsTeams
1Basque Country4Alavés, Athletic Bilbao, Eibar and Real Sociedad
14Atlético Madrid, Getafe, Leganés and Real Madrid
3Catalonia3Barcelona, Espanyol and Girona
3Andalusia3Málaga, Real Betis and Sevilla
3Valencian Community3Levante, Valencia and Villarreal
6Galicia2Celta Vigo and Deportivo La Coruña
7Canary Islands1Las Palmas