We had the first midweek fixture list in LaLiga this week and it produced a lot of goals and plenty of talking points. Real Madrid hit six against Mallorca, Luis Suarez rescued Atleti (again) while Falcao’s dream start at Rayo Vallecano continued with a late winner at San Mames. Read on for our LaLiga matchday 6 review featuring all the results, xG data, stats and team of the week.
LaLiga Matchday 6 Results & Expected Goals
Tuesday 21st September 2021
Getafe 1-2 Atletico Madrid (xG: 0.33-1.48)
Athletic Club 1-2 Rayo Vallecano (xG: 0.96-1.04)
Levante 0-2 Celta Vigo (xG: 1.41-0.74)
Wednesday 22nd September 2021
Espanyol 1-0 Alaves (xG: 1.62-0.42)
Sevilla 3-1 Valencia (xG: 1.21-0.44)
Villarreal 4-1 Elche (xG: 2.78-1.10)
Real Madrid 6-1 Mallorca (xG: 2.37-1.19)
Thursday 23rd September 2021
Granada 2-3 Real Sociedad (xG: 1.25-1.58)
Osasuna 1-3 Real Betis (xG: 0.82-2.20)
Cadiz 0-0 Barcelona (xG: 1.40-0.36)
xG data in this post comes via Understat. Other stats are via Whoscored.
Matchday 6 – Stats & Star Performers
Team Stats
| Most Possession | ATLETICO MADRID – 68.6% |
| Highest Pass Success Rate | REAL MADRID – 89% |
| Lowest Pass Success Rate | GETAFE – 62% |
| Most Shots | REAL SOCIEDAD – 20 |
| Fewest Shots | CELTA VIGO – 4 |
| Worst Discipline | GETAFE – 4 Yellows & 1 Red |
| Highest xG | VILLARREAL – 2.78 |
| Lowest xG | GETAFE – 0.33 |
| xG Over-Performer | REAL MADRID – 6 Goals from 2.37 xG |
| xG Under-Performer | LEVANTE – 0 Goals from 1.41 xG |
| Highest Attendance | SEVILLA vs VALENCIA – 23,654 |
| Lowest Attendance | VILLARREAL vs ELCHE – 8,234 |
We expected to see startling possession and passing numbers in the Cadiz-Barcelona game with the former consistently posting the lowest stats in both categories this season. However Frenkie de Jong’s 2nd Half red card changed the game to some extent and Cadiz actually ended up with a 72% pass completion rate, a huge increase on their 45% from matchday 5. The most startling thing from that game in the end was Barcelona’s xG return which was the second lowest in LaLiga this week.
Only Getafe created fewer xG as they suffered a sixth straight loss to start the season with Luis Suarez netting twice in the final twelve minutes to turn that game around. It was more of a Bordalas-style performance from Getafe who were more direct and at times resorted to the dark arts of timewasting as they attempted to defend their lead having finally ended a 20-game goal drought against Atleti to take the lead in that match.
Elsewhere we saw Celta Vigo win 2-0 at Levante despite only having 4 shots and considerably less xG than their opponents. There were also impressive attacking displays from the likes of Villarreal, Real Madrid and Real Betis with all three creating plenty of chances in their games, scoring 13 times between them.
Individual Stats
| Most Shots | MIKEL MERINO (Real Sociedad) – 6 |
| Most Completed Passes | SERGIO BUSQUETS (Barcelona) – 75 |
| Most Key Passes | KARIM BENZEMA (Real Madrid) & KANG-IN LEE (Mallorca) – 5 |
| Most Completed Dribbles | ISCO (Real Madrid) & NABIL FEKIR (Real Betis) – 5 |
| Most Aerials Won | SANTI MINA (Celta Vigo) – 8 |
| Most Successful Tackles | ERIK LAMELA (Sevilla) & JOSE LUIS MORALES (Levante) – 6 |
| Most Interceptions | TOMAS ALARCON (Cadiz), ETIENNE CAPOUE (Villarreal), DIEGO GONZALEZ (Elche), RUBEN DUARTE (Alaves), SHKODRAN MUSTAFI (Levante), PEPELU (Levante), JOSE GIMENEZ (Atletico Madrid), MARCOS LLORENTE (Atletico Madrid), DJENE (Getafe) & NEMANJA MAKSIMOVIC (Getafe) – 4 |
| Most Fouls | AIHEN MUNOZ (Real Sociedad), ETIENNE CAPOUE (Villarreal) & JOAN JORDAN (Sevilla) – 5 |
Karim Benzema put in another standout display this week with two goals and two assists as Real Madrid demolished Mallorca 6-1. However despite the scoreline, it wasn’t all one way traffic at the Santiago Bernabeu. Kang-in Lee really shone for Mallorca with a fine goal and a joint matchday high of five key passes on his first start for the club.
Isco also somehow managed to complete a joint matchday high of five dribbles despite only being on the pitch for 18 minutes after replacing hat-trick hero Marcos Asensio. There were also some surprising stats this week with Celta Vigo’s Santi Mina, hardly known for his heading prowess, winning the most aerial challenges while Erik Lamela and Jose Luis Morales were the players with the most successful tackles.
Sorare LaLiga Fantasy Team of the Week
For the fourth time already this season, both Karim Benzema and Vini Junior made the fantasy team of the week. They were joined in attack this time by Sevilla’s Erik Lamela who continued his strong start in Spain with another good performance for Sevilla.
Marcos Asensio also narrowly missed out on the perfect 100 as he thrived in a deeper midfield role than we are used to seeing him in. Aritz Elustondo was also a surprise scorer of two goals from centre-back for Real Sociedad – as many as he had scored in the previous three LaLiga seasons combined. Teammate Mikel Merino joined him in the team while there was room for three Celta players in the XI.
Sorare Player of the Week: Karim Benzema
What to say about Karim Benzema at this stage. We thought the departure of Leo Messi would finally open up a debate as to the best player in LaLiga but right now there is no debate. He has 15 goal involvements already this season. Only one other player in Europe’s big five leagues has more than seven.
Sorare is a Fantasy Football platform with one of the most advanced scoring matrices. All players are scored from 0-100 based on performance. You can read our latest Sorare content here to find out more about it.
Be the first to comment