We had an action-packed Saturday in LaLiga and a very significant one at that as Real Madrid took firm control of the title race by winning in San Sebastian while rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid both suffered home defeats. Read on for our LaLiga matchday 16 review featuring all the results, xG data, stats and team of the week.
LaLiga Matchday 16 Results & Expected Goals
Friday 3rd December 2021
Granada 2-1 Alaves (xG: 1.08-1.38)
Saturday 4th December 2021
Sevilla 1-0 Villarreal (xG: 0.47-1.91)
Barcelona 0-1 Real Betis (xG: 1.21-0.64)
Atletico Madrid 1-2 Mallorca (xG: 2.07-0.78)
Real Sociedad 0-2 Real Madrid (xG: 0.59-2.19)
Sunday 5th December 2021
Rayo Vallecano 1-0 Espanyol (xG: 0.65-0.47)
Elche 3-1 Cadiz (xG: 2.33-1.51)
Levante 0-0 Osasuna (xG: 0.51-0.25)
Celta Vigo 1-2 Valencia (xG: 0.65-1.01)
Monday 6th December 2021
Getafe 0-0 Athletic Club (xG: 1.36-0.47)
xG data in this post comes via Understat. Other stats are via Whoscored.
Matchday 16 – Stats & Star Performers
Team Stats
| Most Possession | CELTA VIGO – 66.9% |
| Highest Pass Success Rate | BARCELONA – 89% |
| Lowest Pass Success Rate | VALENCIA – 57% |
| Most Shots | GETAFE – 17 |
| Fewest Shots | RAYO VALLECANO – 7 |
| Highest xG | ELCHE – 2.33 |
| Lowest xG | OSASUNA – 0.25 |
| xG Over-Performer | MALLORCA – 2 Goals from 0.78 xG |
| xG Under-Performer | VILLARREAL – 0 Goals from 1.91 xG |
| Highest Attendance | BARCELONA vs REAL BETIS – 66,529 |
| Lowest Attendance | RAYO VALLECANO vs ESPANYOL – 8,679 |
It was another weekend with an abundance of reasons why having lots of possession doesn’t necessarily win you football matches. Celta Vigo set the highest possession figures in LaLiga on matchday 16 but lost 2-1 at home to a Valencia side that had the lowest pass completion rate of just 57%. Barcelona were the team that completed the highest percentage of their passes, but also lost at home to Real Betis.
It was also a weekend where quite a few games didn’t quite end up with scorelines that reflected the balance of play. Villarreal’s problematic campaign continued as they ended up on the wrong end of a 1-0 defeat at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan despite having the clearer openings and creating 1.91 xG against Sevilla.
Getafe had 17 shots but couldn’t find a breakthrough against Athletic, while Rayo Vallecano, who had the fewest attempts on goal in LaLiga this weekend, won 1-0 against Espanyol to continue their stunning start to the season in Vallecas.
Individual Stats
| Most Shots | VINI JUNIOR (Real Madrid) – 5 |
| Most Completed Passes | SERGIO BUSQUETS (Barcelona) – 85 |
| Most Key Passes | MAURO ARAMBARRI (Getafe) – 5 |
| Most Completed Dribbles | JORGE DE FRUTOS (Levante) & NICO WILLIAMS (Athletic Club) – 6 |
| Most Aerials Won | SANTI MINA (Celta Vigo) – 9 |
| Most Successful Tackles | ALEX MORENO (Real Betis) – 11 |
| Most Interceptions | JENS JONSSON (Cadiz) – 6 |
Some standouts from the individual stats this week include Alex Moreno who was inspired for Real Betis at Camp Nou, winning 11 tackles in the game. That’s more than the entire team totals for some sides this weekend. He wasn’t the only one to put in a big defensive display for Betis with Marc Bartra intercepting the ball on five occasions, although it was Cadiz’s Jens Jonsson who had the most interceptions in LaLiga on matchday 16 with six.
There were also some big numbers from some exciting young attackers. Jorge de Frutos and Nico Williams both completed 6 dribbles, the joint most in LaLiga this weekend while Vini Junior had the most attempts on goal, with one finding the net in Real Madrid’s deserved 2-0 win at the Reale Arena.
Sorare LaLiga Fantasy Team of the Week
It was a really assured and impressive performance from leaders Real Madrid in a really difficult fixture this weekend and it’s not a big surprise to see five of their players feature in the team of the week.
It wasn’t a particularly high-scoring weekend overall with few teams dominant and lots of relatively even matches. Aside from Los Blancos, only two players managed to reach 80 with Alex Moreno rewarded for his 11 successful tackles while Sergio Busquets also features thanks to his impressive passing stats in the same game.
Sorare Player of the Week: Luka Jovic (86)
It was a tight call for player of the week. Eder Militao was outstanding in the heart of the Real Madrid defence but was just pipped by teammate Luka Jovic. The Serbian came on for the injured Karim Benzema early in the 1st Half and chipped in with an excellent assist and instinctive goal in Real Madrid’s 2-0 win.
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.
Read More: What could stop Real Madrid from winning the title?
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