It has been a slightly disjointed week or so of Spanish football with Supercopa and Copa del Rey action meaning we didn’t get anything close to a full matchday in LaLiga. We did get six games though spread over five days and there were still some significant results to reflect on. Read on for our LaLiga matchday 21 review featuring all the results, xG data, stats and team of the week.
LaLiga Matchday 21 Results & Expected Goals
Sunday 16th January 2022
Elche 1-0 Villarreal (xG: 0.2-0.76)
Tuesday 18th January 2022
Real Betis 4-0 Alaves (xG: 2.1-0.26)
Cadiz 2-2 Espanyol (xG: 0.8-1.92)
Wednesday 19th January 2022
Celta Vigo 2-0 Osasuna (xG: 1.52-0.47)
Valencia 1-1 Sevilla (xG: 0.57-1.18)
Thursday 20th January 2022
Getafe 4-2 Granada (xG: 1.18-0.86)
xG data in this post comes via Understat. Other stats are via Whoscored.
Matchday 21 – Stats & Star Performers
Team Stats
| Most Possession | SEVILLA – 68.4% |
| Highest Pass Success Rate | SEVILLA – 86% |
| Lowest Pass Success Rate | ALAVES – 63% |
| Most Shots | REAL BETIS – 18 |
| Fewest Shots | ELCHE & CELTA VIGO – 5 |
| Highest xG | REAL BETIS – 2.1 |
| Lowest xG | ELCHE – 0.2 |
| xG Over-Performer | GETAFE – 4 Goals from 1.18 xG |
| xG Under-Performer | VILLARREAL – 0 Goals from 0.76 xG |
| Highest Attendance | REAL BETIS vs ALAVES – 38,753 |
| Lowest Attendance | GETAFE vs GRANADA – 7,634 |
The Seville clubs feature heavily in this week’s team highs. With few of the other big boys in league action, Sevilla were comfortably the most assured team in possession, completing more passes and having a higher share of the possession than any other side in LaLiga in their draw at Valencia. Betis meanwhile were the team to put in the most impressive overall performance as they had the most xG and most shots on this matchday in their demolition of Alaves.
There was something of a surprise in the only game played last weekend in LaLiga. Elche defeated Villarreal despite creating just 0.2 xG, the lowest in the Spanish top flight on matchday 22 while an out of sorts Yellow Submarine were the biggest xG under-performers.
Individual Stats
| Most Shots | JUANMI (Real Betis) & GONCALO GUEDES (Valencia) – 5 |
| Most Completed Passes | KARIM REKIK (Sevilla) – 65 |
| Most Key Passes | OSCAR MELENDO (Espanyol) – 5 |
| Most Completed Dribbles | ADRIAN EMBARBA (Espanyol) – 7 |
| Most Aerials Won | MATHIAS OLIVERA (Getafe) – 11 |
| Most Successful Tackles | YUNUS MUSAH (Valencia), FRANCO CERVI (Celta Vigo) & FEDE SAN EMETERIO (Cadiz) – 4 |
| Most Interceptions | JUAN MIRANDA (Betis) – 6 |
Again, some of these highs would have been topped in a full matchday, but there were still some interesting takeaways, particularly in the game at the Nuevo Mirandilla which ended in drama with Stoppage Time goals at each end. Raul De Tomas rescued a point for Espanyol but the likes of Oscar Melendo and Adrian Embarba proved it is not all about the 11-goal striker for the Catalan club with some impressive numbers for key passes and dribbles completed respectively.
There were also notable highs from Getafe’s Mathias Olivera with the left-back seemingly targeted with a number of long balls which he dealt with well, winning 11 aerials on the night. Alaves also looked to play direct at times in their heavy defeat at the Benito Villamarin but Juan Miranda was frequently there to cut out their attacks, completing six interceptions in the game, a matchday high.
Sorare LaLiga Fantasy Team of the Week
It wasn’t a great week for defensive high scores and with only six games played some players sneaked into the team of the week who almost certainly wouldn’t have on a full matchday. Unsurprisingly four Betis players make the best XI after their 4-0 win over Alaves, including Borja Iglesias who bagged a brace and key attacking midfielders Nabil Fekir and Sergio Canales.
Edgar Badia put in the best goalkeeping display as he kept Villarreal out in Elche’s 1-0 win, further evidence that he is clear first choice at the club ahead of Kiko Casilla. There were also two players from Getafe and two from Espanyol on in the team of the week, on a matchday when Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid were all involved in cup action.
Sorare Player of the Week: Sergi Darder (89)
No player passed 90 this week but Espanyol’s Sergi Darder got very close with the midfielder the highest scoring LaLiga player assisting both of his team’s goals in a 2-2 draw at Cadiz. He was joined in the team of the week by central midfield partner Manu Morlanes.
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.
More Sorare Content: Real Madrid NFT’s
Mark Sochon is an experienced football writer and editor of LaLiga Expert. Based in Madrid, he has covered La Liga and Spanish football for many years. He also covers Spanish and European football for Goal and Betfred, while his work has previously been published by the Guardian and World Soccer.