We are now seven games into the new season in Spain and matchday 7 was one of the most eventful yet. It produced a first defeat for the champions and the first points for Alavés but still nothing for Getafe. There was better from Barça as Ansu Fati returned from injury with a goal while there was yet another win for Rayo and another goal for Falcao. Read on for our LaLiga matchday 7 review featuring all the results, xG data, stats and team of the week.
LaLiga Matchday 7 Results & Expected Goals
Saturday 25th September 2021
Alaves 1-0 Atletico Madrid (xG 1.20-0.56)
Valencia 1-1 Athletic Club (xG: 1.09-0.83)
Sevilla 2-0 Espanyol (xG: 1.58-0.48)
Real Madrid 0-0 Villarreal (xG: 1.54-0.67)
Sunday 26th September 2021
Mallorca 2-3 Osasuna (xG: 2.74-1.64)
Barcelona 3-0 Levante (xG: 3.11-0.71)
Rayo Vallecano 3-1 Cadiz (xG: 1.89-1.10)
Real Sociedad 1-0 Elche (xG: 2.12-0.57)
Real Betis 2-0 Getafe (xG: 2.46-0.59)
Monday 27th September 2021
Celta Vigo 1-0 Granada (xG: 1.27-0.54)
xG data in this post comes via Understat. Other stats are via Whoscored.
Matchday 7 – Stats & Star Performers
Team Stats
| Most Possession | CELTA VIGO – 73.2% |
| Highest Pass Success Rate | BARCELONA – 91% |
| Lowest Pass Success Rate | GRANADA – 54% |
| Most Shots | BARCELONA & REAL BETIS – 20 |
| Fewest Shots | ELCHE – 5 |
| Worst Discipline | GRANADA – 7 Yellows |
| Highest xG | BARCELONA – 3.11 |
| Lowest xG | ESPANYOL – 0.48 |
| xG Over-Performer | OSASUNA – 3 Goals from 1.64 xG |
| xG Under-Performer | REAL MADRID – 0 Goals from 1.54 xG |
| Highest Attendance | BARCELONA vs LEVANTE – 35,334 |
| Lowest Attendance | RAYO VALLECANO vs CADIZ – 5,903 |
A much improved display from Barcelona was one of the main takeaways from the weekend. They had the highest passing accuracy rate, the joint most shots and created the most xG of any team in LaLiga on matchday 7 in their dominant 3-0 win over Levante.
Celta Vigo against Granada was another game where one team dominated in terms of ball retention but Celta had to wait until late in Stoppage Time to find a breakthrough as Denis Suarez’s strike piled the pressure on Robert Moreno and winless Granada. At least the former Spain boss has picked up a few points. That’s more than can be said for Michel’s Getafe who were largely outplayed by an impressive Real Betis side and now have a record of played 7, lost 7.
We also had something of a surprise goal-fest in Palma as Osasuna recorded a 3-2 victory over Mallorca although they were perhaps fortunate to come away with all the points in a game which saw the hosts create over one more xG than their opponents, yet it was the Pamplona side who picked up the win.
Individual Stats
| Most Shots | MEMPHIS DEPAY (Barcelona) – 6 |
| Most Completed Passes | SERGIO BUSQUETS (Barcelona) – 82 |
| Most Key Passes | MAXI GOMEZ (Valencia) – 6 |
| Most Completed Dribbles | MEMPHIS DEPAY (Barcelona) – 6 |
| Most Aerials Won | MAXI GOMEZ (Valencia) – 9 |
| Most Successful Tackles | WILLIAM CARVALHO (Real Betis) – 10 |
| Most Interceptions | CARLOS NEVA (Granada), CARLOS AKAPO (Cadiz) & IDDRISU BABA (Mallorca) – 5 |
| Most Fouls | VARAZDAT HAROYAN (Cadiz) & DANI GARCIA (Athletic Club) – 5 |
Memphis Depay’s status as one of the new stars of LaLiga was underlined by another big performance this weekend. As well as getting on the scoresheet, he had more attempts on goal and completed more dribbles than any other player in LaLiga while teammate Sergio Busquets completed the most passes, as was the case on matchday 6.
Valencia’s Maxi Gomez also posted some big numbers with the most key passes and more aerial challenges won than any other player this weekend. The latter isn’t a great surprise given Valencia are more inclined to play direct to him this season but his ability to open up the game with his passing ability is certainly unexpected, although he didn’t have the best day in front of goal.
There was a real midfield duel in the Betis-Getafe game with William Carvalho and Florentino the two players who won the most tackles this weekend in LaLiga with the Betis man reaching double figures in the 2-0 win.
Sorare LaLiga Fantasy Team of the Week
It was a weekend for the defenders with two perfect 100 scores and a number of key contributions from defensive players. There wasn’t much quality from LaLiga’s more creative midfielders but holding men William Carvalho and Florentino Luis both make it into the team of the week, helped by both recording high numbers of tackles in their game.
Up front Memphis Depay was the star turn for Barcelona but there was also a strong display from Willian Jose who is settling in nicely at Betis. The Brazilian scored both goals in his team’s 2-0 win and looks set to challenge Borja Iglesias for the starting role in attack for the Sevilla club.
Sorare Player of the Week: Sergiño Dest (100)
Sergiño Dest pipped Nacho to the player of the week with a slightly higher All Round Score. The US international won most of his duels and was a threat going forward throughout with an assist helping him to a perfect 100 score this week.
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.
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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.