It was a good weekend for Real Madrid and Barcelona, the only victors in the top five on matchday 23. Barcelona’s 4-2 victory over Atletico Madrid grabbed the headlines and puts the Catalans back in a strong position to secure a Champions League place. At the other end of the table, Getafe, Mallorca and Elche all won key games against relegation rivals. Read on for our LaLiga matchday 23 review featuring all the results, xG data, stats and team of the week.
LaLiga Matchday 23 Results & Expected Goals
Friday 4th February 2022
Getafe 3-0 Levante (xG: 1.17-0.56)
Saturday 5th February 2022
Elche 3-1 Alaves (xG: 1.77-1.12)
Mallorca 2-1 Cadiz (xG: 2.23-0.89)
Celta Vigo 2-0 Rayo Vallecano (xG: 0.65-0.68)
Osasuna 0-0 Sevilla (xG: 0.4-1.35)
Sunday 6th February 2022
Valencia 0-0 Real Sociedad (xG: 1.19-0.54)
Barcelona 4-2 Atletico Madrid (xG: 0.93-1.61)
Real Betis 0-2 Villarreal (xG: 0.74-1.34)
Real Madrid 1-0 Granada (xG: 1.47-0.4)
Monday 7th February 2022
Athletic Club 2-1 Espanyol (xG: 1.08-0.58)
xG data in this post comes via Understat. Other stats are via Whoscored.
Matchday 23 – Stats & Star Performers
Team Stats
| Most Possession | SEVILLA – 74% |
| Highest Pass Success Rate | REAL MADRID – 89% |
| Lowest Pass Success Rate | ALAVES – 62% |
| Most Shots | REAL MADRID – 24 |
| Fewest Shots | ALAVES – 6 |
| Highest xG | MALLORCA – 2.23 |
| Lowest xG | GRANADA & OSASUNA – 0.4 |
| xG Over-Performer | BARCELONA – 4 Goals from 0.93 xG |
| xG Under-Performer | SEVILLA – 0 Goals from 1.35 xG |
| Highest Attendance | BARCELONA vs ATLETICO MADRID – 74,221 |
| Lowest Attendance | GETAFE vs LEVANTE – 8,475 |
The xG stats make for very interesting reading this week, particularly from the game at Camp Nou. Barcelona’s victory over Atleti felt like a statement win and may be looked back upon as the moment when Xavi’s reign really got lift-off. However the xG paints a slightly different picture with Barcelona’s 4 goals coming from just 0.93 xG, making it one of the biggest xG over-performances we’ve seen all season in LaLiga. Jordi Alba’s stunning goal set the tone as Barcelona scored with all 4 of their shots on target in a game which saw the visitors create more xG.
Sevilla were among the sides to create more xG than Barcelona on matchday 23 but they failed to finish any of their chances in a damaging 0-0 draw at Osasuna. That was the third straight draw for Julen Lopetegui’s men who are hoping to make the most of a rare chance to challenge for a league title.
Individual Stats
| Most Shots | MARCO ASENSIO (Real Madrid) – 8 |
| Most Completed Passes | KARIM REKIK (Sevilla) – 97 |
| Most Key Passes | RODRIGO DE PAUL (Atletico Madrid), MIKEL OYARZABAL (Real Sociedad), TAKE KUBO (Mallorca), FIDEL (Elche) – 4 |
| Most Completed Dribbles | MIKEL MERINO (Real Sociedad) – 6 |
| Most Aerials Won | VEDAT MURIQI (Mallorca) – 13 |
| Most Successful Tackles | IVAN RAKITIC (Sevilla), MANU SANCHEZ (Osasuna), DENIS SUAREZ (Celta Vigo) – 6 |
| Most Interceptions | STEFAN SAVIC (Atletico Madrid), ANTONIO RAILLO (Mallorca) – 5 |
There were a few standout individual performances this weekend and not necessarily from the expected sources. Marco Asensio was a major factor throughout for Real Madrid as they sought attacking inspiration against Granada in the absence of Vini Junior and Karim Benzema. The Spanish international had 8 shots on goal, a weekend high in LaLiga, and managed to fire in the game’s only goal with one of those attempts.
In the passing stakes, Karim Rekik completed the most for possession-heavy Sevilla while it was a four-way tie for the most key passes. That included Take Kubo who also completed four dribbles in one of his best showings in an otherwise disappointing season so far.
Followers of our matchday reviews this season will be familiar with Joselu’s dominance in the air but it seems we have a new contender in town when it comes to aerials won. Mallorca new boy Vedat Muriqi won 13 headers on his league debut which also saw him score a penalty in his team’s key 2-1 win over Cadiz.
Sorare LaLiga Fantasy Team of the Week
Some surprise inclusions in this week’s best XI with two players each from Real Madrid, Celta Vigo and Getafe.
Pau Torres was the top rated defender with a solid display and a goal in Villarreal’s important 2-0 win at the Benito Villamarin. Meanwhile it was a relatively low-scoring weekend for LaLiga forwards, not helped by the absence of the likes of Karim Benzema. Not one striker reached 80 points but there were some impressive showings from attacking midfielders and wingers with the likes of Elche’s Fidel and Celta duo Denis Suarez and Brais Mendez posting big numbers.
Sorare Player of the Week: Ruben Alcaraz (90)
The Mallorca-Cadiz game really did see some new signings make their mark, no moreso than Ruben Alcaraz whose fine long-range goal helped him be the player of the week in LaLiga with a score of 90.
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.