There is more than one way to survive a relegation battle. Most teams aim for a safety first approach, keeping things tight at the back and seeking to squeeze out points from draws and narrow victories. Others, though, take a bolder approach, leaning on their attacking prowess to secure the necessary points.
Going back over the previous five seasons of top flight football in the major European leagues, here are five teams whose attacking approach was key to them staying up.
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#1 Rayo Vallecano 2011-12
Rayo Vallecano finally went down last season with a spectacular last salvo at the end of five swashbuckling seasons of top-flight football. Paco Jemez’s side were relegated with the fifth best scoring record and the second worst defensive record in the division.
The Vallecas-based club were always a fun watch under Jemez, and their 2013-14 season, when they finished 12th despite conceding over two goals per match, could easily have made this list. But it is the first season of their most recent spell in the Primera Division, under previous coach Ramon Sandoval, that does.
In the 2011-12 season, Sandoval’s side scored 53 goals (1.39 per match), the joint-sixth best total in the division and between 11 and 25 more than the six teams who finished below them. That degree of prolificness was made necessary by a defence that conceded four more goals than that of any other side – 73 in total, at a rate of nearly two per match.
Michu and current Chelsea striker Diego Costa both reached double figures as Rayo finished just two points clear of the drop zone after being involved in some thrilling, high-scoring encounters, including a 4-2 win at home to Racing Santander and a 5-3 triumph away to Levante.
#2 Genoa 2011-12
Genoa went through four coaches over the course of the 2011-12 season but concluded the campaign with a fairly comfortable six-point cushion above the bottom three thanks to a potent attack that just about managed to balance out the league’s worst defence.
That season, Genoa conceded 69 goals, four more than any other team and a full 13 more than Lecce, the occupants of the final relegation place. But they scored 50 (1.32 per match), the 10th best record in the league and 10 more than any of the sides who went down.
Rodrigo Palacio earned himself a move to Inter Milan with 19 of those goals for a side who notched three 3-2 wins and one 5-3 defeat in a run of four matches through January into early February and were also on the end of a defeat to Inter in a nine-goal thriller at the start of April.
#3 Reims 2014-15
Stade de Reims were once one of the most feared sides in Europe. They won six Ligue 1 titles, two Coupes de France and twice lost out to Real Madrid in the final of the European Cup during their heydey from the late 1940s through the early 1960s.
But they reached rock bottom in the early 1990s and were forced to work their way back up through the leagues before finally returning to Ligue 1 in 2012 after a 33-year absence.
They were relegated once more at the end of last season, but they could easily have gone down a year earlier had their attack not performed so well in relation to their defence during the 2014-15 season.
Reims finished the campaign in 15th, seven points clear of the drop zone despite conceding a league-worst 66 goals. Luckily, their attack was much more efficient, with their total of 47 goals scored (1.24 per match) giving them the joint-seventh best record in the division.
Wins by a 3-2 scoreline home and away to relegated Evian were key results in the battle against the drop.
#4 Sampdoria 2015-16
Last season was a disappointing one for Sampdoria. They sat 10th when the highly rated Vincenzo Montella took over as head coach in November but finished the season in 15th, just two points clear of the relegation zone, as defensive deficiencies continually plagued them.
Sampdoria finished the campaign with the fourth worst defensive record in the division, with 61 goals conceded. There was a run in late January, early February in which they scored two goals in three consecutive matches without once emerging victorious.
Attack was rarely a problem. They finished the campaign with 48 goals (1.26 per match), 10 more than any of the teams that finished below them. Without such a solid scoring rate, relegation would have been a near certainty.
#5 Werder Bremen 2015-16
It is necessary to go back to the 2009-10 season to find the last time Werder Bremen finished in the Bundesliga top six, but if positions were granted on goals alone their record would look a lot more healthy. The club have been one of the league’s top six scorers in four of the last five seasons and rank fifth by that measure this time around.
Indeed, last season it was their prowess in front of goal that played a key role in preserving their top-flight status.
Bremen finished the season two points clear of a relegation playoff spot despite conceding 65 goals - nearly two per match and between 11 and 23 more than the six teams located three points either side of them on the table.
That they did so was thanks to the league’s sixth-best scoring record, as they banged in 50 goals in 34 matches (1.47 per match), with veteran Peruvian striker Claudio Pizarro helping himself to 14 of them. In the first half of the campaign they notched only a goal per match; in the second, they ran wild, scoring nearly two per match.
Consecutive 4-1 wins over Bayer Leverkusen and Hannover, a 3-2 triumph over Wolfsburg and a 6-2 thrashing of Stuttgart during the season’s final few months saw them overcome their defensive deficiencies to avoid relegation.
