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2021 was an eventful year for La Liga. Atletico Madrid won their first league title since 2014. While Lionel Messi left Barcelona, Real Madrid saw Sergio Ramos join the Argentine at Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer.
It was also a great year for goalscorers in La Liga. Their goals and assists gave fans something to cheer about amid the doom and gloom of COVID-19, helping them focus on the good things.
Today, we will take a look at five players who made themselves valuable with their goals and assists. Here are the five players who had the most goal contributions in La Liga this year (2021):
#5 Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo) - 22 goal contributions
Celta Vigo's Iago Aspas continues to defy biology and logic to maintain his status as the club’s most prolific goalscorer. The 34-year-old is not supposed to run as hard or play as brilliantly as he does. Yet he is still running down the pitch like there’s no tomorrow.
After a couple of unsuccessful spells at Liverpool and Sevilla, Aspas moved back to his boyhood club Celta Vigo in 2015. Since then, he has been the club's best goalscorer and creator.
In 2021, Aspas scored 13 goals and provided nine assists for Celta in La Liga, emerging as the club’s most prolific player.
In the first half of 2021, Aspas found the net on five occasions, but helped his team with seven assists. In the second half, he scored eight more goals and provided two assists.
Currently, Celta Vigo find themselves in 14th position in La Liga. However, if Aspas keeps up his form, we won’t be surprised to see the club finish in a Europa League spot.
#4 Luis Suarez (Atletico Madrid) - 23 goal contributions
In the summer of 2020, Barcelona decided to cut their wage bill in order to stay operational. Luis Suarez, who had a mediocre season by his standards, was the first to be pushed out of the door.
The club thought the player was only going to regress and will offer next to nothing in the 2020-21 season. Barca didn't even hesitate to sell the Uruguayan to one of their direct rivals, Atletico Madrid, for only €7 million.
Suarez rediscovered himself under Diego Simeone and eventually fired Atletico to the La Liga title. He scored 13 goals in the first half of 2021 to ensure the title for Los Rojiblancos.
Atletico Madrid have struggled to get going this season, but Suarez has been decent in front of goal. The former Barcelona man has scored seven La Liga goals and provided a couple of assists so far.
#3 Gerard Moreno (Villarreal) - 28 goal contributions
La Liga is filled with capable goalscorers, and Villarreal ace Gerard Moreno is certainly one of the best of the bunch. The Spain international is not only good with either foot, but he is also exceptional in the air.
He netted 21 goals and provided seven assists for Villarreal over the last 12 months.
15 of his 21 La Liga goals came in the first half of 2021. The player was forced to sit out multiple matches due to injuries in the second half, which greatly impacted his tally.
Moreno netted five La Liga goals in the final three games of 2021 and is determined to maintain his hot streak in 2022.
#2 Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) - 31 goal contributions
Thanks to Barcelona’s dire financial state, Lionel Messi was forced to leave his boyhood club in the summer of 2021. Ligue 1 giants PSG appeared out of the blue to give Messi a new home in Paris.
The Argentine struggled to find his footing in Paris at first, but has now settled in nicely. He won his seventh Ballon d’Or at PSG in November, showing once again what Barcelona were missing.
The Catalan giants, on the other hand, have not been the same without their record goalscorer. They crashed out of the UEFA Champions League and are currently toiling in seventh position in La Liga.
So dire is their state that Messi remains their leading goal contributor for the year despite leaving the club in the summer.
The Argentine, who left Barcelona in August, scored 23 goals and provided eight assists for the Blaugrana in 2021.
#1 Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) - 41 goal contributions
La Liga’s leading goalscorer Karim Benzema is sitting pretty at the top of the pile and deservedly so. The Real Madrid number 9 scored for fun in 2021, emerging as the club’s most important player up front.
Despite being on the wrong side of 30, Benzema played almost every single La Liga match for Real Madrid. He passed the ball around, combined expertly with his teammates, and scored match-winning goals.
The 34-year-old also won the Nations League with France, capping off a successful year for him.
Over the course of the year, Benzema scored 30 goals and provided 11 assists in La Liga for Real Madrid. He has registered 15 goals and eight assists since the start of the 2021-22 La Liga campaign.
