Best players in La Liga so far according to stats

The La Liga has crossed the midway stage and it has already thrown up plenty of interesting new performers and players. As always, there are also the usual consistent performers like Luis Suarez, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi who find themselves near the top for goals scored and assists.

However, the most surprising list in this slider is the tackler’s list which does not have even a single Real Madrid and Barcelona player. Without much ado, let us take a look into the top scorers, assist leaderboard, highest pass % accuracy and the tackles leaderboard of La Liga at the end of January.

Top Scorers

The La Liga season is well underway with all the teams having played 20 games (19 in the case of Real Madrid). As always the usual suspects like Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo dominate the race for the pichichi.

However, what makes the list interesting is the fact that some unfancied players like Iago Aspas, William Jose and Gerard Moreno have also had stunning seasons and catapulted themselves near to the top.

Some big names also miss out on the top 10. Players like Neymar, Bale, Benzema and Morata who are expected to be on the list have not made it. While Bale has been injured for a large part of the campaign, Neymar, Benzema and Morata have not had their shooting boots on so far this season.

Another refreshing aspect about the list is that only 3 out of the top 10 positions are taken up by Real Madrid and Barcelona players showing that the attacking power is slightly more evenly distributed this time around.

Here are the top 10 goalscorers in La Liga:

Rank	Player	Team	Number of goals
1	Luis Suarez	Barcelona	16
2	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	15
3	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	13
4	Iago Aspas	Celta Vigo	11
5	Willian Jose	Real Sociedad	9
6	Gerard Moreno	Espanyol	8
6	Ruben Castro	Real Betis	8
6	Antoine Griezmann	Atletico Madrid	8
6	Wissam Ben Yedder	Sevilla	8
10	Aduriz	Atheltic Club	7

Assist Leaderboard

While the goalscorers always run away with all the plaudits, the ones who set up the goals also deserve a lot of credit. Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez are the only two players who feature on both the top 10s for scorers and assists.

Not surprisingly, Real Madrid’s midfield maestro Toni Kroos heads the list with 9 assists while former Valencia star and Espanyol’s main creative influence Pablo Piatti comes in at second with 7 assists.

Other well-established names on this list are Nani, and Atheltic Club’s brilliant young forward, Inaki Williams. Here are the top 10 players with most assists so far in the La Liga:

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Toni Kroos	Real Madrid	9
2	Pablo Piatti	Espanyol	7
3	Neymar	Barcelona	6
3	Dani Parejo	Valencia	6
3	Pablo Sarabia	Sevilla	6
3	Nani	Valencia	6
7	Inaki Williams	Athletic Culb	5
7	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	5
7	Luis Suarez	Barcelona	5
10	Sergi Enrich	Eibar	4

All three of Barcelona’s famed MSN – Messi, Suarez and Neymar make this list.

Highest pass accuracy %

Unsurprisingly not many of the assists leaderboard make it to this list as they would have attempted certain risky passes in order to set up their team-mates. Most of the players on this list are either defensive midfielders or centre-backs whose main job is to circulate the ball and keep possession.

This can be seen from the fact that Sevilla’s defensive midfielder Matias Kranevitter is on top of this list. The 23-year-old is on loan from Atletico Madrid and has done a tidy job whenever he has got the chance for Sevilla.

3 players from Real Madrid and 4 players from Barcelona make this list. From Real Madrid, Toni Kroos, Mateo Kovacic and Nacho make the list while from Barcelona, Samuel Umtiti, Sergio Busquets, Rafinha and Javier Mascherano feature.

Here are the top 10 players with the highest percentage of pass accuracy:

Rank	Player	Team	Pass accuracy %
1	Matias Kranevitter	Sevilla	93
1	Nacho	Real Madrid	93
3	Rafinha	Barcelona	92
3	Toni Kroos	Real Madrid	92
3	Samuel Umtiti	Barcelona	92
6	Roque Mesa	Las Palmas	91
6	Montoro	Las Palmas	91
6	Mateo Kovacic	Real Madrid	91
6	Javier Mascherano	Barcelona	91
10	Sergio Busquets	Barcelona	90

Barcelona and Real Madrid are used to dominating possession and it is no surprise to see that they dominate the top 10 of the passing accuracy list.

Top Tacklers

Tackling is one of the most important parts of the game and these players have not been afraid to put their foot in and win the ball back for their respective teams. A peculiar aspect of this list is the fact that not even a single Real Madrid and Barcelona player make it to the top 10.

Real Betis’ Petros is on top of the tackler’s list while promising Real Madrid youngster Marcos Llorente who is on loan at Deportivo Alaves is at number 4. Other famous footballers on this list are the Atletico Madrid duo of Filipe Luis and Gabi.

Here are the top 10 tacklers in La Liga so far:

Rank	Player	Team	Number of Tackles
1	Petros	Real Betis	58
2	Ignacio Camacho	Malaga	53
3	Roberto Rosales	Malaga	51
4	Marcos Llorente	Alaves	48
4	Victor Sanchez	Espanyol	48
6	Filipe Luis	Atletico Madrid	45
7	Sergio Alvarez	Sporting Gijon	44
8	Manu Trigueros	Villarreal	43
8	Oier Mate	Osasuna	43
8	Gabi	Atletico Madrid	43