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#3 Pedri | Barcelona
It may be a surprise to see Pedri rank so high on the list of the best players in La Liga at the moment. But the Barcelona teenager has produced performances that belie his tender years.
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Yet to turn 19, Pedri missed only one game in Barcelona's 2020-21 La Liga campaign, scoring thrice and assisting as many times. The youngster's brilliance helped the Blaugrana recover from a tumultuous start to finish third.
Pedri then dazzled for Spain at Euro 2020. He became the youngest player to debut in the competition's knockout stage, playing in all six games. Pedri also sizzled against eventual champions Italy before proceeding to the 2020 Olympics, where he won the silver medal.
Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman said this about Pedri earlier this year:
“At 18 and knowing the season he had with us, he played almost all the games completely and his maturity is impressive. His football keeps improving and he’s a very good and calm boy. He’s a phenomenal lad. He lives for football."
#2 Jan Oblak | Atletico Madrid
Jan Oblak is arguably one of the best goalkeepers in the game at the moment. The 28-year-old Atletico Madrid custodian has kept an impressive tally of 124 shutouts in 231 La Liga games.
Oblak registered a staggering 24 clean sheets in the 2015-16 La Liga campaign, but Atletico finished a distant third, 16 points behind champions Barcelona. However, the Slovenian won his first La Liga title last season despite keeping six fewer clean sheets than he did six years ago.
One of the youngest goalkeepers to register 100 clean sheets in the competition, Oblak is one of the first names in Atletico Madrid's XI.
The 28-year-old has also sizzled in international football, keeping 19 clean sheets in 37 games for Slovenia.
#1 Karim Benzema | Real Madrid
Karim Benzema is arguably the best player in the La Liga following the departure of Lionel Messi for PSG after 17 seasons in the competition.
The 34-year-old Frenchman joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2009. Benzema has often lived under the shadow of his illustrious teammate Cristiano Ronaldo for close to a decade. Despite that, he has still managed 281 strikes in all competitions for Los Blancos, with 194 of them coming in La Liga.
Benzema has been a steady, if not spectacular, performer in La Liga over the years. The three-time La Liga winner has also taken up Madrid's scoring burden impressively since Ronaldo's departure in the summer of 2018.
Benzema has netted at least 20 times in each of his last three La Liga campaigns. The Frenchman has already scored twice in 2021-22 as well, as Real Madrid attempt to win the competition for a record-extending 35th time.
