La Liga Team of the Season 2017/18 | OneFootball

How do you pick a team of the season? Is it the best player in every position over the campaign? Is it a team that would truly compliment each other for an actual game? Do you just pick 11 Barcelona players and be done with it?

To be honest, we’re not sure – but for our La Liga Team of the Season we’ve comprised the players who’ve most impressed us this season, no matter where they’ve played or how well they’d actually play together.

GOALKEEPER – Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid)

No one in Spain has kept more clean sheets than Jan Oblak this season. The Slovenian has proved, once again, that’s he’s in the conversation when comes to ‘who’s the best goalkeeper in the world?’ No wonder a meg-money this summer looks to be on the cards.

RIGHT-BACK – Sergi Roberto (Barcelona)

Nelson Semedo was the big-money signing at right-back for Barcelona, but it was the youth team graduate who’s actually a midfielder that truly excelled for the champions. The 26-year-old has been virtually ever-present for Ernesto Valverde’s men this term and has hardly put a foot wrong.

CENTRE-BACK – Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid)

Diego Godin is like a master carpenter, doggedly fighting to keep the old techniques from dying out. Defending may be the equivalent to whittling wood in the modern game, but as long as Godin’s around, true defending will still be around. Atletico Madrid have conceded six goals at home this season. Six.

CENTRE-BACK – Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona)

It takes a specific type of defender to fit in at Barcelona. Samuel Umtiti has been like the last piece of the jigsaw. The France international can mix the brute and the brawn with positional awareness and raking passes. The fact that the club are desperately trying to up his 60m release clause having underestimated quite how good he’d become, says everything.

LEFT-BACK – Jose Gaya (Valencia)

What a turnaround that’s happened at Valencia. Los Che had become a joke of a club under a succession of terrible managers and know-it-all owners. This season however, they’ve become what they always threatened to be. A huge part of that has been Gaya at left-back. His lung-busting runs and crossing ability have been key to their run to the top four.

MIDFIELD – Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona)

Quickly, and quietly, Rakitic is becoming absolutely vital to Barcelona. Of course, no man can truly replace Xavi in that midfield, but the Croatian has come as close as any with his ball-retention and eye for an assist.

MIDFIELD – Casemiro (Real Madrid)

In what’s been a disappointing campaign for Real Madrid, Casemiro is really the sole player to come out of the domestic season with his head held high. The Brazilian is now Zinedine Zidane’s go-to man, his general on the pitch. The bemusement and general what-the-fuckery that was greeted when he was dropped for the second-leg of the Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich says it all.

MIDFIELD – Joaquin (Real Betis)

As Lesley Gore almost sang in her 1963 hit: It’s my team and I’ll pick him if I want to. There’s probably been more consistent midfielders in Spain this season. There’s probably midfielders who work harder and do more for their teams. But for my money, there’s not a player in Spain who’s more fun to watch that Joaquin. At 34, he’s been the heart of this Betis team. A team who have qualified for Europe for only the third time in 14 years and the first since 2014.

FORWARD – Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

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FORWARD – Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo)

There’s an argument to be made that Iago Aspas has been the best forward in Spain this season. Certainly outside the top two that’s the case. We all remember him for *that* corner, but the 30-year-old has scored 20 goals in a team that’s finished 12th. He’s scored 35% of all their goals in 2017/18 and he should be starting for Spain at the World Cup.

FORWARD – Cristhian Stuani (Girona)

Not all goals are born equal. The fifth in a 5-0 victory may count the same come the end of the season, but when you net the winner in the 89th minute against your bitterest rivals, that means more. Cristhian Stuani has mastered the art of scoring the important goals – the goals that mean the most. And what’s most impressive? He’s done it a lot – nine times in fact. Of his 19 goals for Girona this season, nine have been match-winners. The plucky underdogs (ignore the Manchester City links) have almost qualified for Europe, mainly down to Stuani’s goals.