Competition: | La Liga |
Season: | 2021–22 |
Winners: | Real Madrid 35th title |
Relegated: | Granada Levante Alavés |
Continentalcup1: | Champions League |
Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Real Madrid Barcelona Atlético Madrid Sevilla |
Continentalcup2: | Europa League |
Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Real Betis Real Sociedad |
Continentalcup3: | Europa Conference League |
Continentalcup3 Qualifiers: | Villarreal |
Matches: | 380 |
Total Goals: | 951 |
Best Player: | Karim Benzema |
League Topscorer: | Karim Benzema (27 goals) |
League Topscorer Section: | Top goalscorers |
Best Goalkeeper: | Yassine Bounou (0.77 goals/match) |
Biggest Home Win: | (12 May 2022) |
Biggest Away Win: | Mallorca 2–6 Granada (7 May 2022) Rayo Vallecano 1–5 Villarreal (12 May 2022) |
Highest Scoring: | (24 October 2021) Mallorca 2–6 Granada (7 May 2022) |
Longest Wins: | Barcelona Real Madrid (7 matches) |
Longest Unbeaten: | Barcelona Sevilla (15 matches) |
Longest Winless: | Levante (19 matches) |
Longest Losses: | Getafe Mallorca (7 matches) |
Highest Attendance: | 86,422 (24 October 2021) |
Lowest Attendance: | 583 (29 August 2021) |
Attendance: | 8,675,104 |
Average Attendance: | 22,829 |
Prevseason: | 2020–21 |
Nextseason: | 2022–23 |
The 2021–22 La Liga, also known as La Liga Santander due to sponsorship reasons, was the 91st season of La Liga, Spain's premier football competition. It began on 13 August 2021 and concluded on 22 May 2022.[1] The fixtures were announced on 30 June 2021.[2]
On 24 June 2021, the Spanish Council of Ministers resolved that spectators could return to stadiums at full capacity by means of a modification of the royal decree regulating the 'new normality', in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]
Atlético Madrid were the defending champions, having won their eleventh title the previous season. Espanyol, Mallorca and Rayo Vallecano joined as the promoted clubs from the 2020–21 Segunda División. They replaced Huesca, Valladolid and Eibar, which were relegated to Segunda the previous season.
Real Madrid secured a record-extending 35th title with four matches to spare on 30 April, following a 4–0 victory over Espanyol.[4]
This was the first La Liga season since 2003–04 that did not feature the league's all-time top goal scorer Lionel Messi and long time Real Madrid player and captain Sergio Ramos, who both departed for Paris Saint-Germain in the summer.
A total of twenty teams contested the league, including seventeen sides from the 2020–21 season and three promoted from the 2020–21 Segunda División. This included the two top teams from the Segunda División, and the winners of the promotion play-offs.
The first team to be relegated from La Liga were Eibar, after a 1–4 loss to Valencia on 16 May 2021, ending their seven-year stay in the top tier.[5] The second team to be relegated were Valladolid, following a 1–2 home defeat against Atlético Madrid on 22 May 2021, in their final game of the season, ending their three-year stay in the top tier. The third and final team to be relegated were Huesca, after drawing 0–0 against Valencia on 22 May 2021 in their final game of the season, suffering an immediate return to the second division.
On 8 May 2021, Espanyol became the first side to mathematically be promoted, assured of a return to the top flight following a 0–0 draw against Zaragoza.[6] [7] The second team to earn promotion was Mallorca, following Almería's 2–3 loss to Cartagena on 18 May 2021. Both teams made an immediate return to the first division after a season away.[8] [9] [10] The third and final team to be promoted were Rayo Vallecano, after winning the play-off final 3–2 against Girona on 20 June 2021, returning after a two-year absence.
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1. On the back of shirt.
2. On the sleeves.
3. On the shorts.
Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Valencia | Voro[31] | End of interim spell | 22 May 2021 | Pre-season | José Bordalás[32] | 27 May 2021 | |
Getafe | José Bordalás[33] | Mutual consent | 26 May 2021 | Míchel[34] | |||
Real Madrid | Zinedine Zidane[35] | Resigned | 27 May 2021 | [36] | 1 June 2021 | ||
Granada | Diego Martínez[37] | 27 May 2021 | Robert Moreno[38] | 18 June 2021 | |||
Levante | Paco López[39] | Sacked | 3 October 2021 | 18th | Javier Pereira[40] | 7 October 2021 | |
Getafe | Míchel[41] | 4 October 2021 | 20th | Quique Sánchez Flores[42] | 6 October 2021 | ||
Barcelona | Ronald Koeman[43] | 27 October 2021 | 9th | Xavi[44] | 5 November 2021 | ||
Elche | Fran Escribá[45] | 21 November 2021 | 18th | Francisco[46] | 28 November 2021 | ||
Levante | Javier Pereira[47] | 29 November 2021 | 20th | Alessio Lisci[48] | 7 December 2021 | ||
Alavés | Javier Calleja[49] | 28 December 2021 | 18th | José Luis Mendilibar[50] | 28 December 2021 | ||
Cádiz | Álvaro Cervera[51] | 11 January 2022 | 19th | Sergio[52] | 11 January 2022 | ||
Granada | Robert Moreno[53] | 6 March 2022 | 17th | Rubén Torrecilla (caretaker)[54] | 6 March 2022 | ||
Mallorca | Luis García[55] | 22 March 2022 | 18th | 24 March 2022 | |||
Alavés | José Luis Mendilibar[56] | 3 April 2022 | 20th | Julio Velázquez[57] | 5 April 2022 | ||
Granada | Rubén Torrecilla | End of caretaker spell | 18 April 2022 | 18th | Aitor Karanka[58] | 18 April 2022 | |
Espanyol | Vicente Moreno | Sacked | 13 May 2022 | 13th | Luis Blanco (caretaker) | 13 May 2022 |
Rank | Player | Club | Goals[61] |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | 27 |
2 | Iago Aspas | Celta Vigo | 18 |
3 | Raúl de Tomás | Espanyol | 17 |
Vinícius Júnior | Real Madrid | ||
5 | Juanmi | Real Betis | 16 |
Enes Ünal | Getafe | ||
7 | Joselu | Alavés | 14 |
8 | José Luis Morales | Levante | 13 |
9 | Ángel Correa | Atlético Madrid | 12 |
Memphis Depay | Barcelona |
Rank | Player | Club | Assists[62] |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Ousmane Dembélé | Barcelona | 13 |
2 | Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | 12 |
3 | Jordi Alba | Barcelona | 10 |
Iker Muniain | Athletic Bilbao | ||
Dani Parejo | Villarreal | ||
Vinícius Júnior | Real Madrid | ||
7 | Sergi Darder | Espanyol | 9 |
Óscar Trejo | Rayo Vallecano | ||
9 | Nabil Fekir | Real Betis | 8 |
Luka Modrić | Real Madrid |
The Zamora Trophy was awarded by newspaper Marca to the goalkeeper with the lowest goals-to-games ratio. A goalkeeper had to have played at least 28 games of 60 or more minutes to be eligible for the trophy.[63]
Rank | Player | Club | Goals against | Matches | Average |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Yassine Bounou | Sevilla | 24 | 31 | 0.77 |
2 | Thibaut Courtois | Real Madrid | 29 | 36 | 0.81 |
3 | Gerónimo Rulli | Villarreal | 28 | 32 | 0.88 |
4 | Álex Remiro | Real Sociedad | 32 | 35 | 0.91 |
Unai Simón | Athletic Bilbao | 31 | 34 |
See main article: List of La Liga hat-tricks.
Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Round | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | Celta Vigo | 5–2 (H) | 12 September 2021 | 4 | |
Marco Asensio | Real Madrid | Mallorca | 6–1 (H) | 22 September 2021 | 6 | |
Anthony Lozano | Cádiz | Villarreal | 3–3 (A) | 26 October 2021 | 11 | |
Juanmi | Real Betis | Levante | 3–1 (H) | 28 November 2021 | 15 | |
Jorge Molina | Granada | Mallorca | 4–1 (H) | 19 December 2021 | 18 | |
Oihan Sancet | Athletic Bilbao | Osasuna | 3–1 (A) | 3 January 2022 | 19 | |
Arnaut Danjuma | Villarreal | Granada | 4–1 (A) | 19 February 2022 | 25 | |
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang | Barcelona | Valencia | 4–1 (A) | 20 February 2022 | 25 | |
Yeremy Pino4 | Villarreal | Espanyol | 5–1 (H) | 27 February 2022 | 26 | |
Vinícius Júnior | Real Madrid | Levante | 6–0 (H) | 12 May 2022 | 36 |
4 – Player scored four goals.
Month | Player of the Month | Reference | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Club | |||
September | Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | [64] | |
October | Robin Le Normand | Real Sociedad | [65] | |
November | Vinícius Júnior | Real Madrid | [66] | |
December | Juanmi | Real Betis | [67] | |
January | Ángel Correa | Atlético Madrid | [68] | |
February | Thibaut Courtois | Real Madrid | [69] | |
March | João Félix | Atlético Madrid | [70] | |
April | Karim Benzema | Real Madrid | [71] | |
May | Vedat Muriqi | Mallorca | [72] |
Team of the Season[73] | |||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Goalkeeper | Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Defenders | Marcos Acuña (Sevilla) | David Alaba (Real Madrid) | Jules Koundé (Sevilla) | Éder Militão (Real Madrid) | Ronald Araújo (Barcelona) | ||||||||||||||||
Midfielders | Sergio Canales (Real Betis) | Nabil Fekir (Real Betis) | Luka Modrić (Real Madrid) | Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao) | Pedri (Barcelona) | ||||||||||||||||
Forwards | Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) | Raúl de Tomás (Espanyol) | João Félix (Atlético Madrid) | Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid) | |||||||||||||||||
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, clubs were not allowed to use the total capacity of their stadiums. According to the progress of the pandemic, the capacity allowed each month was decided by the Government of Spain, in agreement with the Autonomous Communities.
La Liga 2021-22 Schedule, Squad