1997–98 La Liga

The 1997–98 La Liga season was the 67th since its establishment. It began on 30 August 1997, and concluded on 16 May 1998.

La Liga

Season	1997–98
Dates	30 August 1997 – 16 May 1998
Champions	Barcelona 15th title
Relegated	Compostela (relegation playoff) Mérida Sporting Gijón
Champions League	Real Madrid (as Champions League winners) Barcelona Athletic Bilbao
Cup Winners' Cup	Mallorca (as Copa del Rey runners-up)
UEFA Cup	Real Sociedad Celta Vigo Atlético Madrid Real Betis
Intertoto Cup	Valencia Espanyol
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1,009 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	Christian Vieri (24 goals)
Biggest home win	Salamanca 6–0 Valencia (12 April 1998)[1]
Biggest away win	Oviedo 0–5 Real Sociedad (19 October 1997)[2]
Highest scoring	Salamanca 5–4 Atlético Madrid (21 March 1998)[3]
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

On 29 March 1998, following Sporting Gijón's 0–0 draw with Zaragoza, combined with Racing Santander's 4–3 loss to Athletic Bilbao, Sporting Gijón became the first team in La Liga history to be relegated in March, ending the season with a league-record lowest points tally of just 13.

Promotion and relegation

Twenty teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the Segunda División. The promoted teams were Mérida, Salamanca (both teams returning after a season's absence) and Mallorca (returning after a five-year absence). They replaced Rayo Vallecano, Extremadura, Sevilla FC, Hércules CF and CD Logrones after spending time in the top flight for two, one, twenty two, one and one years respectively. Starting from this season, twenty teams contested in the La Liga as opposed to previous seasons with twenty-two teams.

Team information

Clubs and locations

Athletic  

Atlético

Barcelona

Betis

Compostela

Celta

Deportivo   

Espanyol

Mallorca

Mérida

Oviedo    

Racing  

Real Madrid

Real Sociedad

Salamanca

Sporting    

Valencia

Valladolid

Zaragoza

Location of teams in La Liga 1997–98

Tenerife

Canary Islands

1997–98 season was composed of the following clubs:

Team	Stadium	Capacity
Barcelona	Camp Nou	98,772
Real Madrid	Santiago Bernabéu	80,354
Espanyol	Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc	55,926
Atlético Madrid	Vicente Calderón	55,005
Valencia	Mestalla	55,000
Real Betis	Benito Villamarín	52,132
Athletic Bilbao	San Mamés	39,750
Deportivo de La Coruña	Riazor	34,600
Real Zaragoza	La Romareda	34,596
Celta de Vigo	Balaídos	32,500
Real Sociedad	Anoeta	32,200
Valladolid	José Zorrilla	27,846
Sporting de Gijón	El Molinón	25,885
Real Oviedo	Carlos Tartiere	23,500
Tenerife	Heliodoro Rodríguez López	22,824
Racing de Santander	El Sardinero	22,222
Mallorca	Lluís Sitjar	18,000
Salamanca	El Helmántico	17,341
Mérida	Estadio Romano	14,600
Compostela	San Lázaro	12,000

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Barcelona (C)	38	23	5	10	78	56	+22	74	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Athletic Bilbao	38	17	14	7	52	42	+10	65	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
3	Real Sociedad	38	16	15	7	60	37	+23	63[a]	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
4	Real Madrid	38	17	12	9	63	45	+18	63[a]	Qualification for the Champions League group stage[b]
5	Mallorca	38	16	12	10	55	39	+16	60[c]	Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round[d]
6	Celta Vigo	38	17	9	12	54	47	+7	60[c]	Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
7	Atlético Madrid	38	16	12	10	79	56	+23	60[c]
8	Real Betis	38	17	8	13	49	50	−1	59
9	Valencia	38	16	7	15	58	52	+6	55	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup third round
10	Espanyol	38	12	17	9	44	31	+13	53	Qualification for the Intertoto Cup second round
11	Valladolid	38	13	11	14	36	47	−11	50
12	Deportivo La Coruña	38	12	13	13	44	46	−2	49
13	Zaragoza	38	12	12	14	45	53	−8	48
14	Racing Santander	38	12	9	17	46	55	−9	45[e]
15	Salamanca	38	12	9	17	46	46	0	45[e]
16	Tenerife	38	11	12	15	44	57	−13	45[e]
17	Compostela (R)	38	11	11	16	56	66	−10	44	Qualification for the relegation playoffs
18	Oviedo (O)	38	9	13	16	36	51	−15	40
19	Mérida (R)	38	9	12	17	33	53	−20	39	Relegation to the Segunda División
20	Sporting Gijón (R)	38	2	7	29	31	80	−49	13

Source: LFP
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. RMA 2–0 RSO; RSO 4–2 RMA
2. Real Madrid was qualified directly for the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League as holders.
3. MLL: 9 pts; CEL: 5 pts; ATM: 2 pts
4. Since Barcelona, winners of 1997–98 Copa del Rey, was qualified for the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League, losing cup finalists RCD Mallorca earned a spot in the first round of the 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
5. RAC: 8 pts; SAL: 4 pts → SAL 2-0 TEN; TEN: 4 pts → TEN 2-0 SAL

Results

Home \ Away	ATH	ATM	FCB	BET	CEL	COM	RCD	ESP	MLL	MER	RAC	RMA	ROV	RSO	SAL	RSG	TEN	VCF	VLD	ZAR
Athletic Bilbao		1–0	3–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–3	3–1	5–1	4–3	1–1	3–0	1–1	1–0	2–2	3–0	0–3	2–0	1–0
Atlético Madrid	3–0		5–2	0–0	3–3	3–1	3–0	0–2	2–3	4–0	2–1	1–1	4–1	2–2	1–1	2–1	2–2	3–1	5–0	2–1
Barcelona	4–0	3–1		1–3	3–2	2–0	2–1	3–1	0–0	3–1	2–0	3–0	2–1	3–0	1–4	2–1	3–2	3–4	1–2	1–0
Betis	1–1	2–3	0–2		2–0	1–0	1–0	1–3	2–1	2–1	0–2	3–2	1–1	0–0	2–1	2–1	3–0	1–0	3–0	3–3
Celta de Vigo	1–1	1–1	3–1	2–0		3–3	2–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–2	2–1	3–0	2–1	4–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–1
Compostela	1–4	2–1	2–2	2–3	0–0		0–0	1–1	2–2	3–0	3–1	2–3	1–0	1–3	2–0	2–0	1–2	3–1	0–0	2–0
Deportivo La Coruña	3–0	2–2	3–1	2–0	1–1	2–6		1–1	1–1	0–1	4–1	2–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–2	1–3	2–1
Espanyol	0–1	2–2	1–1	5–0	1–1	1–0	2–0		1–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–3	3–0	1–1	2–0	3–0	2–0	0–1
Mallorca	4–0	2–1	0–1	1–2	4–2	2–1	0–0	2–2		1–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	6–2	5–1	2–1	1–1	0–2
Mérida	0–0	2–1	1–2	1–3	4–0	3–3	1–0	1–1	0–0		1–2	2–2	2–1	3–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–1
Racing Santander	0–0	0–1	2–4	2–0	2–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	2–0		1–2	0–0	3–1	1–0	4–1	2–1	2–1	1–2	2–3
Real Madrid	0–0	1–1	2–3	1–0	3–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–2		5–1	2–0	1–0	3–0	3–0	1–2	3–1	0–2
Oviedo	1–2	0–2	1–0	0–0	3–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	2–0	0–1	1–1		0–5	2–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	0–1	3–0
Real Sociedad	1–1	0–0	2–2	2–0	2–1	5–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	4–2	2–2		1–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	3–0	0–1
Salamanca	0–0	5–4	4–3	0–0	0–1	0–1	4–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	0–0	0–2	0–2	0–0		4–0	2–0	6–0	1–0	1–2
Sporting Gijón	1–2	2–3	1–4	2–3	0–1	0–2	0–3	1–0	1–3	0–0	2–1	0–2	1–2	0–2	1–1		0–2	0–3	1–2	2–3
Tenerife	0–2	2–2	1–1	3–1	1–3	5–1	0–0	0–0	1–4	1–1	2–2	4–3	1–0	0–0	2–0	2–1		3–2	1–0	0–0
Valencia	1–1	4–1	0–3	1–0	2–1	4–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	3–0	6–1	0–2	1–1	3–2	0–1	2–2	1–2		1–2	2–1
Valladolid	3–0	2–1	1–2	1–3	0–0	4–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–4	1–2	1–1	2–1	0–3		4–0
Zaragoza	1–1	1–5	1–2	3–1	1–0	2–2	1–2	1–1	2–3	1–1	2–0	2–2	3–3	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	0–0

Source: LFP (in Spanish)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation playoff

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Villarreal CF	(a) 1–1	SD Compostela	0–0	1–1
Real Oviedo	4–3	UD Las Palmas	3–0	1–3

First leg

Villarreal CF v SD Compostela

21 May 1998	Villarreal CF	0–0	SD Compostela	Villarreal
21:45		Report (in Spanish)		Stadium: El Madrigal Attendance: 9,000 Referee: Víctor Esquinas Torres

Real Oviedo v UD Las Palmas

22 May 1998	Real Oviedo	3–0	UD Las Palmas	Oviedo
21:45	Iván Ania 9' (pen.), 27' Dely Valdés 59'	Report (in Spanish)		Stadium: Carlos Tartiere Attendance: 23,500 Referee: Eduardo Iturralde González

Second leg

SD Compostela v Villarreal CF

24 May 1998	SD Compostela	1–1 (1–1 agg.)	Villarreal CF	Santiago de Compostela
21:45	Chiba 57'	Report (in Spanish)	Alberto 7'	Stadium: Multiusos de San Lázaro Attendance: 11,500 Referee: Manuel Díaz Vega

UD Las Palmas v Real Oviedo

25 May 1998	UD Las Palmas	3–1 (3–4 agg.)	Real Oviedo	Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
22:00	Gamboa 20' Walter Pico 65' Paquito 66'	Report (in Spanish)	Gamboa 29' (o.g.)	Stadium: Insular Attendance: 21,000 Referee: Antonio Jesús López Nieto

Awards

Pichichi Trophy

The Pichichi Trophy is awarded to the player who scores the most goals in a season.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Christian Vieri	Atlético Madrid	24
2	Rivaldo	Barcelona	19
3	Luis Enrique	Barcelona	18
4	Darko Kovačević	Real Sociedad	17
5	Lyuboslav Penev	Compostela	16
6	Pauleta	Salamanca	15
7	Fernando Correa	Racing Santander	14
8	Gabriel Amato	Mallorca	13
	Juan Esnáider	Espanyol
	Alen Peternac	Valladolid

Zamora Trophy

The Ricardo Zamora Trophy is awarded to the goalkeeper with the lowest ratio of goals conceded to matches played.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals against	Matches	Average
1	Toni	Espanyol	31	37	0.84
2	Alberto	Real Sociedad	37	38	0.97
3	Bogdan Stelea	Salamanca	32	30	1.07
4	Imanol Etxeberria	Athletic Bilbao	42	38	1.11
5	Andoni Zubizarreta	Valencia	40	34	1.18

See also

• 1997–98 Segunda División
• 1997–98 Copa del Rey