2016–17 La Liga

The 2016–17 La Liga season, also known as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons,^[2] was the 86th since its establishment. The season began on 19 August 2016 and concluded on 21 May 2017.

La Liga

Season	2016–17
Dates	20 August 2016 – 21 May 2017
Champions	Real Madrid 33rd title
Relegated	Sporting Gijón Osasuna Granada
Champions League	Real Madrid Barcelona Atlético Madrid Sevilla
Europa League	Villarreal Real Sociedad Athletic Bilbao
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1,118 (2.94 per match)
Top goalscorer	Lionel Messi (37 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Jan Oblak (0.72 goals/match)
Biggest home win	Atlético Madrid 7–1 Granada (15 October 2016) Barcelona 7–1 Osasuna (26 April 2017)
Biggest away win	Alavés 0–6 Barcelona (11 February 2017)
Highest scoring	Sevilla 6–4 Espanyol (20 August 2016)
Longest winning run	7 matches[1] Barcelona
Longest winless run	21 matches[1] Osasuna
Longest losing run	8 matches[1] Granada
Highest attendance	95,961 Barcelona 1–1 Real Madrid (3 December 2016)[1]
Lowest attendance	3,576 Eibar 1–0 Valencia (27 August 2016)[1]
Total attendance	10,557,782[1]
Average attendance	27,859[1]
← 2015–16 2017–18 →

Real Madrid secured the title following their away victory at Málaga on the final matchday, finishing with 93 points and winning a record-extending 33rd championship, their first since the 2011–12 season.^[3] Barcelona finished second, three points behind Real Madrid.^[4] Real became only the second side after Barcelona in 2012–13 to score in all 38 games of a La Liga season.^[5]

Name sponsorship

The Spanish top flight dropped the sponsorship from BBVA and was now called LaLiga, while the second division was called LaLiga2.^[6][7] The league made this change to maximize the La Liga brand. On 20 July, Banco Santander was appointed as the new sponsor.

Teams

Community of Madrid

Alavés

Athletic

Barcelona

Celta Vigo

Deportivo La Coruña

Eibar

Espanyol

Granada

Málaga

Osasuna

Betis

Real Sociedad

Sevilla

Sporting Gijón

Valencia

Villarreal

Canary Islands (see below)

Community of Madrid teams:
Atlético Madrid
Leganés
Real Madrid

Location of teams in 2016–17 La Liga

Atlético Madrid

Leganés

Real Madrid

Location of Community of Madrid teams in 2016–17 La Liga

Las Palmas

Location of teams in 2016–17 La Liga (Canary Islands)

Promotion and relegation (pre-season)

A total of 20 teams contested the league, including 17 sides from the 2015–16 season and three promoted from the 2015–16 Segunda División. This included the two top teams from the Segunda División, and the winners of the play-offs.

Deportivo Alavés was the first team from Segunda División to achieve promotion, after a ten-year absence from La Liga, on 29 May 2016 after winning 2–0 against CD Numancia.^[8] CD Leganés was promoted as the runners-up after winning 1–0 at CD Mirandés in the last match-day, on 4 June 2016. This was Leganés' first promotion to the top division.^[9] CA Osasuna was the last to be promoted after beating Gimnàstic de Tarragona and Girona FC in the play-offs.^[10] The Reds returned to La Liga two years after their last relegation.

The three promoted clubs replaced Rayo Vallecano, Getafe, and Levante, who were relegated at the end of the previous season after five, twelve, and six years respectively.

Stadia and locations

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Alavés	Vitoria-Gasteiz	Mendizorrotza	19,840[11]
Athletic Bilbao	Bilbao	San Mamés	53,289[12]
Atlético Madrid	Madrid	Vicente Calderón	54,907[13]
Barcelona	Barcelona	Camp Nou	99,354[14]
Celta Vigo	Vigo	Balaídos	29,000[15]
Deportivo La Coruña	A Coruña	Riazor	32,912[16]
Eibar	Eibar	Ipurua	7,083[17]
Espanyol	Barcelona	RCDE Stadium	40,500[18]
Granada	Granada	Nuevo Los Cármenes	22,094[19]
Las Palmas	Las Palmas	Gran Canaria	33,111[20]
Leganés	Leganés	Butarque	10,922[21]
Málaga	Málaga	La Rosaleda	30,044[22]
Osasuna	Pamplona	El Sadar	18,761[23]
Real Betis	Seville	Benito Villamarín	51,700[24]
Real Madrid	Madrid	Santiago Bernabéu	85,454[25]
Real Sociedad	San Sebastián	Anoeta	32,000[26]
Sevilla	Seville	Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán	42,714[27]
Sporting Gijón	Gijón	El Molinón	29,029[28]
Valencia	Valencia	Mestalla	55,000[29]
Villarreal	Villarreal	Estadio de la Cerámica	24,890[30]

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Alavés	Mauricio Pellegrino	Manu García	Hummel	LEA, Álava,1, Kutxabank2, Euskaltel3, Heraclio Fournier 3
Athletic Bilbao	Ernesto Valverde	Gorka Iraizoz	Nike	Kutxabank
Atlético Madrid	Diego Simeone	Gabi	Nike	Plus500
Barcelona	Luis Enrique	Andrés Iniesta	Nike	Qatar Airways, UNICEF,1 Beko2
Celta Vigo	Eduardo Berizzo	Hugo Mallo	Adidas	Estrella Galicia 0,0, Abanca3
Deportivo La Coruña	Pepe Mel	Laure	Lotto	Estrella Galicia 0,0
Eibar	José Luis Mendilibar	Dani García	Puma	AVIA, Wiko13
Espanyol	Quique Sánchez Flores	Javi López	Joma	Rastar Group, Riviera Maya3
Granada	Tony Adams	Dimitri Foulquier	Joma	Energy King, Covirán1
Las Palmas	Quique Setién	David García	Acerbis	Gran Canaria, IOC,1 beCordial,3 Volkswagen,3 Domingo Alonso3
Leganés	Asier Garitano	Martín Mantovani	Joma	Royal Jordanian, MBuzz Sport, GoldenPark1
Málaga	Míchel	Duda	Nike	Marathonbet,[31] Benahavís1
Osasuna	Petar Vasiljević	Miguel Flaño	Adidas	Victorino Vicente2
Real Betis	Alexis Trujillo (interim)	Joaquín	Adidas	Wiko13
Real Madrid	Zinedine Zidane	Sergio Ramos	Adidas	Fly Emirates
Real Sociedad	Eusebio Sacristán	Xabi Prieto	Adidas	Qbao.com
Sevilla	Jorge Sampaoli	Vicente Iborra	New Balance	SeePuertoRico.com
Sporting Gijón	Rubi	Alberto Lora	Nike	Gijón, Nissan,3 Telecable,3 CMP,1 Halcón Viajes2
Valencia	Voro	Enzo Pérez	Adidas	beIN Sports1
Villarreal	Fran Escribá	Bruno	Joma	Pamesa Cerámica

1. ^ On the back of shirt.

2. ^ On the sleeves.

3. ^ On the shorts.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Málaga	Javi Gracia	Signed by Rubin Kazan	24 May 2016[32]	Pre-season	Juande Ramos	28 May 2016[33]
Espanyol	Constantin Gâlcă	Sacked	27 May 2016[34]		Quique Sánchez Flores	9 June 2016[35]
Deportivo La Coruña	Víctor Sánchez		30 May 2016[36]		Gaizka Garitano	10 June 2016[37]
Sevilla	Unai Emery	Resigned	12 June 2016[38]		Jorge Sampaoli	13 June 2016
Granada	José González	End of contract	20 June 2016		Paco Jémez	20 June 2016[39]
Alavés	José Bordalás	Sacked	21 June 2016[40]		Mauricio Pellegrino	26 June 2016[41]
Villarreal	Marcelino		10 August 2016[42]		Fran Escribá	11 August 2016[43]
Valencia	Pako Ayestarán		20 September 2016[44]	20th	Cesare Prandelli	28 September 2016[45]
Granada	Paco Jémez		28 September 2016[46]	19th	Lucas Alcaraz	3 October 2016[47]
Osasuna	Enrique Martín		7 November 2016[48]	19th	Joaquín Caparrós	8 November 2016[49]
Real Betis	Gustavo Poyet		11 November 2016[50]	14th	Víctor Sánchez	11 November 2016[50]
Málaga	Juande Ramos	Resigned	22 December 2016[51]	11th	Marcelo Romero	28 December 2016
Valencia	Cesare Prandelli		30 December 2016[52]	17th	Voro	10 January 2017[53]
Osasuna	Joaquín Caparrós	Sacked	5 January 2017[54]	20th	Petar Vasiljević	5 January 2017
Sporting Gijón	Abelardo Fernández	Mutual consent	17 January 2017[55]	18th	Rubi	17 January 2017
Deportivo La Coruña	Gaizka Garitano	Sacked	27 February 2017[56]	17th	Pepe Mel	27 February 2017[57]
Málaga	Marcelo Romero		7 March 2017[58]	15th	Míchel	7 March 2017[59]
Granada	Lucas Alcaraz		10 April 2017[60]	19th	Tony Adams	10 April 2017[60]
Real Betis	Víctor Sánchez		9 May 2017[61]	15th	Alexis Trujillo (interim)	9 May 2017[61]

League table

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Real Madrid (C)	38	29	6	3	106	41	+65	93	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Barcelona	38	28	6	4	116	37	+79	90
3	Atlético Madrid	38	23	9	6	70	27	+43	78
4	Sevilla	38	21	9	8	69	49	+20	72	Qualification for the Champions League play-off round
5	Villarreal	38	19	10	9	56	33	+23	67	Qualification for the Europa League group stage[a]
6	Real Sociedad	38	19	7	12	59	53	+6	64
7	Athletic Bilbao	38	19	6	13	53	43	+10	63	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round
8	Espanyol	38	15	11	12	49	50	−1	56
9	Alavés	38	14	13	11	41	43	−2	55
10	Eibar	38	15	9	14	56	51	+5	54
11	Málaga	38	12	10	16	49	55	−6	46[b]
12	Valencia	38	13	7	18	56	65	−9	46[b]
13	Celta Vigo	38	13	6	19	53	69	−16	45
14	Las Palmas	38	10	9	19	53	74	−21	39[c]
15	Real Betis	38	10	9	19	41	64	−23	39[c]
16	Deportivo La Coruña	38	8	12	18	43	61	−18	36
17	Leganés	38	8	11	19	36	55	−19	35
18	Sporting Gijón (R)	38	7	10	21	42	72	−30	31	Relegation to Segunda División
19	Osasuna (R)	38	4	10	24	40	94	−54	22
20	Granada (R)	38	4	8	26	30	82	−52	20

Source: La Liga, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Fair-play points; 7) Play-off.^[62]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Since the winners of the 2016–17 Copa del Rey, Barcelona, qualified for European competition based on league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners (Europa League group stage) was passed to the sixth-placed team and the spot awarded to the sixth-placed team (Europa League third qualifying round) was passed to the seventh-placed team.
2. Málaga ahead of Valencia on head-to-head points: Valencia–Málaga 2–2, Málaga–Valencia 2–0
3. Las Palmas ahead of Real Betis on head-to-head goal difference: Las Palmas–Real Betis 4–1, Real Betis–Las Palmas 2–0

Results

Home \ Away	ALV	ATH	ATM	FCB	CEL	RCD	EIB	ESP	GCF	LPA	LEG	MCF	OSA	RBB	RMA	RSO	SFC	RSG	VCF	VIL
Alavés	—	1–0	0–0	0–6	3–1	0–0	0–0	0–1	3–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–4	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–1	2–1
Athletic Bilbao	0–0	—	2–2	0–1	2–1	2–1	3–1	2–0	3–1	5–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	1–2	3–2	3–1	2–1	2–1	1–0
Atlético Madrid	1–1	3–1	—	1–2	3–2	1–0	1–0	0–0	7–1	1–0	2–0	4–2	3–0	1–0	0–3	1–0	3–1	5–0	3–0	0–1
Barcelona	1–2	3–0	1–1	—	5–0	4–0	4–2	4–1	1–0	5–0	2–1	0–0	7–1	6–2	1–1	3–2	3–0	6–1	4–2	4–1
Celta Vigo	1–0	0–3	0–4	4–3	—	4–1	0–2	2–2	3–1	3–1	0–1	3–1	3–0	0–1	1–4	2–2	0–3	2–1	2–1	0–1
Deportivo La Coruña	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	—	2–1	1–2	0–0	3–0	1–2	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–6	5–1	2–3	2–1	1–1	0–0
Eibar	0–0	0–1	0–2	0–4	1–0	3–1	—	1–1	4–0	3–1	2–0	3–0	2–3	3–1	1–4	2–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–1
Espanyol	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–3	0–2	1–1	3–3	—	3–1	4–3	3–0	2–2	3–0	2–1	0–2	1–2	3–1	2–1	0–1	0–0
Granada	2–1	1–2	0–1	1–4	0–3	1–1	1–2	1–2	—	1–0	0–1	0–2	1–1	4–1	0–4	0–2	2–1	0–0	1–3	1–1
Las Palmas	1–1	3–1	0–5	1–4	3–3	1–1	1–0	0–0	5–1	—	1–1	1–0	5–2	4–1	2–2	0–1	0–1	1–0	3–1	1–0
Leganés	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–5	0–2	4–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	3–0	—	0–0	2–0	4–0	2–4	0–2	2–3	0–2	1–2	0–0
Málaga	1–2	2–1	0–2	2–0	3–0	4–3	2–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	4–0	—	1–1	1–2	0–2	0–2	4–2	3–2	2–0	0–2
Osasuna	0–1	1–2	0–3	0–3	0–0	2–2	1–1	1–2	2–1	2–2	2–1	1–1	—	1–2	1–3	0–2	3–4	2–2	3–3	1–4
Real Betis	1–4	1–0	1–1	1–1	3–3	0–0	2–0	0–1	2–2	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	—	1–6	2–3	1–2	0–0	0–0	0–1
Real Madrid	3–0	2–1	1–1	2–3	2–1	3–2	1–1	2–0	5–0	3–3	3–0	2–1	5–2	2–1	—	3–0	4–1	2–1	2–1	1–1
Real Sociedad	3–0	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–2	1–1	2–1	4–1	1–1	2–2	3–2	1–0	0–3	—	0–4	3–1	3–2	0–1
Sevilla	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	2–1	4–2	2–0	6–4	2–0	2–1	1–1	4–1	5–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	—	0–0	2–1	0–0
Sporting Gijón	2–4	2–1	1–4	0–5	1–1	0–1	2–3	1–1	3–1	1–0	2–1	0–1	3–1	2–2	2–3	1–3	1–1	—	1–2	1–3
Valencia	2–1	2–0	0–2	2–3	3–2	3–0	0–4	2–1	1–1	2–4	1–0	2–2	4–1	2–3	2–1	2–3	0–0	1–1	—	1–3
Villarreal	0–2	3–1	3–0	1–1	5–0	0–0	2–3	2–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	2–0	2–3	2–1	0–0	3–1	0–2	—

Source: La Liga, RFEF
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

La Liga champions Real Madrid celebrate their win with Community of Madrid President Cristina Cifuentes.

Scoring

• First goal of the season:
  Juanpi for Málaga against Osasuna (19 August 2016)^[63]
• Last goal of the season:
  Lionel Messi for Barcelona against Eibar (21 May 2017)^[64]

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[65][66]
1	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	37
2	Luis Suárez	Barcelona	29
3	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	25
4	Iago Aspas	Celta Vigo	19
5	Aritz Aduriz	Athletic Bilbao	16
	Antoine Griezmann	Atlético Madrid
7	Álvaro Morata	Real Madrid	15
8	Sandro Ramírez	Málaga	14
9	Rubén Castro	Real Betis	13
	Gerard Moreno	Espanyol
	Neymar	Barcelona

Top assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists[67]
1	Luis Suárez	Barcelona	13
2	Toni Kroos	Real Madrid	12
3	Neymar	Barcelona	11
4	Marcelo	Real Madrid	10
	Pablo Piatti	Espanyol
6	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	9
7	Ángel Correa	Atlético Madrid	8
	Antoine Griezmann	Atlético Madrid
	Isco	Real Madrid
	Koke	Atlético Madrid
	Pablo Sarabia	Sevilla

Zamora Trophy

The Ricardo Zamora Trophy was awarded by newspaper Marca to the goalkeeper with the lowest ratio of goals conceded to matches played. A goalkeeper had to play at least 28 matches of 60 or more minutes to be eligible for the trophy.^[68]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals against	Matches	Average
1	Jan Oblak	Atlético Madrid	21	29	0.72
2	Marc-André ter Stegen	Barcelona	33	36	0.92
3	Diego López	Espanyol	37	33	1.12
4	Fernando Pacheco	Alavés	42	36	1.17
5	Sergio Rico	Sevilla	45	35	1.29

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of La Liga hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Round	Reference
Luis Suárez	Barcelona	Real Betis	6–2 (H)	20 August 2016	1
Yannick Carrasco	Atlético Madrid	Granada	7–1 (H)	15 October 2016	8
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	Alavés	4–1 (A)	29 October 2016	10
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	Atlético Madrid	3–0 (A)	19 November 2016	12
Vicente Iborra	Sevilla	Celta Vigo	3–0 (A)	11 December 2016	15
Wissam Ben Yedder	Sevilla	Real Sociedad	4–0 (A)	7 January 2017	17
Kevin Gameiro	Atlético Madrid	Sporting Gijón	4–1 (A)	18 February 2017	23
Giuseppe Rossi	Celta Vigo	Las Palmas	3–1 (H)	3 April 2017	29
Álvaro Morata	Real Madrid	Leganés	4–2 (A)	5 April 2017	30
Neymar	Barcelona	Las Palmas	4–1 (A)	14 May 2017	37

(H) – Home; (A) – Away

Discipline

^[69][70]

• Most yellow cards (club): 121
  • Alavés
• Fewest yellow cards (club): 74
  • Real Madrid
• Most yellow cards (player): 17
  • Fernando Amorebieta (Sporting Gijón)
• Most red cards (club): 8
  • Celta Vigo
• Fewest red cards (club): 1
  • Barcelona
• Most red cards (player): 2
  • Uche Agbo (Granada)
  • Kevin-Prince Boateng (Las Palmas)
  • Zouhair Feddal (Alavés)
  • Sergi Gómez (Celta Vigo)
  • Cristiano Piccini (Real Betis)
  • Asier Riesgo (Eibar)
  • Víctor Ruiz (Villarreal)

Overall

• Most wins - Real Madrid (29)
• Fewest wins - Osasuna and Granada (4)
• Most draws - Alavés (13)
• Fewest draws - Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Celta Vigo (6)
• Most losses - Granada (26)
• Fewest losses - Real Madrid (3)
• Most goals scored - Barcelona (116)
• Fewest goals scored - Granada (30)
• Most goals conceded - Osasuna (94)
• Fewest goals conceded - Atlético Madrid (27)

Average attendances

Alavés supporters before their first league match at home, against Sporting Gijón

Leganés supporters celebrating their team's goal against Barcelona.

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Barcelona	1,463,653	95,961	55,029	77,034	−1.6%†
2	Real Madrid	1,292,537	82,297	59,575	68,028	+0.5%†
3	Atlético Madrid	848,754	53,668	31,059	44,671	+3.4%†
4	Athletic Bilbao	781,285	49,164	33,625	41,120	−2.0%†
5	Valencia	645,032	46,804	23,156	33,949	−9.1%†
6	Sevilla	623,953	40,835	26,100	32,840	−3.4%†
7	Real Betis	623,333	41,714	22,270	32,807	−9.2%†
8	Sporting Gijón	428,313	25,899	15,365	22,543	−2.8%†
9	Deportivo La Coruña	425,077	30,810	18,466	22,372	−2.8%†
10	Málaga	420,630	28,486	12,996	22,138	+4.8%†
11	Real Sociedad	406,832	27,653	10,927	21,412	+5.3%†
12	Las Palmas	387,416	27,724	15,946	20,390	−3.8%†
13	Espanyol	381,428	31,082	14,813	20,075	+9.5%†
14	Villarreal	329,951	22,110	14,757	17,366	+3.6%†
15	Celta Vigo	312,773	20,034	11,391	16,462	−8.6%†
16	Alavés	288,310	19,540	12,628	15,174	+34.1%1
17	Granada	284,890	19,161	10,706	14,994	−5.5%†
18	Osasuna	281,445	17,802	11,332	14,813	+7.2%1
19	Leganés	177,029	10,599	7,903	9,317	+81.6%1
20	Eibar	100,922	6,694	3,576	5,312	+2.1%†
	League total	10,503,563	95,961	3,576	27,641	−0.2%†

Source: La Liga boxscores
Notes:
1: Team played last season in Segunda División.

LFP Awards

Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos and Community of Madrid President Cristina Cifuentes with the Primera División trophy during celebrations in Madrid.

Seasonal

La Liga's governing body, the Liga de Fútbol Profesional, honoured the competition's best players and coach with the La Liga Awards.^[71]

	Recipient
Best Player	Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Best Goalkeeper	Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid)
Best Coach	José Luis Mendilibar (Eibar) and Asier Garitano (Leganés)

Monthly

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		Reference
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
August	Quique Setién	Las Palmas	Jon Ander Serantes	Leganés	[72][73]
September	Ernesto Valverde	Athletic Bilbao	Antoine Griezmann	Atlético Madrid	[74][75]
October	Jorge Sampaoli	Sevilla	Iago Aspas	Celta Vigo	[76][77]
November	Eusebio Sacristán	Real Sociedad	Diego López	Espanyol	[78][79]
December	Fran Escribá	Villarreal	Florin Andone	Deportivo La Coruña	[80][81]
January	Eduardo Berizzo	Celta Vigo	Steven Nzonzi	Sevilla	[82][83]
February	José Luis Mendilibar	Eibar	Sergi Enrich	Eibar	[84][85]
March	Diego Simeone	Atlético Madrid	Antoine Griezmann	Atlético Madrid	[86][87]
April	Míchel	Málaga	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	[88][89]
May	Zinedine Zidane	Real Madrid	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	[90][91]