2019–20 La Liga

The 2019–20 La Liga season, also known as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, was the 89th since its establishment. The season began on 16 August 2019 and was originally scheduled to conclude on 24 May 2020.

La Liga

Season	2019–20
Dates	16 August 2019 – 19 July 2020
Champions	Real Madrid 34th title
Relegated	Leganés Mallorca Espanyol
Champions League	Real Madrid Barcelona Atlético Madrid Sevilla
Europa League	Villarreal Real Sociedad Granada
Matches played	380
Goals scored	942 (2.48 per match)
Top goalscorer	Lionel Messi (25 goals)
Best goalkeeper	Thibaut Courtois (0.59 goals/match)
Biggest home win	Celta Vigo 6–0 Alavés (21 June 2020)
Biggest away win	Osasuna 0–5 Atlético Madrid (17 June 2020) Alavés 0–5 Barcelona (19 July 2020)
Highest scoring	Villarreal 4–4 Granada (17 August 2019)
Longest winning run	Real Madrid (10 matches)[1]
Longest unbeaten run	Atlético Madrid (16 matches)[1]
Longest winless run	Athletic Bilbao Espanyol (10 matches)[1]
Longest losing run	Espanyol (8 matches)[1]
Highest attendance	93,426[1] Barcelona 0–0 Real Madrid (18 December 2019)
Lowest attendance	5,341[1] Eibar 3–0 Granada (20 December 2019)
Attendance	4,630,608 (12,186 per match)
← 2018–19 2020–21 →

Barcelona were the two-time defending champions, after winning their 26th title in the previous season. Osasuna, Granada and Mallorca joined as the promoted clubs from the 2018–19 Segunda División. They replaced Rayo Vallecano, Huesca and Girona, who were relegated to the 2019–20 Segunda División.

On 12 March 2020, both La Liga and the Segunda División were suspended for at least two weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league became suspended indefinitely on 23 March.^[2] The season recommenced on 11 June, with matches being played every single day until 13 July; all games in the penultimate round were held on 16 July, with all final round matches being played on 19 July.^[3][4]

On 16 July, Real Madrid secured a record-extending 34th league title in their penultimate match of the season, following their 2-1 victory against Villarreal.^[5]

Teams

Promotion and relegation (pre-season)

A total of 20 teams contested the league, including 17 sides from the 2018–19 season and three promoted from the 2018–19 Segunda División. This included the two top teams from the Segunda División, and the winners of the play-offs.

Teams relegated to Segunda Division

The first team to be relegated from La Liga were Rayo Vallecano. Their relegation was ensured on 5 May 2019, after Valladolid beat Athletic Bilbao 1−0, suffering an immediate return to the Segunda División.^[6] The second team to be relegated were Huesca, who were also relegated on 5 May 2019 after a 2−6 home defeat to Valencia, also suffering an immediate return to the second tier.^[7] The third and final relegated club were Girona, who concluded their two-year stay in La Liga in a 1−2 away loss at Alavés on 18 May 2019.^[8]

Teams promoted from Segunda División

Osasuna (on 20 May 2019) and Granada (on 4 June 2019) were the two teams directly promoted from Segunda División, both after a two-year absence.^[9][10] The third and final team to earn promotion to La Liga was play-offs winner Mallorca, after coming back from a 2-goal deficit against Deportivo La Coruña on 23 June 2019. Mallorca returned after a six-year absence from Spain's top flight, spending one of those years in the Segunda División B and achieving two consecutive promotions.^[11]

Stadiums and locations

Community of Madrid

Alavés

Athletic Bilbao

Barcelona

Celta Vigo

Eibar

Espanyol

Granada

Levante

Mallorca

Osasuna

Real Betis

Real Sociedad

Sevilla

Valencia

Valladolid

Villarreal

Community of Madrid teams:
Atlético Madrid
Getafe
Leganés
Real Madrid

Location of teams in 2019–20 La Liga

Atlético Madrid

Getafe

Leganés

Real Madrid

Location of Community of Madrid teams in 2019–20 La Liga

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Alavés	Vitoria-Gasteiz	Mendizorrotza	19,840[12]
Athletic Bilbao	Bilbao	San Mamés	53,289[13]
Atlético Madrid	Madrid	Wanda Metropolitano	68,456[14]
Barcelona	Barcelona	Camp Nou	99,354[15]
Celta Vigo	Vigo	Abanca-Balaídos	29,000[16]
Eibar	Eibar	Ipurua	8,164[17]
Espanyol	Barcelona	RCDE Stadium	40,000[18]
Getafe	Getafe	Coliseum Alfonso Pérez	17,393[19]
Granada	Granada	Nuevo Los Cármenes	19,336[20]
Leganés	Leganés	Butarque	12,450[21]
Levante	Valencia	Ciutat de València	26,354[22]
		Camilo Cano, at La Nucía[a]	3,000
Mallorca	Palma	Visit Mallorca Stadium	24,262[23]
Osasuna	Pamplona	El Sadar	18,570[24]
Real Betis	Seville	Benito Villamarín	60,721[25]
Real Madrid	Madrid	Santiago Bernabéu	81,044[26]
		Alfredo Di Stéfano[a]	6,000
Real Sociedad	San Sebastián	Reale Arena	39,500[27]
Sevilla	Seville	Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán	43,883[28]
Valencia	Valencia	Mestalla	55,000[29]
Valladolid	Valladolid	José Zorrilla	28,012[30]
Villarreal	Villarreal	Estadio de la Cerámica	24,890[31]

1. Stadium used for games behind closed doors due to renovation works at their main stadium.

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor(s)
Alavés	Juan Muñiz	Manu García	Kelme	Betway, Zotapay,1 Araba-Álava,2 Euskaltel,3 Integra Energía3
Athletic Bilbao	Gaizka Garitano	Iker Muniain	New Balance	Kutxabank
Atlético Madrid	Diego Simeone	Koke	Nike	Plus500, Ria Money Transfer,1 Hyundai2
Barcelona	Quique Setién	Lionel Messi	Nike	Rakuten, UNICEF,1 Beko2
Celta Vigo	Óscar García	Hugo Mallo	Adidas	Estrella Galicia 0,0, Abanca,1 Grupo Recalvi3
Eibar	José Luis Mendilibar	Iván Ramis	Joma	AVIA, BOJ1
Espanyol	Francisco Rufete (interim)	Javi López	Kelme	LD Sports, InnJoo,13 Riviera Maya2
Getafe	José Bordalás	Jorge Molina	Joma	Tecnocasa Group, Reale Seguros,2 El Brillante,3 Libertex3
Granada	Diego Martínez	Víctor Díaz	Nike	Winamax, Caja Rural2
Leganés	Javier Aguirre	Unai Bustinza	Joma	Betway, Laboratorios Ynsadiet,1 Dione Ice Cream,2 KFC,3 Vitaldent3
Levante	Paco López	José Luis Morales	Macron	Betway, Baleària,1 La Nucía1
Mallorca	Vicente Moreno	Xisco Campos	Umbro	Betfred, Blau Hotels,1 Roc Hotels,1 OK Cars,2 Air Europa,3 Juaneda3
Osasuna	Jagoba Arrasate	Oier Sanjurjo	Hummel	Kirolbet, Victorino Vicente,1 Selk,2 Acunsa3
Real Betis	Alexis Trujillo (interim)	Joaquín	Kappa	easyMarkets, #welcometoSeville,1 Reale Seguros,2 BeSoccer3
Real Madrid	Zinedine Zidane	Sergio Ramos	Adidas	Emirates
Real Sociedad	Imanol Alguacil	Asier Illarramendi	Macron	GoodBall.com, Kutxabank,1 Reale Seguros2
Sevilla	Julen Lopetegui	Jesús Navas	Nike	Marathonbet, #welcometoSeville,1 Valvoline,2 EverFX3
Valencia	Voro (interim)	Dani Parejo	Puma	bwin, Libertex,1 Sailun Tyres,2 Škoda3
Valladolid	Sergio González	Javi Moyano	Adidas	Estrella Galicia 0,0, Cuatro Rayas,1 Integra Energía,2 Air Europa3
Villarreal	Javier Calleja	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
Real Betis	Quique Setién[32]	Mutual consent	19 May 2019	Pre-season	Rubi[33]	6 June 2019
Alavés	Abelardo[34]	Resigned	20 May 2019		Asier Garitano[35]	21 May 2019
Sevilla	Joaquín Caparrós[36]	End of contract	23 May 2019		Julen Lopetegui[37]	4 June 2019
Espanyol	Rubi[33]	Signed for Real Betis	6 June 2019		David Gallego[38]	6 June 2019
Valencia	Marcelino[39]	Sacked	11 September 2019	10th	Albert Celades[40]	11 September 2019
Espanyol	David Gallego[41]		7 October 2019	19th	Pablo Machín[42]	7 October 2019
Leganés	Mauricio Pellegrino[43]	Resigned	21 October 2019	20th	Javier Aguirre[44]	4 November 2019
Celta Vigo	Fran Escribá[45]	Sacked	3 November 2019	18th	Óscar García[46]	4 November 2019
Espanyol	Pablo Machín[47]		23 December 2019	20th	Abelardo[48]	27 December 2019
Barcelona	Ernesto Valverde[49]		13 January 2020	2nd	Quique Setién[49]	13 January 2020
Real Betis	Rubi[50]		21 June 2020	14th	Alexis Trujillo (interim)[51]	21 June 2020
Espanyol	Abelardo[52]		27 June 2020	20th	Francisco Rufete (interim)[53]	27 June 2020
Valencia	Albert Celades[54]		29 June 2020	8th	Voro (interim)[55]	29 June 2020
Alavés	Asier Garitano[56]		5 July 2020	15th	Juan Muñiz[57]	5 July 2020

League table

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Real Madrid (C)	38	26	9	3	70	25	+45	87	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Barcelona	38	25	7	6	86	38	+48	82
3	Atlético Madrid	38	18	16	4	51	27	+24	70
4	Sevilla	38	19	13	6	54	34	+20	70
5	Villarreal	38	18	6	14	63	49	+14	60	Qualification for the Europa League group stage
6	Real Sociedad	38	16	8	14	56	48	+8	56
7	Granada	38	16	8	14	52	45	+7	56	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round[a]
8	Getafe	38	14	12	12	43	37	+6	54
9	Valencia	38	14	11	13	46	53	−7	53
10	Osasuna	38	13	13	12	46	54	−8	52
11	Athletic Bilbao	38	13	12	13	41	38	+3	51
12	Levante	38	14	7	17	47	53	−6	49
13	Valladolid	38	9	15	14	32	43	−11	42
14	Eibar	38	11	9	18	39	56	−17	42
15	Real Betis	38	10	11	17	48	60	−12	41
16	Alavés	38	10	9	19	34	59	−25	39
17	Celta Vigo	38	7	16	15	37	49	−12	37
18	Leganés (R)	38	8	12	18	30	51	−21	36	Relegation to Segunda División
19	Mallorca (R)	38	9	6	23	40	65	−25	33
20	Espanyol (R)	38	5	10	23	27	58	−31	25

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 (Note: Head-to-head record is used only after all the matches between the teams in question have been played)^[59]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. The 2020 Copa del Rey Final was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain and could not be completed by the UEFA registration deadline of 3 August 2020, so the fifth- and sixth-placed teams in the 2019–20 La Liga, Villarreal and Real Sociedad, entered the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League at the group stage, and the seventh-placed team, Granada, entered at the second qualifying round.^[58]

Results

Home \ Away	ALA	ATH	ATM	BAR	CEL	EIB	ESP	GET	GRA	LEG	LEV	MLL	OSA	BET	RMA	RSO	SEV	VAL	VLL	VIL
Alavés	—	2–1	1–1	0–5	2–0	2–1	0–0	0–0	0–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	1–1	1–2	2–0	0–1	1–1	3–0	1–2
Athletic Bilbao	2–0	—	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	3–0	0–2	2–0	0–2	2–1	3–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–2	0–1	1–1	1–0
Atlético Madrid	2–1	2–0	—	0–1	0–0	3–2	3–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	3–0	2–0	1–0	0–0	1–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	3–1
Barcelona	4–1	1–0	2–2	—	4–1	5–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	2–1	5–2	1–2	5–2	0–0	1–0	4–0	5–2	5–1	2–1
Celta Vigo	6–0	1–0	1–1	2–2	—	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	2–3	2–2	1–1	1–1	1–3	0–1	2–1	1–0	0–0	0–1
Eibar	0–2	2–2	2–0	0–3	2–0	—	1–2	0–1	3–0	0–0	3–0	1–2	0–2	1–1	0–4	1–2	3–2	1–0	3–1	2–1
Espanyol	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	0–0	0–2	—	1–1	0–3	0–1	1–3	1–0	2–4	2–2	0–1	1–3	0–2	1–2	0–2	0–1
Getafe	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–0	1–1	0–0	—	3–1	2–0	4–0	4–2	0–0	1–0	0–3	2–1	0–3	3–0	2–0	1–3
Granada	3–0	4–0	1–1	2–0	0–0	1–2	2–1	2–1	—	1–0	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–2	0–1	2–2	2–1	0–1
Leganés	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	3–2	1–2	2–0	0–3	0–0	—	1–2	1–0	0–1	0–0	2–2	2–1	0–3	1–0	1–2	0–3
Levante	0–1	1–2	0–1	3–1	3–1	0–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	—	2–1	1–1	4–2	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–4	2–0	2–1
Mallorca	1–0	0–0	0–2	0–4	5–1	2–1	2–0	0–1	1–2	1–1	2–0	—	2–2	1–2	1–0	0–1	0–2	4–1	0–1	3–1
Osasuna	4–2	1–2	0–5	2–2	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–3	2–1	2–0	2–2	—	0–0	1–4	3–4	1–1	3–1	0–0	2–1
Real Betis	1–2	3–2	1–2	2–3	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–2	2–1	3–1	3–3	3–0	—	2–1	3–0	1–2	2–1	1–2	0–2
Real Madrid	2–0	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–2	3–1	2–0	1–0	4–2	5–0	3–2	2–0	2–0	0–0	—	3–1	2–1	3–0	1–1	2–1
Real Sociedad	3–0	2–1	2–0	2–2	0–1	4–1	2–1	1–2	2–3	1–1	1–2	3–0	1–1	3–1	1–2	—	0–0	3–0	1–0	1–2
Sevilla	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	2–2	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	3–2	2–0	0–1	3–2	—	1–0	1–1	1–2
Valencia	2–1	0–2	2–2	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	3–3	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	—	2–1	2–1
Valladolid	1–0	1–4	0–0	0–1	0–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–2	0–0	3–0	1–1	2–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	—	1–1
Villarreal	4–1	0–0	0–0	1–4	1–3	4–0	1–2	1–0	4–4	1–2	2–1	1–0	3–1	5–1	2–2	1–2	2–2	2–0	2–0	—

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

Season statistics

Scoring

• First goal of the season:
  Aritz Aduriz for Athletic Bilbao against Barcelona (16 August 2019)^[60]
• Last goal of the season:
  Coke for Levante against Getafe (19 July 2020)^[61]

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[62]
1	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	25
2	Karim Benzema	Real Madrid	21
3	Gerard Moreno	Villarreal	18
4	Luis Suárez	Barcelona	16
5	Raúl García	Athletic Bilbao	15
6	Iago Aspas	Celta Vigo	14
	Lucas Ocampos	Sevilla
8	Ante Budimir	Mallorca	13
9	Álvaro Morata	Atlético Madrid	12
10	Santi Cazorla	Villarreal	11
	Willian José	Real Sociedad
	Joselu	Alavés
	Jaime Mata	Getafe
	Lucas Pérez	Alavés
	Sergio Ramos	Real Madrid
	Roger	Levante

Top assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists[63]
1	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	21
2	Mikel Oyarzabal	Real Sociedad	11
3	Santi Cazorla	Villarreal	9
4	Karim Benzema	Real Madrid	8
	Portu	Real Sociedad
	Luis Suárez	Barcelona
	Roberto Torres	Osasuna
8	Éver Banega	Sevilla	7
	José Campaña	Levante
	Luka Modrić	Real Madrid
	Jesús Navas	Sevilla
	Fabián Orellana	Eibar
	Rodrigo	Valencia

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.^[64]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals against	Matches	Average
1	Thibaut Courtois	Real Madrid	20	34	0.59
2	Jan Oblak	Atlético Madrid	27	38	0.71
3	Unai Simón	Athletic Bilbao	29	33	0.88
4	David Soria	Getafe	37	38	0.97
	Tomáš Vaclík	Sevilla	31	32

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of La Liga hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Round
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Celta Vigo	4–1 (H)	9 November 2019	13
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Mallorca	5–2 (H)	7 December 2019	16
Joaquín	Real Betis	Athletic Bilbao	3–2 (H)	8 December 2019	16
Lionel Messi4	Barcelona	Eibar	5–0 (H)	22 February 2020	25

⁴ – Player scored four goals.

Discipline

^[65][66][67]

Player

• Most yellow cards: 15
  • Gerard Piqué (Barcelona)
  • Damián Suárez (Getafe)
• Most red cards: 2
  • Zouhair Feddal (Real Betis)
  • Nabil Fekir (Real Betis)
  • Lee Kang-in (Valencia)
  • Clément Lenglet (Barcelona)
  • Allan Nyom (Getafe)
  • Facundo Roncaglia (Osasuna)

Team

• Most yellow cards: 130
  • Getafe
• Most red cards: 9
  • Espanyol
  • Real Betis
• Fewest yellow cards: 71
  • Levante
• Fewest red cards: 0
  • Valladolid

Match ball

On 15 April 2019, Puma announced their official partnership with La Liga to manufacture the official match ball for the Liga de Fútbol Profesional. This ended La Liga's 23-year partnership with Nike.^[68]

Average attendances

Matches played under closed doors are not included in the table.

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Barcelona	1,014,604	93,426	58,198	72,472	−3.6%†
2	Real Madrid	867,570	78,237	53,870	66,736	+10.1%†
3	Atlético Madrid	801,127	67,942	45,944	57,223	+2.1%†
4	Real Betis	671,130	54,426	42,578	47,938	+8.6%†
5	Athletic Bilbao	533,364	47,693	33,364	41,028	+0.6%†
6	Valencia	566,772	45,961	37,570	40,484	+2.3%†
7	Sevilla	475,811	42,375	31,453	36,601	+1.4%†
8	Real Sociedad	398,165	36,730	26,446	30,628	+37.6%†
9	Espanyol	296,935	32,084	17,390	22,841	+19.8%†
10	Valladolid	260,496	23,680	16,333	20,038	+6.3%†
11	Levante	243,632	22,543	14,886	18,741	−4.7%†
12	Celta Vigo	229,137	23,614	11,983	17,626	−0.4%†
13	Villarreal	213,788	19,753	12,067	16,445	−1.3%†
14	Granada	212,074	18,895	14,127	16,313	+41.0%1
15	Osasuna	218,165	17,000	13,993	15,583	+5.0%1
16	Mallorca	198,228	19,503	8,174	14,159	+58.6%1
17	Alavés	188,205	17,089	10,053	13,443	−8.6%†
18	Getafe	157,601	15,426	6,536	11,257	+3.9%†
19	Leganés	139,569	11,742	6,404	9,969	−0.5%†
20	Eibar	78,992	7,222	5,350	6,076	+24.6%†
	League total	7,765,365	93,426	5,341	28,868	+7.6%†

Updated to games played on 8 March 2020
Source: World Football
Notes:
1: Team played last season in Segunda División.

Awards

Monthly

Month	Player of the Month		Reference
	Player	Club
September	Martin Ødegaard	Real Sociedad	[69]
October	Karl Toko Ekambi	Villarreal	[70]
November	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	[71]
December	Luis Suárez	Barcelona	[72]
January	Thibaut Courtois	Real Madrid	[73]
February	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	[74]
June	Karim Benzema	Real Madrid	[75]

Notes