The 2012–13 La Liga season (known as the Liga BBVA for sponsorship reasons) was the 82nd since its establishment. The campaign began on 18 August 2012, and concluded on 1 June 2013. Barcelona won the league for a 22nd time, after leading the league the entire season and amassing 100 points, equalling Real Madrid's points record from the previous season.
As in previous years, Nike provided the official ball for all matches, with a new Nike Maxim Liga BBVA model to be used throughout the season for all matches.
Teams A total of 20 teams contested the league, including 17 sides from the 2011–12 season and three promoted from the 2011–12 Segunda División. This included the two top teams from the Segunda División, and the victorious team of the play-offs.
Villarreal CF, Sporting de Gijón and Racing de Santander were relegated to 2012–13 Segunda División the previous season: Villarreal were relegated after twelve years in La Liga, Sporting de Gijón returned to Segunda División after a four-year tenure in La Liga, while Racing de Santander ended ten consecutive seasons in La Liga, the longest period in its history.
The three teams that were relegated were replaced by three 2011–12 Segunda División sides: Deportivo de La Coruña made an immediate return to the top level as Segunda División champion. The second-placing team Celta de Vigo was also promoted to La Liga after a five-year absence. The third promoted team was decided in the promotion play-offs where Real Valladolid returned to La Liga after two seasons in Segunda División.
Stadia and locations
Team Location of stadium Stadium CapacityAthletic Bilbao Bilbao San Mamés 39,750Atlético Madrid Madrid Vicente Calderón 54,851Barcelona Barcelona Camp Nou 99,354Betis Seville Benito Villamarín 52,745 Celta Vigo Vigo Balaídos 31,800 Deportivo La Coruña A Coruña Riazor 34,600Espanyol Barcelona Cornellà-El Prat 40,500Getafe Getafe Coliseum Alfonso Pérez 17,700Granada Granada Nuevo Los Cármenes 22,524Levante Valencia Ciutat de València 25,534Málaga Málaga La Rosaleda 28,963Mallorca Palma Iberostar Stadium 23,142Osasuna Pamplona El Sadar 19,553Rayo Vallecano Madrid Campo de Vallecas 15,489Real Madrid Madrid Santiago Bernabéu 85,454Real Sociedad San Sebastián Anoeta 32,076Sevilla Seville Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán 45,500Valencia Valencia Mestalla 55,000 Valladolid Valladolid José Zorrilla 26,512Zaragoza Zaragoza La Romareda 34,596
Personnel and sponsorship Team Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsorAthletic Bilbao Marcelo Bielsa Umbro PetronorAtlético Madrid Diego Simeone Gabi Nike Azerbaijan, Huawei and KyoceraBarcelona Tito Vilanova Carles Puyol Nike Qatar Foundation, UNICEF and TV3Betis Pepe Mel Juanma Macron Cirsa and AndalucíaCelta de Vigo Paco Herrera Borja Oubiña Li-Ning Citroën and Estrella Galicia Manuel Pablo Lotto Estrella GaliciaEspanyol Javier Aguirre Cristian Álvarez Puma CancúnGetafe Luis García Plaza Jaime Gavilán Joma Confremar and IG MarketsGranada Lucas Alcaraz Manuel Lucena Luanvi Caja GranadaLevante Kelme Comunitat ValencianaMálaga Manuel Pellegrini Jesús Gámez Nike UNESCOMallorca Gregorio Manzano José Nunes Macron Riviera MayaOsasuna José Luis Mendilibar Patxi Puñal Astore Lacturale and NevirRayo Vallecano Paco Jémez Piti Erreà Real Madrid José Mourinho Iker Casillas Adidas BWINReal Sociedad Philippe Montanier Xabi Prieto Nike Canal+ and KutxaSevilla Unai Emery Andrés Palop Umbro InterwettenValencia Ernesto Valverde David Albelda Joma JinKO SolarValladolid Miroslav Đukić Javier Baraja Kappa El Norte de CastillaZaragoza Manolo Jiménez Javier Paredes Mercury Proniño and Canal+ 1. Huawei is the sponsor for select matches. 2. On the back of shirt. 3. Barcelona makes a donation to UNICEF in order to display the charity's logo on the back of the club's kit. 4. On the shorts. 5. Málaga makes a donation to UNESCO in order to display the charity's logo on the club's kit. 6. On the left sleeve.
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Position in table Barcelona Pep Guardiola End of contract 30 June 2012 Tito Vilanova 13 June 2012 Pre-Season Valencia Unai Emery 30 June 2012 Mauricio Pellegrino 4 June 2012 Rayo Vallecano José Ramón Sandoval 30 June 2012 Paco Jémez 14 June 2012 Granada Abel Resino 30 June 2012 Juan Antonio Anquela 18 June 2012 Espanyol Mauricio Pochettino Mutual consent 26 November 2012 Javier Aguirre 28 November 2012 20th Valencia Mauricio Pellegrino Sacked 1 December 2012 Voro (caretaker) 1 December 2012 12th Voro (caretaker) End of tenure as caretaker 5 December 2012 Ernesto Valverde 3 December 2012 Deportivo La Coruña José Luis Oltra Sacked 30 December 2012 Domingos Paciência 31 December 2012 20th Sevilla Míchel 14 January 2013 Unai Emery 14 January 2013 12th Granada Juan Antonio Anquela 30 January 2013 Lucas Alcaraz 30 January 2013 17th Mallorca Joaquín Caparrós 4 February 2013 Gregorio Manzano 5 February 2013 19th Deportivo La Coruña Domingos Paciência Mutual consent 11 February 2013 Fernando Vázquez 11 February 2013 20th Celta de Vigo Paco Herrera Sacked 18 February 2013 Abel Resino 18 February 2013 18th
League table
Results
Awards
La Liga Awards La Liga's governing body, the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, honoured the competition's best players and coach with LFP Awards.
AwardRecipientBest Player Lionel Messi (Barcelona)Best Coach Diego Simeone (Atlético Madrid) Best Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (Atlético Madrid)Best Defender Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)Best Midfielder(s) Asier Illarramendi (Real Sociedad) Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona)Best Forward Lionel Messi (Barcelona)Most valuable player Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) Team of the Year
Team of the Year Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois (Atlético Madrid) Defenders Carlos Martínez (Real Sociedad) Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) Miranda (Atlético Madrid) Filipe Luís (Atlético Madrid) Midfielders Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona) Isco (Málaga) Antoine Griezmann (Real Sociedad) Forwards Lionel Messi (Barcelona) Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) Radamel Falcao (Atlético Madrid)
Top goalscorers The Pichichi Trophy is awarded by newspaper Marca to the player who scores the most goals in a season.
Rank Player Club Goals1 Lionel MessiBarcelona462 Cristiano RonaldoReal Madrid343 Radamel FalcaoAtlético Madrid284 Álvaro NegredoSevilla255 Roberto SoldadoValencia246 Rubén CastroReal Betis18 PitiRayo Vallecano8 Gonzalo HiguaínReal Madrid169 Aritz AdurizAthletic Bilbao14 Hélder PostigaZaragoza Carlos VelaReal Sociedad
Top assists RankPlayerClubAssists1 Andrés IniestaBarcelona16 Mesut ÖzilReal Madrid3 Lionel MessiBarcelona124 Karim BenzemaReal Madrid11 Cesc FàbregasBarcelona6 Ivan RakitićSevilla10 Cristiano RonaldoReal Madrid8 Ibai GómezAthletic Bilbao9 KokeAtlético Madrid Alexis SánchezBarcelona Carlos VelaReal Sociedad
Zamora Trophy The Ricardo Zamora Trophy is 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. RankPlayerClubGoals againstMatchesAverage1 Thibaut CourtoisAtlético Madrid29372 Víctor ValdésBarcelona33313 Willy CaballeroMálaga4234 Andrés FernándezOsasuna46375 Claudio BravoReal Sociedad4031 Source: Marca
Fair Play award This award was given annually since 1999 to the team with the best fair play during the season. This ranking takes into account aspects such as cards, suspension of matches, audience behaviour and other penalties. This section not only aims to determine the best fair play, but also serves to break the tie in teams that are tied in all the other rules: points, head-to-head, goal difference and goals scored.
RankClubMatches Total Points 1Barcelona 38 56 2 0 426 22 – – 74 2Valladolid 38 77 3 0 – 15 – – 88 3Real Sociedad 38 93 2 0 – 18 – – 102 4Real Madrid 38 90 4 1 42 – – – 105 5Atlético Madrid 38 98 4 0 – – – – 106 6Málaga 38 92 2 2 – 19 – – 107 7Granada 38 104 4 1 – – – – 115 8Mallorca 38 91 5 3 – 27, 35 – – 120 9Deportivo La Coruña 38 93 6 2 – 24, 30 – – 121 10Celta Vigo 38 94 3 0 428 25, 21 2 Mild3, 9 – 124 11Levante 38 108 5 2 – 27, 27 – – 134 12Athletic Bilbao 38 114 6 3 – – – – 135 13Sevilla 38 98 6 6 – 16 1 Mild6 – 138 14Real Betis 38 112 4 3 – 17 2 Mild3, 17 – 144 15Getafe 38 109 3 5 431 36, 15, 19 – – 14916Osasuna 38 109 3 5 42 316, 21, 37 1 Mild10 – 154Valencia 38 124 4 4 – 210 – – 18Rayo Vallecano 38 131 2 2 – 29, 23 1 Mild11 – 156 19Zaragoza 38 124 6 4 – 38, 9, 25 – – 163 20Espanyol 38 139 8 4 412 34, 20 – – 186
Source: 2012–13 Fair Play Rankings Season
Sources of cards and penalties: Referee's reports, Competition Committee's Sanctions, Appeal Committee Resolutions and RFEF section about Fair Play
Season statistics
Scoring First goal of the season: Fabrice Olinga for Málaga against Celta Vigo (18 August 2012) Last goal of the season: Piti for Rayo Vallecano against Athletic Bilbao (1 June 2013)
Hat-tricks
Player For Against Result Date Atlético Madrid Athletic Bilbao 4–0 (H) Real Madrid Deportivo La Coruña 5–1 (H) Barcelona Deportivo La Coruña 5–4 (A) 5 Atlético Madrid Deportivo La Coruña 6–0 (H) Real Sociedad Real Madrid 3–4 (A) Real Madrid Getafe 4–0 (H) 4 Barcelona Osasuna 5–1 (H) Real Madrid Sevilla 4–1 (H) Sevilla Celta Vigo 4–1 (H) Barcelona Mallorca 5–0 (H) 4 Sevilla Valencia 4–3 (H)
4 Player scored 4 goals 5 Player scored 5 goals
Clean sheets Most clean sheets: 20 Atlético Madrid Fewest clean sheets: 5 Mallorca
Discipline Most yellow cards (club): 139 Espanyol Fewest yellow cards (club): 56 Barcelona Most yellow cards (player): 19 Cristian Săpunaru (Zaragoza) Most red cards (club): 12 Sevilla Fewest red cards (club): 2 Barcelona Real Sociedad Most red cards (player): 4 Alejandro Arribas (Osasuna)
Overall Most wins - Barcelona (32) Fewest wins - Deportivo La Coruña (8) Most draws - Real Sociedad (12) Fewest draws - Barcelona (4) Most losses - Zaragoza (22) Fewest losses - Barcelona (2) Most goals scored - Barcelona (115) Fewest goals scored - Osasuna (33) Most goals conceded - Mallorca (72) Fewest goals conceded - Atlético Madrid (31)
Attendances
FC Barcelona drew the highest average home attendance in the 2012-13 edition of La Liga.
See also List of Spanish football transfers summer 2012 List of Spanish football transfers winter 2012–13 2012–13 Segunda División 2012–13 Copa del Rey
References
External links
LFP.es LigaBBVA.com sportYou.es Inside Spanish Football