The 2017–18 La Liga season, also known as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, was the 87th since its establishment. The season began on 18 August 2017 and concluded on 20 May 2018. The fixtures were released on 21 July 2017.
Real Madrid were the defending champions. Barcelona, under new manager Ernesto Valverde, won the league title on 29 April 2018 with four matches to spare. It was the second part of a double-winning season for Barcelona, who also won the 2018 Copa del Rey final.
Levante, Girona, and Getafe were the newly promoted clubs competing in the season, with Girona entering La Liga for the first time in its history. At the end of the season, Málaga, Las Palmas, and Deportivo La Coruña were all relegated to the Segunda División.
Summary Prior to the season, several teams hired new managers, among them the previous season's runners-up Barcelona, who enlisted the services of Ernesto Valverde from Athletic Bilbao after the exit of Luis Enrique. Meanwhile, Valencia, who had struggled in the previous campaign, hired Marcelino.
In the transfer window, Barcelona were involved in the new world record transfer, selling Brazilian forward Neymar to French club Paris Saint-Germain for €222 million. They replaced him with young Frenchman Ousmane Dembélé, who signed for an initial €105 million fee that could rise to €150 million. Defending champions Real Madrid sold striker Álvaro Morata to Chelsea for €80 million and lost veteran defender Pepe to Turkey's Beşiktaş on a free transfer, while its largest fee paid during the window was €24 million for young defender Théo Hernandez from city rivals Atlético Madrid.
Barcelona first topped the table on 16 September after winning 5–0 in its third match of the season against neighbours Espanyol, eventually making a run of seven wins from the start of the season that ended with a 1–1 draw at Atlético Madrid. Valencia improved on its previous campaign and began its new season well, with Marcelino getting the best out of players such as Italian striker Simone Zaza and on-loan Portuguese winger Gonçalo Guedes. Real Madrid struggled in the first half of the season, with problems including a smaller squad, injuries and the comparatively poorer goalscoring form of Cristiano Ronaldo relative to recent seasons.
In January 2018, Barcelona added to its attack by spending €160 million on Brazilian Philippe Coutinho from Liverpool, while the end of a transfer ban allowed Atlético to register Diego Costa and Vitolo for action. Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane made no signings. Málaga were the first team to be relegated, ending its ten-season stay in La Liga with its descent confirmed after a 0–1 loss against Levante on 19 April. Three days later, Las Palmas' relegation was also confirmed after the Canarian team lost 0–4 at home to Alavés to end its three-year top flight status.
On 29 April, Barcelona sealed its 25th league title with a 4–2 win at Deportivo La Coruña, with Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick. Barcelona still had four matches to play, and it was the second part of its double, having earlier won the 2018 Copa del Rey Final. The result also made Deportivo the final of the three relegated teams, sending them back to Segunda División for the first time in four years.
A day later, Real Betis, under new manager Quique Setién, booked its entry to the UEFA Europa League following a 2–1 win over Málaga. Betis had a chance of occupying Spain's fourth UEFA Champions League spot after Barcelona, Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid, but that was soon taken by Valencia, which returned to the competition for the first time in three years. In its second-last match of the season, Sevilla drew 2–2 with city rivals Betis to confirm seventh place and qualification for the UEFA Europa League at the expense of Getafe. Barcelona were on track to complete the first unbeaten La Liga season since the Spanish Civil War (and first in a 38-match season), but surprisingly lost its 37th match 4–5 at Levante, having only conceded 24 goals all season to that point.
Teams Promotion and relegation (pre-season) A total of 20 teams competed in the league: the 17 sides from the 2016–17 season and the three promoted from the 2016–17 Segunda División. This latter three included the two top teams from the Segunda División and the winners of the play-offs.
Levante was the first team from Segunda División to achieve promotion, after a one-year absence from La Liga, on 29 April 2017 after winning 1–0 against Oviedo. Girona were promoted as the runners-up after drawing 0–0 against Zaragoza on 4 June 2017; this was its first promotion to the top division. It became the 62nd team to participate in the Spanish top level league. Getafe was the last to be promoted after defeating Huesca and Tenerife in the play-offs, one year after its relegation.
The three promoted clubs replaced Sporting Gijón, Osasuna and Granada, which were relegated at the end of the previous season, ending their top flight spells of two, one and six years respectively.
Stadia and locations
Atlético Madrid played for the first season at their new stadium, Wanda Metropolitano, replacing the Vicente Calderón Stadium, where they played since its opening in 1966.
Deportivo La Coruña signed a sponsorship contract with Abanca for renaming their stadium as Abanca-Riazor.
Real Betis completed their stadium renovation and it was grown to 60,720 seats, becoming the fourth biggest stadium in Spain. Meanwhile, after their first promotion ever to La Liga, Girona expanded Estadi Montilivi temporarily for hosting 13,450 spectators.
Team Location Stadium Capacity Alavés Vitoria-Gasteiz Mendizorrotza Athletic Bilbao Bilbao San Mamés Atlético Madrid Madrid Wanda Metropolitano Barcelona Barcelona Camp Nou Celta Vigo Vigo Balaídos Deportivo La Coruña A Coruña Abanca-Riazor Eibar Eibar Ipurua Espanyol Cornellà de Llobregat RCDE Stadium Getafe Getafe Coliseum Alfonso Pérez Girona Girona Montilivi Las Palmas Las Palmas Gran Canaria Leganés Leganés Butarque Levante Valencia Ciutat de València Málaga Málaga La Rosaleda Real Betis Seville Benito Villamarín Real Madrid Madrid Santiago Bernabéu Real Sociedad San Sebastián Anoeta Sevilla Seville Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Valencia Valencia Mestalla Villarreal Villarreal Estadio de la Cerámica
Personnel and sponsorship Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor (caretaker), Granitos Buenavista David García Acerbis Gran Canaria, Grupo DISA, IOC, Kalise Menorquina, beCordial Sports, Binter Canarias, Volkswagen Domingo AlonsoGreenearth, Estadio Benito Villamarín, Wiko, Reale Seguros, BeSoccer (caretaker), Jawwy 1. On the back of shirt. 2. On the sleeves. 3. On the shorts.
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner ofdepartureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate ofappointmentAthletic Bilbao Ernesto ValverdeResigned23 May 2017Pre-season José Ángel Ziganda24 May 2017Barcelona Luis EnriqueEnd of contract29 May 2017 Ernesto Valverde29 May 2017Las Palmas Quique Setién30 June 2017 Manolo Márquez3 July 2017Valencia VoroEnd of interim spell 11 May 2017 11 May 2017Real Betis Alexis Trujillo26 May 2017 Quique Setién26 May 2017Celta Vigo Eduardo BerizzoEnd of contract30 June 2017 Juan Carlos Unzué28 May 2017Sevilla Jorge SampaoliSigned by Argentina20 May 2017 Eduardo Berizzo1 June 2017Alavés Mauricio PellegrinoResigned29 May 2017 Luis Zubeldía17 June 2017Alavés Luis ZubeldíaSacked17 September 201720th Gianni De Biasi22 September 2017Villarreal Fran Escribá25 September 201714th Javier Calleja25 September 2017Las Palmas Manolo MárquezResigned26 September 201715th Pako Ayestarán27 September 2017Deportivo La Coruña Pepe MelSacked24 October 201717th Cristóbal Parralo24 October 2017Alavés Gianni De Biasi27 November 201720th Abelardo Fernández1 December 2017Las Palmas Pako Ayestarán30 November 201719th 21 December 2017Sevilla Eduardo Berizzo22 December 20175th 28 December 2017Málaga Míchel13 January 201819th 13 January 2018Deportivo La Coruña Cristóbal Parralo4 February 201818th 5 February 2018Levante Juan Muñiz4 March 201817th Paco López4 March 2018Real Sociedad Eusebio Sacristán18 March 201815th Imanol Alguacil18 March 2018Espanyol Quique Sánchez Flores20 April 201816th David Gallego (caretaker)20 April 2018Sevilla Vincenzo Montella28 April 20187th Joaquín Caparrós (caretaker)28 April 2018
League table Standings
Results
Season statistics
Scoring First goal of the season: Gabriel for Leganés against Alavés (18 August 2017) Last goal of the season: Philippe Coutinho for Barcelona against Real Sociedad (20 May 2018)
Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goals1 Lionel MessiBarcelona342 Cristiano RonaldoReal Madrid263 Luis SuárezBarcelona254 Iago AspasCelta Vigo225 Cristhian StuaniGirona216 Antoine GriezmannAtlético Madrid197 Maxi GómezCelta Vigo178 Gareth BaleReal Madrid16 Gerard MorenoEspanyol RodrigoValencia
Top assists Rank Player Club Assists1 Pablo FornalsVillarreal12 Lionel MessiBarcelona Luis SuárezBarcelona4 Karim BenzemaReal Madrid105 Antoine GriezmannAtlético Madrid9 Gonçalo GuedesValencia Pione SistoCelta Vigo Daniel WassCelta Vigo9 Jordi AlbaBarcelona8 José ÁngelEibar Andrés GuardadoReal Betis José Luis MoralesLevante
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.
RankPlayerClubGoalsagainstMatchesAverage1 Jan OblakAtlético Madrid22370.592 Marc-André ter StegenBarcelona28370.763 Vicente GuaitaGetafe26330.794 NetoValencia33331.005 Pau LópezEspanyol31281.11
Hat-tricks
Player For Against Result Date Round Lionel MessiBarcelonaEspanyol5–0 (H)9 September 20173 Simone ZazaValenciaMálaga5–0 (H)19 September 20175 Lionel Messi4BarcelonaEibar6–1 (H)19 September 20175 Cédric BakambuVillarrealEibar3–0 (H)1 October 20177 Iago AspasCelta VigoLas Palmas5–2 (A)16 October 20178 Ibai GómezAlavésGirona3–2 (A)4 December 201714 Michael OlungaGironaLas Palmas6–0 (H)13 January 201819 Cristiano RonaldoReal MadridReal Sociedad5–2 (H)10 February 201823 Luis SuárezBarcelonaGirona6–1 (H)24 February 201825 Antoine GriezmannAtlético MadridSevilla5–2 (A)25 February 201825 Antoine Griezmann4Atlético MadridLeganés4–0 (H)28 February 201826 Cristiano Ronaldo4Real MadridGirona6–3 (H)18 March 201829 Iago AspasCelta VigoSevilla4–0 (H)7 April 201831 Lionel MessiBarcelonaLeganés3–1 (H)7 April 201831 Carlos BaccaVillarrealCelta Vigo4–1 (H)28 April 201835 Lionel MessiBarcelonaDeportivo La Coruña4–2 (A)29 April 201835 Emmanuel BoatengLevanteBarcelona5–4 (H)13 May 201837 Philippe CoutinhoBarcelonaLevante4–5 (A)13 May 201837
Note 4 Player scored 4 goals; (H) – Home; (A) – Away
Discipline
Most yellow cards (club): 134 Getafe Fewest yellow cards (club): 62 Real Sociedad Most yellow cards (player): 16 Jefferson Lerma (Levante) Most red cards (club): 8 Málaga Fewest red cards (club): 0 Athletic Bilbao Girona Most red cards (player): 2 Jordi Amat (Real Betis) Zdravko Kuzmanović (Málaga) Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) Sergi Roberto (Barcelona)
Overall Most wins - Barcelona (28) Fewest wins - Las Palmas and Malaga (5) Most draws - Espanyol, Levante and Bilbao (13) Fewest draws - Alavés (2) Most losses - Malaga (28) Fewest losses - Barcelona (1) Most goals scored - Barcelona (99) Fewest goals scored - Las Palmas and Malaga (24) Most goals conceded - Deportivo La Coruña (76) Fewest goals conceded - Atlético Madrid (22)
Average attendances A match played behind closed doors is not included.
Awards Seasonal La Liga's governing body, the Liga de Fútbol Profesional, honoured the competition's best players and coach with the La Liga Awards.
Award Recipient Best Player (Barcelona) Best Goalkeeper Jan Oblak (Atlético Madrid) Best Coach Marcelino García Toral (Valencia) Team of the Year