Barcelona on top, World Cup looms: 10 things we learned this week in La Liga Santander

What has been going on in LaLiga this past week? Here are 10 of the top stories, from the players called up for the World Cup to the Basque’s teams’ rise into the Champions League spots.

The past week brought up the final round of LaLiga Santander action before the World Cup, with several eye-catching results, including a hard-fought comeback win for FC Barcelona. Here’s all you need to know.

FC Barcelona go into the World Cup break top of the table

The LaLiga Santander season has now paused for the 2022 World Cup, with the action in Spanish football’s top division not returning until New Year’s weekend. It’s FC Barcelona who’ll sit top of the LaLiga Santander table during the World Cup, as the Blaugrana have taken 37 points from the first 14 matchdays, while Real Madrid are just behind on 35 points.

Barça can also win without Lewandowski

Robert Lewandowski has undoubtedly been the star man for FC Barcelona so far this season, as the Polish striker has scored an incredible 13 goals across the first 14 rounds. However, he received a first-half red card in the team’s most recent match, against high-flying CA Osasuna. Barça were still able to win 2-1, though, with the Catalan side showing great character to overcome that setback and collect another three points.

Champions League football might be returning to the Basque Country

There are not one but two Basque teams in the Champions League positions as LaLiga Santander pauses for the World Cup break. Real Sociedad defeated Sevilla FC 2-1 and Athletic Club overcame Real Valladolid 3-0 in Matchday 14, meaning the former sit third and the team from Bilbao are fourth at this moment in time.

Vedat Muriqi is in red hot form

Vedat Muriqi continued his red hot form in Matchday 14, scoring the winning goal as RCD Mallorca defeated Atlético de Madrid 1-0 on Wednesday. That was his fifth consecutive league game in which he’d scored – the hottest goalscoring streak in Europe’s top five leagues – taking his tally for the campaign up to eight

Elche CF will move onto their third coach of the season

Given that Elche CF remain bottom of the LaLiga Santander table, Los Franjiverdes are looking for solutions and they have decided that they’ll hire another new coach for when the campaign resumes. The club started the season with Francisco in charge before replacing him with Jorge Almirón, but the Argentine has been dismissed too. A new coach will be hired during the World Cup break.

Luis Enrique trusts in La Liga Santander talent

Spain coach Luis Enrique has named his 26-man squad for the World Cup and the vast majority of the players currently ply their trade in LaLiga Santander. 18 of those selected play for a Spanish club, with six different teams represented, namely Athletic Club, Atlético de Madrid, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia CF and Villarreal CF.

The stars of La Liga Santander will be in Qatar

Many other stars of LaLiga Santander will also be in Qatar. For example, Vinícius, Rodrygo and Raphinha will lead the line for Brazil, Antoine Griezmann and Karim Benzema will do so for France, Luka Modrić will captain Croatia, Takefusa Kubo will bring flair to Japan’s squad, Ronald Araújo has recovered enough from injury to make the Uruguay squad, Kang-in Lee will represent South Korea, Thibaut Courtois is one of four LaLiga Santander players in the Belgium team, Nemanja Gudelj is one of six Spain-based players called up by Serbia and Robert Lewandowski will lead Poland. 

Real Madrid will meet Liverpool again

We also learned this past week who Real Madrid, Sevilla FC and FC Barcelona will meet when the UEFA competitions resume in 2023. Real Madrid have been paired with Liverpool in the Champions League last 16, while FC Barcelona will take on Manchester United and Sevilla FC will face PSV in the Europa League playoff round. Real Betis, Real Sociedad and Villarreal CF are all still alive in continental competition too, but have byes for the next rounds in the Europa League and Conference League.  

The Copa del Rey is up and running

The first round of the 2022/23 Copa del Rey took place over the weekend and 16 of the 20 LaLiga Santander teams were involved at this stage. 14 of them progressed to the next round, with only UD Almería and Cádiz CF having their cup dreams ended early. There were some big scorelines, with Villarreal CF even recording their largest ever margin of victory by defeating Santa Amalia 9-0.

La Liga SmartBank isn’t stopping

Even though LaLiga Santander has now paused because of the World Cup, there is still high-quality club football taking place in Spain as LaLiga SmartBank, the country’s second division, is continuing. There are some blockbuster fixtures coming up, such as the Basque derby between promotion chasers SD Eibar and Deportivo Alavés on November 20th or the Canary Islands derby between UD Las Palmas and CD Tenerife on November 26th.