La Liga: From one big match to another: El Gran Derbi awaits

The Spanish La Liga awaits another big match this weekend as Sevilla host traditional rivals Real Betis in one of the most exciting games of the season — El Gran Derbi. Real Betis and Sevilla FC will lock horns in a hard-fought match as one team battles for a place in Europe and the other seeks to put any chance of getting drawn into the relegation dogfight to bed.

Real Betis come out on top on aerial duels and crosses, while Sevilla FC top the stats for passes in the attacking zone, in the first third and for overall passes completed.

While Sevilla and Real Betis will face off in El Gran Derbi, table toppers Real Madrid will hope to ride the winning momentum after the El Clasico win against Barcelona.

As Real Madrid won the match, Jude Bellingham proved he is always decisive in El Clasico.

As occurred in the reverse fixture, Bellingham won the game with a great goal in the dying minutes. Although given his position, fans were expecting a playmaker, his main task has been scoring goals, so much so that he is now the second-highest scorer in the league.

However, he remains instrumental when it comes to creating goalscoring chances and is the La Liga player with the most passes in the final third. He also makes the podium on high-impact actions and is one of the eight players to take on opponents the most and do so most successfully. He is one of the standout players in the entire competition.

As they go into another week of action, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti practically has the league title in his pocket.

There has been little to criticise in Real Madrid’s play throughout these 32 matches. At this juncture in La Liga, Los Blancos have established themselves as the leading team in link-up play and passing.

They are the side who make the most passes in the final third and they make these passes most effectively, with a passing accuracy of 86%. If we focus on their total passes, we can also see that they are the most effective units overall. All of these figures, and many more, reflect a system which has allowed Real Madrid to score the most goals and virtually wrap up the La Liga title.

Isco is still unstoppable

Not even injury has managed to dent the performance levels of a player who remains the cornerstone of his team and a leading player in La Liga.

Isco has created the most high-impact actions in the entire division – in other words, actions which create a goalscoring opportunity for his team. These can be passes, beating a player or carries which lead to a chance on goal. Since Isco has rediscovered himself at Real Betis, the balance has returned to the team. As illustrated by his spells on the sidelines, the team perform better when he is on the field of play.

Successful long passes

These comprise passes of over 30 metres with which the passer successfully reaches a receiving teammate. Teams who generate more long, vertical passes are capable of playing a more direct game. Sevilla FC are the team that plays the second-most long passes in La Liga.