La Liga 2023-24: Top five performers in Real Madrid’s run to 36th title

Real Madrid secured its 36th La Liga title on Saturday after rival FC Barcelona succumbed to a 4-2 defeat against second-placed Girona.

Carlo Ancelotti’s Madrid extended its lead to an unassailable 13 points at the top of the table, winning the league with four games to spare. Madrid can now fully turn its focus towards the UEFA Champions League semifinal second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium against Bayern Munich, with the tie level at 2-2.

Despite the departure of star player Karim Benzema in the summer, Real Madrid still managed to top the goalscoring charts in the league with 74 goals so far. Defensively, even with injuries to Thibaut Courtois, David Alaba and Eder Militao, Madrid still conceded the least amount of goals (22).

Let’s take a look at the standout performers for Real Madrid in La Liga this season:

Jude Bellingham

Jude Bellingham arrived from Borussia Dortmund with a hefty price tag of USD 110 million and the English youngster has lived up to the expectations in his first year in Spain.

He has made 26 appearances for Real Madrid in the league and leads the club’s scoring chart with 18 goals, while also assisting four. He is only two goals behind Girona’s Artem Dovbyk for most goals in the league this season.

Apart from his goals and assists, his leadership in midfield has been an additional boost for his side in its quest to secure the 36th La Liga title, scoring the winning goals in both matches against Barcelona this season.

Andriy Lunin

When Thibaut Courtois was ruled out due to injury at the beginning of the season, Real Madrid signed Kepa Arizzabalaga from Chelsea, only for him to become second choice keeper to Ukrainian Andriy Lunin.

In his 20 appearances in the league, the 25-year-old kept 10 clean sheets while letting in 13 goals so far. He leads the league in save percentage with 79.3 per cent and has been an integral part of Real’s success this season, in both domestic and European competitions.

Toni Kroos

While the question remains if this will be Toni Kroos’ final season at Madrid, he has shown no signs of stopping after his return to form in the second half of the season.

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Despite a slow start, the 34-year-old returned to his role of dictating the tempo of the game, and made 30 appearances for his team in the league, providing seven assists and scoring one goal so far.

He has a pass completion percentage of 91.2 after completing 2045 passes out of an attempted 2242.

He has also contributed immensely in the defensive third, often playing deeper than usual, while also putting in long balls over the top for the quick attackers in Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo.

Federico Valverde

The 25-year-old Uruguayan has featured in every match in the league, starting 30 of the 34 games so far, scoring one goal and assisting seven.

With a pass completion percentage of 89.5, he seems to be enjoying the more central role he was given this season, allowing him to take more touches during build-up play.

No one has played more minutes for Real Madrid this season in the league and his ability to play box-to-box and recycle possession, which allows Bellingham to press high up the pitch.

He scored his only goal in the league this season in a 2-1 comeback win against Real Sociedad in the fifth match of the season.

Antonio Rudiger

The 31-year-old German began the season in a cloud of uncertainty after centre-back partners Militao and Alaba were ruled out for a long period due to Injuries.

Madrid found sufficient replacements in Nacho and Aurelien Tchouameni while Rudiger held his ground on the left side.

Playing 29 matches this season, he significantly improved his successful tackle percentage to 78.9 per cent from 60.9 per cent last season.

He has kept 16 clean sheets so far in the league while conceding only 18 goals.