2011–12 La Liga

La Liga 2011–12
Season information
Dates	27 August 2011–13 May 2012
Winners	Real Madrid 32nd title
Relegated	Villarreal Sporting Gijón Racing Santander
Continental cup qualifiers
Champions League	Real Madrid Barcelona Valencia Málaga
Europa League	Athletic Bilbao Atlético Madrid Levante
Season statistics
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1,050
Top goalscorer	Lionel Messi (50 goals)
Biggest home win	Barcelona 8–0 Osasuna (17 September 2011)
Biggest away win	Rayo Vallecano 0–7 Barcelona (29 April 2012)
Highest scoring	Barcelona 8–0 Osasuna (17 September 2011) Real Madrid 6–2 Rayo Vallecano (24 September 2011) Real Madrid 7–1 Osasuna (6 November 2011) Sevilla 2–6 Real Madrid (17 December 2011) Levante 3–5 Rayo Vallecano (19 February 2012) Barcelona 5–3 Granada (20 March 2012)
← 2010–11	2012–13 →

The 2011–12 La Liga season (known as the Liga BBVA for sponsorship reasons) was the 81st season of the top level Spanish association football competition. The campaign began on 27 August 2011, and ended on 13 May 2012. Real Madrid won a record 32nd title following victory over Athletic Bilbao on 2 May 2012.

Real Madrid broke a number of league records, including most points in a single season (100), most goals scored (121), best goal difference (+89), most away wins (16), and most overall wins (32). This season also saw Lionel Messi score a record 50 league goals in 37 games. Behind Messi was Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 46 goals; the pair's combined tally of 96 goals was the most ever by two players playing in the same major European league in the same season.

Teams

Deportivo de La Coruña, Hércules CF from Alicante and UD Almería were relegated to the 2011–12 Segunda División after finishing in the bottom three spots of the table at the end of the 2010–11 season. Deportivo were relegated to the Segunda División after 20 seasons of continuous membership in the top football league of Spain, while Almería ended a four-year tenure in La Liga and Hércules made their immediate return to the second level.

The three relegated teams were replaced by three 2010–11 Segunda División sides. Champions Betis, who terminated their second-level status after two years, runners-up Rayo Vallecano, who returned to the top flight after eight seasons at lower levels, earned direct promotion.

The third promoted team was decided in the promotion play-offs where Granada CF returned to the league for the first time in 35 years, having spent 26 of them in Segunda División B and Tercera División.

Stadiums and locations

Team	Club home city	Stadium	Stadium capacity
Athletic Bilbao	Bilbao	San Mamés	39,750
Atlético Madrid	Madrid	Vicente Calderón	54,851
Barcelona	Barcelona	Camp Nou	99,354
Betis	Seville	Benito Villamarín	52,745
Espanyol	Barcelona	Cornellà-El Prat	40,500
Getafe	Getafe	Coliseum Alfonso Pérez	17,700
Granada	Granada	Nuevo Los Cármenes	22,524
Levante	Valencia	Ciutat de València	25,534
Málaga	Málaga	La Rosaleda	28,963
Mallorca	Palma	Iberostar Stadium	23,142
Osasuna	Pamplona	El Sadar	19,553
Racing Santander	Santander	El Sardinero	22,271
Rayo Vallecano	Madrid	Campo de Vallecas	15,489
Real Madrid	Madrid	Santiago Bernabéu	85,454
Real Sociedad	San Sebastián	Anoeta	32,076
Sevilla	Seville	Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán	45,500
Sporting de Gijón	Gijón	El Molinón	29,800
Valencia	Valencia	Mestalla	55,000
Villarreal	Vila-real	El Madrigal	25,000
Zaragoza	Zaragoza	La Romareda	34,596

Personnel and sponsorship

As in the previous years, Nike provided the official ball for all matches, with a new T90 Seitiro model which was used throughout the season.

Team	Head Coach	Captain	Kitmaker	Shirt sponsor
Athletic Bilbao	Marcelo Bielsa	Carlos Gurpegui	Umbro	Petronor
Atlético Madrid	Diego Simeone	Antonio López	Nike	Rixos Hotels, Huawei, and Kyocera
Barcelona	Pep Guardiola	Carles Puyol	Nike	Qatar Foundation, UNICEF and TV3
Espanyol	Mauricio Pochettino	Cristian Álvarez	Li-Ning	Cancún
Getafe	Luis García	Javier Casquero	Joma	Burger King and Confremar
Granada	Abel Resino	Manuel Lucena	Legea	Caja Granada
Levante	Juan Ignacio Martínez	Sergio Ballesteros	Luanvi	Comunitat Valenciana
Málaga	Manuel Pellegrini	Jesús Gámez	Nike	UNESCO
Mallorca	Joaquín Caparrós	José Nunes	Macron	bet-at-home.com
Osasuna	José Luis Mendilibar	Francisco Puñal	Astore	CAN
Racing Santander	Álvaro Cervera	Pedro Munitis	Slam	Palacios
Rayo Vallecano	José Ramón Sandoval	Míchel	Erreà	Los Vengadores
Real Betis	Pepe Mel	Iriney	RBb	Cirsa
Real Madrid	José Mourinho	Iker Casillas	Adidas	Bwin
Real Sociedad	Philippe Montanier	Mikel Aranburu	Nike	Gipuzkoa Euskararekin Bat
Sevilla	Míchel	Andrés Palop	Li Ning	Interwetten
Sporting de Gijón	Javier Clemente	David Barral	Kappa	Gijón / [[Principado de Asturias|Asturias
Valencia	Unai Emery	David Albelda	Joma	JinKO Solar, Herbalife and MSC Cruceros
Villarreal	Miguel Ángel Lotina	Marcos Senna	Xtep	Comunitat Valenciana
Zaragoza	Manolo Jiménez	Javier Paredes	Adidas	Proniño

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Atlético Madrid	Quique Sánchez Flores	End of contract	24 May 2011	Gregorio Manzano	8 June 2011	7th (2010–11)
Real Sociedad	Martín Lasarte	Sacked	24 May 2011	Philippe Montanier	4 June 2011	15th (2010–11)
Sevilla	Gregorio Manzano	End of contract	25 May 2011	Marcelino	3 June 2011	5th (2010–11)
Getafe	Míchel	End of contract	30 May 2011	Luis García	4 June 2011	16th (2010–11)
Racing Santander	Marcelino	Mutual consent	3 June 2011	Héctor Cúper	29 June 2011	12th (2010–11)
Levante	Luis García	Mutual consent	3 June 2011	Juan Ignacio Martínez	9 June 2011	14th (2010–11)
Athletic Bilbao	Joaquín Caparrós	End of contract	7 July 2011	Marcelo Bielsa	7 July 2011	6th (2010–11)
Mallorca	Michael Laudrup	Resigned	27 September 2011	Miguel Ángel Nadal (as caretaker)	28 September 2011	11th
Mallorca	Miguel Ángel Nadal	End of tenure as caretaker	3 October 2011	Joaquín Caparrós	3 October 2011	11th
Racing Santander	Héctor Cúper	Mutual consent	29 November 2011	Juanjo González	30 November 2011	20th
Villarreal	Juan Carlos Garrido	Sacked	22 December 2011	José Molina	22 December 2011	17th
Atlético Madrid	Gregorio Manzano	Sacked	22 December 2011	Diego Simeone	23 December 2011	10th
Zaragoza	Javier Aguirre	Sacked	30 December 2011	Manolo Jiménez	31 December 2011	20th
Granada	Fabri	Sacked	22 January 2012	Abel Resino	23 January 2012	18th
Sporting de Gijón	Manolo Preciado	Sacked	31 January 2012	Iñaki Tejada (as caretaker)	31 January 2012	19th
Sevilla	Marcelino	Sacked	6 February 2012	Míchel	7 February 2012	11th
Sporting de Gijón	Iñaki Tejada	End of tenure as caretaker	13 February 2012	Javier Clemente	13 February 2012	19th
Racing Santander	Juanjo González	Sacked	7 March 2012	Álvaro Cervera	9 March 2012	18th
Villarreal	José Molina	Sacked	18 March 2012	Miguel Ángel Lotina	19 March 2012	17th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Real Madrid (C)	38	32	4	2	121	32	+89	100	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Barcelona	38	28	7	3	114	29	+85	91
3	Valencia	38	17	10	11	59	44	+15	61
4	Málaga	38	17	7	14	54	53	+1	58	Qualification for the Champions League play-off round
5	Atlético Madrid	38	15	11	12	53	46	+7	56	Qualification for the Europa League group stage
6	Levante	38	16	7	15	54	50	+4	55	Qualification for the Europa League play-off round
7	Osasuna	38	13	15	10	44	61	−17	54
8	Mallorca	38	14	10	14	42	46	−4	52
9	Sevilla	38	13	11	14	48	47	+1	50
10	Athletic Bilbao	38	12	13	13	49	52	−3	49	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round
11	Getafe	38	12	11	15	40	51	−11	47
12	Real Sociedad	38	12	11	15	46	52	−6	47
13	Real Betis	38	13	8	17	47	56	−9	47
14	Espanyol	38	12	10	16	46	56	−10	46
15	Rayo Vallecano	38	13	4	21	53	73	−20	43
16	Zaragoza	38	12	7	19	36	61	−25	43
17	Granada	38	12	6	20	35	56	−21	42
18	Villarreal (R)	38	9	14	15	39	53	−14	41	Relegation to the Segunda División
19	Sporting Gijón (R)	38	10	7	21	42	69	−27	37
20	Racing Santander (R)	38	4	15	19	28	63	−35	27

Source: ESPN
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th head-to-head goals scored; 5th goal difference; 6th number of goals scored; 7th Fair-play points
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	ATH	ATM	FCB	BET	ESP	GET	GCF	LEV	MCF	MLL	OSA	RAC	RVA	RMA	RSO	SFC	RSG	VCF	VIL	ZAR
Athletic Bilbao		3–0	2–2	2–3	3–3	0–0	0–1	3–0	3–0	1–0	3–1	1–1	1–1	0–3	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–3	1–1	2–1
Atlético Madrid	2–1		1–2	0–2	3–1	3–0	2–0	3–2	2–1	1–1	0–0	4–0	3–1	1–4	1–1	0–0	4–0	0–0	3–0	3–1
Barcelona	2–0	5–0		4–2	4–0	4–0	5–3	5–0	4–1	5–0	8–0	3–0	4–0	1–2	2–1	0–0	3–1	5–1	5–0	4–0
Betis	2–1	2–2	2–2		1–1	1–1	1–2	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–2	2–3	2–3	1–1	2–0	2–1	3–1	4–3
Espanyol	2–1	4–2	1–1	1–0		1–0	3–0	1–2	1–2	1–0	1–2	3–1	5–1	0–4	2–2	1–1	0–3	4–0	0–0	0–2
Getafe	0–0	3–2	1–0	1–0	1–1		1–0	1–1	1–3	1–3	2–2	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	5–1	2–0	3–1	0–0	0–2
Granada	2–2	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–1	1–0		2–1	2–1	2–2	1–1	0–0	1–2	1–2	4–1	0–3	2–1	0–1	1–0	1–0
Levante	3–0	2–0	1–2	3–1	3–1	1–2	3–1		3–0	0–0	0–2	1–1	3–5	1–0	3–2	1–0	4–0	0–2	1–0	0–0
Málaga	1–0	0–0	1–4	0–2	2–1	3–2	4–0	1–0		3–1	1–1	3–0	4–2	0–4	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	2–1	5–1
Mallorca	1–1	2–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–2	0–0	1–0	0–1		1–1	2–1	1–0	1–2	2–1	0–0	1–2	1–1	4–0	1–0
Osasuna	2–1	0–1	3–2	2–1	2–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	2–2		0–2	0–0	1–5	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	3–0
Racing Santander	0–1	0–0	0–2	1–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	0–0	1–3	0–3	2–4		1–1	0–0	0–0	0–3	1–1	2–2	1–0	1–0
Rayo Vallecano	2–3	0–1	0–7	3–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	1–2	2–0	0–1	6–0	4–2		0–1	4–0	2–1	1–3	1–2	0–2	0–0
Real Madrid	4–1	4–1	1–3	4–1	5–0	4–2	5–1	4–2	1–1	4–1	7–1	4–0	6–2		5–1	3–0	3–1	0–0	3–0	3–1
Real Sociedad	1–2	0–4	2–2	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–3	3–2	1–0	0–0	3–0	4–0	0–1		2–0	5–1	1–0	1–1	3–0
Sevilla	1–2	1–1	0–2	1–2	0–0	3–0	1–2	1–1	2–1	3–1	2–0	2–2	5–2	2–6	1–0		2–1	1–0	1–2	3–0
Sporting Gijón	1–1	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–2	2–1	2–0	3–2	2–1	2–3	1–1	0–0	2–1	0–3	1–2	1–0		0–1	2–3	1–2
Valencia	1–1	1–0	2–2	4–0	2–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–2	4–0	4–3	4–1	2–3	0–1	1–2	4–0		1–0	1–2
Villarreal	2–2	0–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	1–2	3–1	0–3	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	2–2	3–0	2–2		2–2
Zaragoza	2–0	1–0	1–4	0–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	1–1	2–1	1–2	0–6	2–0	0–1	2–2	0–1	2–1

Source: LFP, Sportec
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Awards

LaLiga Awards

La Liga's governing body, the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, honoured the competition's best players and coach with the LaLiga Awards.

	Recipient
Best Player	Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Best Coach	Pep Guardiola (Barcelona)
Best Goalkeeper	Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)
Best Defender	Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)
Best Midfielder(s)	Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid) Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona)
Best Forward	Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Top goalscorers

The Pichichi Trophy is awarded by the newspaper Marca to the player who scores the most goals in a season.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	50
2	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	46
3	Radamel Falcao	Atlético Madrid	24
4	Gonzalo Higuaín	Real Madrid	22
5	Karim Benzema	Real Madrid	21
6	Fernando Llorente	Athletic Bilbao	17
	Roberto Soldado	Valencia	17
8	Rubén Castro	Real Betis	16
9	Michu	Rayo Vallecano	15
	Arouna Koné	Levante	15

Source: Liga BBVA

Assists table

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Mesut Özil	Real Madrid	17
2	Ángel Di María	Real Madrid	16
	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	16
4	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	12
	Jesús Navas	Sevilla	12
6	Dani Alves	Barcelona	11
7	Xabi Alonso	Real Madrid	9
	Andrés Iniesta	Barcelona	9
	Chory Castro	Mallorca	9

• Source: LFP

Zamora Trophy

The Zamora Trophy is awarded by newspaper Marca to the goalkeeper with least goals-to-games ratio. A goalkeeper must play at least 28 games of 60 or more minutes to be eligible for the trophy.

Rank	Name	Club	Goals Against	Matches	Average
1	Víctor Valdés	Barcelona	28	35	0.80
2	Iker Casillas	Real Madrid	31	37	0.84
3	Thibaut Courtois	Atlético Madrid	41	36	1.14
4	Dudu Aouate	Mallorca	46	36	1.28
5	Miguel Ángel Moyà	Getafe	48	36	1.33

Fair Play award

This award is 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.

Rank	Team	Games								Total Points
1	Barcelona	38	79	2	1	–	19	–	–	91
	Málaga	38	70	2	4	–	–	1 Mild29	–	91
2	Villarreal	38	86	4	2	–	38,13,21	–	–	115
3	Real Sociedad	38	73	6	3	–	224,29	3 Milds7,9,27	–	119
4	Athletic Bilbao	38	101	6	1	–	16	1 Mild20	–	126
5	Real Madrid	38	91	3	2	–	415,25,29,29	1 Mild28	–	128
6	Levante	38	120	5	0	–	–	1 Mild35	–	135
7	Racing Santander	38	117	3	3	–	12	–	–	137
8	Osasuna	38	98	4	2	–	420,27,31,34	1 Serious27	–	138
9	Sporting de Gijón	38	117	5	0	–	120	2 Milds15,20	–	142
10	Rayo Vallecano	38	125	1	2	–	111	1 Mild5	–	143
11	Mallorca	38	118	2	4	–	119	1 Mild30	–	144
12	Atlético Madrid	38	131	2	2	–	–	1 Mild33	–	146
13	Real Betis	38	104	3	4	–	135	5 Milds1,5,14,18,36	–	152
	Valencia	38	127	1	6	–	128	–	–	152
14	Getafe	38	120	4	4	–	33,15,23	–	–	155
15	Sevilla	38	112	6	3	–	–	5 Milds8,13,19,20,35	–	158
16	Espanyol	38	130	4	2	–	26, 17	1 Mild18	–	159
17	Zaragoza	38	126	5	3	–	226,32	1 Mild20	–	160
18	Granada	38	107	4	5	1837	237	1 Very Serious13	–	165

Pedro Zaballa award

Comité Técnico de Árbitros de Fútbol de Las Palmas

Scoring

• First goal of the season:
  Imanol Agirretxe for Real Sociedad against Sporting de Gijón (27 August 2011)
• Last goal of the season:
  Rovérsio for Osasuna against Racing Santander (13 May 2012)

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Reference
Roberto Soldado	Valencia	Racing Santander	4–3 (H)	27 August 2011	[1]
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	Zaragoza	6–0 (A)	28 August 2011	[2]
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Osasuna	8–0 (H)	17 September 2011	[3]
Radamel Falcao	Atlético Madrid	Racing Santander	4–0 (H)	18 September 2011	[4]
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	Rayo Vallecano	6–2 (H)	24 September 2011	[5]
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Atlético Madrid	5–0 (H)	24 September 2011	[6]
Gonzalo Higuaín	Real Madrid	Espanyol	4–0 (A)	2 October 2011	[7]
Gonzalo Higuaín	Real Madrid	Real Betis	4–1 (H)	15 October 2011	[8]
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	Málaga	4–0 (A)	22 October 2011	[9]
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Mallorca	5–0 (H)	29 October 2011	[10]
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	Osasuna	7–1 (H)	6 November 2011	[11]
Cristiano Ronaldo4	Real Madrid	Sevilla	6–2 (A)	17 December 2011	[12]
Radamel Falcao	Atlético Madrid	Real Sociedad	4–0 (A)	21 January 2012	[13]
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Malaga	4–1 (A)	22 January 2012	[14]
Fernando Llorente	Athletic Bilbao	Rayo Vallecano	3–2 (A)	28 January 2012	[15]
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	Levante	4–2 (H)	12 February 2012	[16]
Lionel Messi4	Barcelona	Valencia	5–1 (H)	19 February 2012	[17]
Kalu Uche	Espanyol	Rayo Vallecano	5–1 (H)	11 March 2012	[18]
Roberto Soldado	Valencia	Athletic Bilbao	3–0 (A)	18 March 2012	[19]
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Granada	5–3 (H)	20 March 2012	[20]
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	Atlético Madrid	4–1 (A)	11 April 2012	[21]
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	Malaga	4–1 (H)	2 May 2012	[22]
Lionel Messi4	Barcelona	Espanyol	4–0 (H)	5 May 2012	[23]

⁴ Player scored four goals
(H) - Home ; (A) - Away

See also

• 2011–12 Segunda División

External links

• LigaBBVA.com

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