The 2014–15 La Liga season (known as the Liga BBVA for sponsorship reasons) was the 84th season of the premier association football league in Spain. The campaign began on 23 August 2014, and concluded on 24 May 2015.
Barcelona won its 23rd title on 17 May 2015 after defeating defending champions Atlético Madrid at the Vicente Calderón Stadium, and also equalled the all-time record goal difference of +89 (110 goals scored and 21 conceded), originally set by Real Madrid in the 2011–12 season. Barcelona won the title with 94 points, two more than Real Madrid.
Teams Promotion and relegation (pre-season) A total of 20 teams contest the league, including 17 sides from the 2013–14 season and three promoted from the 2013–14 Segunda División. This includes the two top teams (Eibar and Deportivo La Coruña) from the Segunda División, and the winner of the play-offs, Córdoba.
Eibar became the first club from Segunda División to achieve promotion to La Liga after its 1–0 victory over Alavés on 25 May 2014. Eibar made their La Liga debut in the 2014–15 season.Eibar seal stunning promotion to La Liga; Goal.com, 26 May 2014
Deportivo La Coruña won promotion back to La Liga after one season in Segunda División with a 1–0 victory over Real Jaén on 31 May 2014.Result: Deportivo La Coruna promoted to La Liga; SportsMole, 31 May 2014
Córdoba won the promotion play-off against Las Palmas and returned to the top level after 42 years.
Stadia and locations
Team Location Stadium Capacity Almería Almería Juegos Mediterráneos 21,350Athletic BilbaoBilbaoSan Mamés 53,289Atlético Madrid Madrid Vicente Calderón 54,907Barcelona Barcelona Camp Nou 99,786 Celta Vigo Vigo Balaídos 31,800 Córdoba Córdoba El Arcángel 21,822 Deportivo La Coruña A Coruña Riazor 34,600 Eibar Eibar Ipurua 6,000Elche Elche Martínez Valero 36,017Espanyol Barcelona Power8 Stadium 40,500Getafe Getafe Coliseum Alfonso Pérez 17,393Granada Granada Nuevo Los Cármenes 23,156Levante Valencia Ciutat de València 26,354Málaga Málaga La Rosaleda 30,044 Rayo Vallecano Madrid Vallecas 14,708Real Madrid Madrid Santiago Bernabéu 81,044Real Sociedad San Sebastián Anoeta 32,076Sevilla Seville Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán 45,500Valencia Valencia Mestalla 55,000 Villarreal Villarreal El Madrigal 25,000
Personnel and sponsorship Team Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsorAlmería Miguel Rivera Corona Nike Urcisol.com, Costa de Almería, Vita HoteliersAthletic Bilbao Ernesto Valverde Carlos Gurpegui Nike Petronor/BBK (only in UEFA matches), BBKAtlético Madrid Diego Simeone Gabi Nike Azerbaijan Land of Fire, Plus500, HuaweiBarcelona Luis Enrique Xavi NikeQatar Airways, UNICEF , BekoCelta Vigo Eduardo Berizzo Borja Oubiña Adidas Citroën, Estrella Galicia 0,0 , AbancaCórdoba Abel Gómez Acerbis RD Impagos, Supermercados Piedra, Diputación de Córdoba Víctor Fernández Manuel Pablo Lotto Estrella Galicia 0,0, Abanca Eibar Gaizka Garitano Txema Añibarro Hummel Hierros Servando, Gipuzkoa/Wiko , Eibar Innovación BerrikuntzaElche Fran Escribá Edu Albácar Kelme Gioseppo, Amix, ModaliaEspanyol Sergio González Sergio García Puma Power8, Riviera Maya Getafe Pablo Franco Jaime Gavilán Joma Tecnocasa Group, UEDBet/UED Granada Diego Mainz Joma Solver Sports Capital, Banco Mare Nostrum, Doyen Sports , Coviran, Caja Rural Granada, Herogra, Tejidos MalagónLevante Lucas Alcaraz Juanfran Nike East United, Diputació de ValènciaMálaga Javi Gracia Duda Nike UNESCO, BenahavisRayo Vallecano Paco Jémez Erreà Qbao.com, Nevir, Halcon ViajesReal Madrid Carlo Ancelotti Iker Casillas Adidas Fly EmiratesReal Sociedad David Moyes Xabi Prieto Adidas Qbao.com, Kutxa, Canal+Sevilla Unai Emery Fernando Navarro Warrior Visit MalaysiaValencia Nuno Espírito Santo Dani Parejo Adidas Gol TelevisiónVillarreal Marcelino BrunoXtepPamesa Cerámica, Endavant 1. On the back of shirt. 2. On the sleeves. 3. On the shorts. 4. Barcelona makes a donation to UNICEF to display the charity's logo on the club's kit. 5. Málaga makes a donation to UNESCO in order to display the charity's logo on the club's kit. 6. Referee kits are now being made by Adidas, sponsored by Würth, and Nike has a new match ball, the Ordem LFP. 7. Additionally, 14 teams showed the logo of Sockatyes in their socks since matchday 8 as a result of a sponsorship agreement with the LFP (all except Athletic Bilbao, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Sevilla and Valencia). Also, in these agreement those teams showed the logo of PES2015 during the last 7 matchdays.
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointment Celta Vigo Luis Enrique Resigned 15 May 2014Pre-season Eduardo Berizzo 2 June 2014 Málaga Bernd Schuster End of contract 16 May 2014 Javi Gracia 30 May 2014 Espanyol Javier Aguirre 16 May 2014 Sergio González Soriano 28 May 2014 Barcelona Gerardo Martino Resigned 17 May 2014 Luis Enrique 19 May 2014 Granada Lucas Alcaraz End of contract 28 May 2014 Joaquín Caparrós 28 May 2014 Levante Joaquín Caparrós Signed by Granada 28 May 2014 José Luis Mendilibar 30 May 2014 Valencia Juan Antonio Pizzi Sacked 2 July 2014 Nuno Espírito Santo 4 July 2014 Deportivo La Coruña Fernando Vázquez 8 July 2014 Víctor Fernández 10 July 2014 Córdoba Albert Ferrer 20 October 2014 20th Miroslav Đukić 20 October 2014Djukic será el entrenador del Córdoba; Marca (Spain), 20 October 2014 Levante José Luis Mendilibar 20 October 2014 19th Lucas Alcaraz 21 October 2014Lucas Alcaraz ya es el nuevo entrenador del Levante; As.com, 21 October 2014 Real Sociedad Jagoba Arrasate 2 November 2014 19th David Moyes 10 November 2014David Moyes: Ex-Man Utd boss named Real Sociedad manager; BBC Sport, 10 November 2014 Almería Francisco 9 December 2014 17th Juan Ignacio Martínez 12 December 2014 Getafe Cosmin Contra Signed by Guangzhou R&F 18 December 2014 13th Quique Sánchez Flores 5 January 2015 Granada Joaquín Caparrós Sacked 13 January 2015 20th Abel Resino 19 January 2015 Getafe Quique Sánchez Flores Resigned 26 February 2015 13th Pablo Franco 11 March 2015 Córdoba Miroslav Đukić Sacked 16 March 2015 20th José Antonio Romero 16 March 2015 Almería Juan Ignacio Martínez 5 April 2015 18th Sergi Barjuán 6 April 2015 Deportivo La Coruña Víctor Fernández 8 April 2015 17th Víctor Sánchez 8 April 2015 Granada Abel Resino 1 May 2015 19th José Ramón Sandoval 1 May 2015
Overview On 2 May, Córdoba were relegated with three games left to play in the season, after losing 0–8 at home against Barcelona. Eight days later, Villarreal confirmed sixth place and an entry into the UEFA Europa League with Joel Campbell's winning goal against Elche.
Barcelona, playing with a three-man attack of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez under new manager Luis Enrique, won the title on 17 May with a goal by Messi to defeat holders Atlético Madrid at the Vicente Calderón Stadium. It came exactly a year after Atlético had won their league title at Barcelona's Camp Nou. Real Madrid secured second place on the same day as Barcelona won the title, with a 1–4 win at Espanyol. In the end, Barcelona amassed 94 points, while Real Madrid finished just two points behind, with 92.
The battle for the Champions League was settled in the last ten minutes of the season. Valencia, in fourth place with 74 points, went into the last match of the season at relegation-threatened Almería, facing all three possibilities of direct qualification to the group stage of the Champions League, qualification to the play-off round, or missing out on the Champions League altogether. Valencia won the match 3–2 to secure fourth place, as Atlético Madrid, three points ahead, drew at Granada. Sevilla, with a 3–2 win at Málaga, achieved a record 76 points total without Champions League qualification, finishing fifth. Sevilla however qualified for the Champions League by winning the 2015 UEFA Europa League Final.
Earlier in the season, on 7 February, Atlético Madrid achieved a 4–0 victory over city rivals Real Madrid. It was Real's biggest loss since a 5–0 loss to Barcelona in November 2010.
Despite finishing the season in the 13th position, on 5 June, Elche was relegated to Segunda División due to its financial struggles. Newcomers Eibar, who finished the season in the 18th position, took Elche's place in 2015–16 La Liga.
League table
Results
Season statistics Scoring First goal of the season: Luis Alberto for Málaga against Athletic Bilbao (23 August 2014) Last goal of the season: Marcelo for Real Madrid against Getafe (23 May 2015)
Top goalscorers The Pichichi Trophy is awarded by newspaper Marca to the player who scores the most goals in a season.
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Cristiano RonaldoReal Madrid 482 Lionel MessiBarcelona433 Antoine Griezmann Atlético Madrid22 NeymarBarcelona5 Carlos BaccaSevilla206 Aritz AdurizAthletic Bilbao187 Alberto BuenoRayo Vallecano178 Luis SuárezBarcelona169 Karim BenzemaReal Madrid1510 Sergio GarcíaEspanyol14 JonathasElche
Top assists Rank Player Club Assists1 Lionel MessiBarcelona182 Cristiano RonaldoReal Madrid163 Luis SuárezBarcelona144 NolitoCelta Vigo13 James RodríguezReal Madrid6 Karim BenzemaReal Madrid10 KokeAtlético Madrid8 Gareth BaleReal Madrid9 Denis CheryshevVillarreal Sergio GarcíaEspanyol IscoReal Madrid
Hat-tricks
Player For Against Result Date Reference Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid Deportivo La Coruña 8–2 (A) 20 September 2014 Report Cristiano Ronaldo4 Real Madrid Elche 5–1 (H) 23 September 2014 Report Neymar Barcelona Granada 6–0 (H) 27 September 2014 Report Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid Athletic Bilbao 5–0 (H) 5 October 2014 Report Lionel Messi Barcelona Sevilla 5–1 (H) 22 November 2014 Report Carlos Vela Real Sociedad Elche 3–0 (H) 28 November 2014 Report Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid Celta Vigo 3–0 (H) 6 December 2014 Report Lionel Messi Barcelona Espanyol 5–1 (H) 7 December 2014 Report Antoine Griezmann Atlético Madrid Athletic Bilbao 4–1 (A) 21 December 2014 Report Lionel Messi Barcelona Deportivo La Coruña 4–0 (A) 18 January 2015 Report David Barral Levante Málaga 4–1 (H) 7 February 2015 Report Lionel Messi Barcelona Levante 5–0 (H) 15 February 2015 Report Alberto Bueno4 Rayo Vallecano Levante 4–2 (H) 28 February 2015 Report Lionel Messi Barcelona Rayo Vallecano 6–1 (H) 8 March 2015 Report David Barral Levante Almería 4–1 (A) 4 April 2015 Report Cristiano Ronaldo5 Real Madrid Granada 9–1 (H) 5 April 2015 Report Santi Mina4 Celta Vigo Rayo Vallecano 6–1 (H) 11 April 2015 Report Luis Suárez Barcelona Córdoba 8–0 (A) 2 May 2015 Report Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid Sevilla 3–2 (A) 2 May 2015 Report Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid Espanyol 4–1 (A) 17 May 2015 Report Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid Getafe 7–3 (H) 23 May 2015 Report 4 Player scored four goals5 Player scored five goals(H) – Home; (A) – Away
Discipline
Most yellow cards (club): 115 Almería Most yellow cards (player): 15 Víctor Sánchez (Espanyol) Most red cards (club): 9 Almería Most red cards (player): 2 Marcos Angeleri (Málaga) Sebastián Dubarbier (Almería) Michel (Almería) Raúl Navas (Eibar) Federico Piovaccari (Eibar)
Attendance
Awards Seasonal La Liga's governing body, the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, honoured the competition's best players and coach with the La Liga Awards.
AwardRecipientBest Player Lionel Messi (Barcelona)Best Coach Luis Enrique (Barcelona)Best Goalkeeper Claudio Bravo (Barcelona)Best Defender Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid)Best Midfielder James Rodríguez (Real Madrid)Best Forward Lionel Messi (Barcelona) Team of the Year
Team of the Year Goalkeeper Claudio Bravo (Barcelona) Defence Dani Alves (Barcelona) Gerard Piqué (Barcelona) Nicolás Otamendi (Valencia) Jordi Alba (Barcelona) Midfield Grzegorz Krychowiak (Sevilla) James Rodríguez (Real Madrid) Ivan Rakitić (Barcelona) Attack Lionel Messi (Barcelona) Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid) Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
Monthly