2010–11 La Liga

The 2010–11 La Liga (known as the ''Liga BBVA'' for sponsorship reasons) was the 80th season of La Liga since its establishment. The campaign began on 28 August 2010, and concluded on 21 May 2011. A total of 20 teams contested the league, 17 of which already partook in the 2009–10 season, and three of which were promoted from the Segunda División. In addition, a new match ball – the Nike Total 90 Tracer – served as the official ball for all matches.

Defending champions Barcelona secured a third consecutive and overall 21st La Liga title following a 1–1 draw with Levante on 11 May 2011. The result gave Barcelona a six-point lead with two matches remaining which, combined with their superior head-to-head record against Real Madrid, ensured that they would finish top of the table. Barcelona led the table since defeating Real Madrid 5–0 on 23 November 2010. From that point onwards, they lost only one match en route to winning the title. Barcelona's Lionel Messi won La Liga's Award for Best Player for a third straight year.

The season was again dominated by Barcelona and Real Madrid, with second-place Madrid 21 points ahead of third-place Valencia. Having also faced off in the Champions League semi-finals and the Copa del Rey final, the top two rivals met four times over seventeen days, for a total of five meetings this season.

Teams

Real Valladolid, CD Tenerife and Xerez CD were relegated to the Segunda División after finishing the 2009–10 season in the bottom three places. Tenerife and Xerez made their immediate return to the second level after just one year in the Spanish top flight, while Valladolid ended a three-year tenure in La Liga.

The relegated teams were replaced by 2009–10 Segunda División champions Real Sociedad from San Sebastián, runners-up Hércules CF from Alicante and Levante UD from Valencia. Hércules returned to the highest Spanish football league for the first time after 13 years, while Real Sociedad and Levante terminated their second-level status after three and two years, respectively.

Stadia and locations

Personnel and sponsorship

Barcelona makes a donation to UNICEF in order to display the charity's logo on the club's kit.

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Awards

La Liga Awards

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

Top goalscorers

This is the list of goalscorers in accordance with the LFP as organising body.

* Source
LFPESPN
an
Liga BBVA
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Pichichi Trophy

The Pichichi Trophy is awarded by newspaper '' Marca'' to the player who scores the most goals in a season, according to its own rules (different from the ones used by FIFA) to determine the goalscorer.

* Source
Marca

Top assists

* Source
ESPN Soccernet

Zamora Trophy

The Ricardo Zamora Trophy is awarded by newspaper '' Marca'' to the goalkeeper with the lowest ratio of goals conceded to matches played. A goalkeeper had to play at least 28 matches of 60 or more minutes to be eligible for the trophy.

* Source
futbol.sportec
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Fair Play award

This award was given annually since 1999 to the team with the best fair play during the season. This ranking took into account aspects such as cards, suspension of matches, audience behaviour and other penalties. This section not only aims to know this aspect, 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.

* Source: 2010–11 Fair Play Rankings Season.

Sources of cards and penalties
Referee's reportsCompetition Committee's SanctionsAppeal Committee Resolutions
an
RFEF's Directory about Fair Play Rankings
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Pedro Zaballa award

Real Madrid

Overall

*Most wins - Barcelona (30)
*Fewest wins - Almería (6)
*Most draws - Sporting Gijón (14)
*Fewest draws - Real Sociedad (3)
*Most losses - Real Sociedad and Hércules (21)
*Fewest losses - Barcelona (2)
*Most goals scored - Real Madrid (102)
*Fewest goals scored - Deportivo La Coruña (31)
*Most goals conceded - Almería (70)
*Fewest goals conceded - Barcelona (21)

Season statistics

Scoring

* First goal of the season:
Fernando Llorente for Athletic Bilbao against Hércules (28 August 2010).
* Last goal of the season:
Kennedy Bakircioglu for Racing Santander against Athletic Bilbao (21 May 2011).

Hat-tricks

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

Discipline

* First yellow card of the season: Noé Pamarot for Hércules against Athletic Bilbao (28 August 2010)
* First red card of the season: Matías Fritzler for Hércules against Athletic Bilbao (28 August 2010)

Attendances

FC Barcelona drew the highest average home attendance in the 2010-11 edition of La Liga.

See also

* List of Spanish football transfers summer 2010
* List of Spanish football transfers winter 2010–11
* 2010–11 Segunda División
* 2010–11 Copa del Rey

References

External links

*

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