La Liga at round five, six, or seven

We are only at round five, six, or seven of the 2020-21 La Liga season, and we cannot see rhyme or reason emerging yet in the Spanish domestic competition.

Real Sociedad, having played seven matches, is in first place with 14 points, followed by Real Madrid and Granada, at six games with 13 points apiece. Undefeated Atletico Madrid (fifth on the table), joins Elche, Barcelona, and Sevilla at five completed games each.

At round five, six, or seven, first placed Real Sociedad has won four of their last games as has second-placed Real Madrid, while Granada (third on the table), Villarreal (fourth on the table), and Elche (eighth on the table) join the top two as the only teams with but one loss so far.

Rounding the corner of round five, six, or seven, Barcelona’s Ansu Fati, Atletico Madrid’s Luis Suarez, Real Sociedad’s Mikel Oyarzabal and Portu, and Villarreal’s Paco Alcacer, lead the scorers’ table with four goals each, while Valencia’s Lee Kand-in leads the assist table with three. Barca’s Lionel Messi has only scored off of penalties so far this season.

There have also been 13 red cards handed out so far this season, while 14 different players have already collected three separate yellows apiece.

In a curious season, Real Madrid seem to play very well and very poorly on alternating evenings, beating their archrivals 3-1 at the Camp Nou but losing 2-3 at home to Shakhtar Donetsk. Similarly, Barcelona lose to 1-3 at home but win for the first time ever in Turin in their UEFA Champions League (UCL) match against Juventus. Atletico Madrid are undefeated at home but were clobbered 4-0 by Bayern in Munich in their UCL group match. Sevilla co-lead their UCL group but are 13^th on the La Liga table.