2008–09 La Liga

The 2008–09 La Liga season (known as the Liga BBVA for sponsorship reasons) was the 78th since its establishment. Real Madrid were the defending champions, having won their 31st La Liga title in the previous season. The campaign began on 30 August 2008, and concluded on 31 May 2009. A total of 20 teams contested the league, 17 of which already contested in the 2007–08 season, and three of which were promoted from the Segunda División. A new match ball – the Nike T90 Omni – served as the official ball for all matches.

La Liga

Season	2008–09
Dates	30 August 2008 – 31 May 2009
Champions	Barcelona 19th title
Relegated	Real Betis Numancia Recreativo Huelva
Champions League	Barcelona Real Madrid Sevilla Atlético Madrid
Europa League	Villarreal Valencia Athletic Bilbao (as Copa del Rey runners-up)
Matches played	380
Goals scored	1,101 (2.9 per match)
Top goalscorer	Diego Forlán (32 goals)
Biggest home win	Real Madrid 7–1 Sporting Gijón (24 September 2008)[1] Barcelona 6–0 Valladolid (8 November 2008)[2] Barcelona 6–0 Málaga (22 March 2009)[3]
Biggest away win	Sporting Gijón 1–6 Barcelona (21 September 2008)[4]
Highest scoring	Real Madrid 7–1 Sporting Gijón (24 September 2008)[1] Real Madrid 2–6 Barcelona (2 May 2009)[5] Deportivo La Coruña 5–3 Racing Santander (8 March 2009)[6] Villarreal 4–4 Atlético Madrid (26 October 2008)[7]
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

On 16 May 2009, following Villarreal's 3–2 victory over Real Madrid, Barcelona were declared champions, winning their 19th La Liga title, with three matches to play. Barcelona's Lionel Messi received the inaugural La Liga Award for Best Player from the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional.

Promotion and relegation

Real Zaragoza, Real Murcia and Levante were relegated to the 2008–09 Segunda División after finishing in the bottom three spots of the table at the end of the 2007–08 La Liga. Zaragoza were relegated to the Segunda División after five seasons of continuous membership in the top football league of Spain; Levante returned in Segunda División after two-year tenured in La Liga; and Murcia made their immediate return to the second level.

The three relegated teams were replaced by three 2007–08 Segunda División sides. Champions Numancia, who ended their second-level status after three years, runners-up Málaga, who returned to the top flight after two season in the second level, and Sporting de Gijón returned to the highest Spanish league after ten years.

Team information

Stadia and locations

Almería

Athletic

Atlético

Barcelona

Betis

Deportivo

Espanyol

Getafe

Málaga

Mallorca

Numancia

Osasuna

Racing    

Real Madrid

Recreativo

Sevilla

Sporting

Valencia

Valladolid

Villarreal

Location of teams in La Liga 2008–09

Team	Venue	Capacity
Almería	Estadio del Mediterráneo	22,000
Athletic Bilbao	San Mamés	39,750
Atlético Madrid	Vicente Calderón	54,851
Barcelona	Camp Nou	98,772
Betis	Manuel Ruiz de Lopera	52,132
Deportivo	Riazor	34,600
Espanyol	Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys	55,926
Getafe	Coliseum Alfonso Pérez	16,300
Málaga	La Rosaleda	35,530
Mallorca	ONO Estadi	23,142
Numancia	Los Pajaritos	9,700
Osasuna	Estadio Reyno de Navarra	19,553
Racing Santander	El Sardinero	22,400
Real Madrid	Santiago Bernabéu	80,354
Recreativo	Nuevo Colombino	21,600
Sevilla	Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán	45,500
Sporting	El Molinón	25,885
Valencia	Mestalla	55,000
Valladolid	Estadio José Zorrilla	26,512
Villarreal	El Madrigal	23,000

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Chairman	Head Coach	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor (front)	Shirt sponsor (back)	Shirt sponsor (sleeve)	Shorts sponsor
Almería	Alfonso García	Hugo Sánchez	UDA	Obrascampo/isladelfraile.com/Corredor de Vida	Andalucía	None	None
Athletic Bilbao	Fernando García	Joaquín Caparrós	100% Athletic	Petronor	None	None	None
Atlético Madrid	Enrique Cerezo	Abel Resino	Nike	Kia	Kyocera	None	Paf
Barcelona	Joan Laporta	Pep Guardiola	Nike	UNICEF	None	TV3	None
Betis	Pepe León	José María Nogués	Kappa	Andalucía	None	None	None
Deportivo	Augusto Lendoiro	Miguel Ángel Lotina	Canterbury of New Zealand	Estrella Galicia	None	None	None
Espanyol	Daniel Sánchez Llibre	Mauricio Pochettino	uhlsport	Interapuestas.com	Trina Solar	TV3	Abasol
Getafe	Ángel Torres	Míchel	Joma	Grupo Galco	Thecam	SDS Seguridad	EADS CASA, Antonio y Ricardo
Málaga	Fernando Sanz	Antonio Tapia	Umbro	Málaga Ciudad Genial	Andalucía	Tesesa	Instituto de Fertilidad Clínicas Rincón, Málaga Hoy
Mallorca	Mateu Alemany	Gregorio Manzano	Reial	Illes Balears/Viajes Iberia	Construcciones Llabrés Feliu	IB3	Illes Balears
Numancia	Francisco Garcés	Juan José Rojo Martín	Errea	Caja Duero	Areniscas Stone	CleanBird	Castilla y León es Vida
Osasuna	Patxi Izco	José Antonio Camacho	Diadora	Yingli Solar	NGS Technology	Caja Navarra	Reyno de Navarra, NGS Technology
Racing Santander	Francisco Pernía	López Muñiz	Joma	None	None	None	None
Real Madrid	Vicente Boluda	Juande Ramos	Adidas	Bwin.com	None	None	None
Recreativo	Francisco Mendoza	Lucas Alcaraz	Cejudo	Cajasol	Andalucía	Toyota Niponuba	Condado de Huelva, Fresón de Palos
Sevilla	José María del Nido	Manolo Jiménez	Joma	888.com	Andalucía	NO8DO	None
Sporting	Manuel Vega-Arango	Manolo Preciado	Astore	Gijón, Asturias	Vegasol	Asturias Paraíso Natural, Deporte Asturiano	Asturias Paraíso Natural, Deporte Asturiano
Valencia	Vicente Soriano	Unai Emery	Nike	Valencia Experience, Unibet	Compac Encimeras	Canal Nou	None
Valladolid	Carlos Suárez Sureda	José Luis Mendilibar	Puma	Caja Duero	Pepetravel.com	None	Del Cura y Miranda AXA, Castilla y León es Vida
Villarreal	Fernando Roig	Manuel Pellegrini	Puma	Aeroport Castelló	None	Canal Nou	None

• Barcelona had no shirt sponsor during the 2008–09 season. Instead, following the signing of a five-year agreement with the humanitarian organisation UNICEF in 2006,^[8] the club sported the UNICEF logo on the front of its jersey while making an annual donation to the organisation.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Recreativo	Manolo Zambrano	Sacked	7 October 2008[9]	Lucas Alcaraz	7 October 2008[10]	18th
Osasuna	José Ángel Ziganda	Sacked	13 October 2008[11]	José Antonio Camacho	13 October 2008[12]	16th
Espanyol	Tintín Márquez	Sacked	30 November 2008[13]	José Manuel Esnal	1 December 2008[14]	17th
Real Madrid	Bernd Schuster	Sacked	9 December 2008[15]	Juande Ramos	9 December 2008[16]	5th
Almería	Gonzalo Arconada	Sacked	21 December 2008[17]	Hugo Sánchez	22 December 2008[18]	16th
Espanyol	José Manuel Esnal	Sacked	20 January 2009[19]	Mauricio Pochettino	20 January 2009[20]	18th
Atlético Madrid	Javier Aguirre	Sacked	2 February 2009[21]	Abel Resino	2 February 2009[22]	7th
Numancia	Sergije Krešić	Sacked	17 February 2009[23]	Pacheta	17 February 2009[24]	19th
Betis	Paco Chaparro	Sacked	6 April 2009[25]	José María Nogués	6 April 2009[26]	16th
Getafe	Víctor Muñoz	Sacked	27 April 2009[27]	Míchel	27 April 2009[28]	17th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Barcelona (C)	38	27	6	5	105	35	+70	87	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Real Madrid	38	25	3	10	83	52	+31	78
3	Sevilla	38	21	7	10	54	39	+15	70
4	Atlético Madrid	38	20	7	11	80	57	+23	67	Qualification for the Champions League play-off round
5	Villarreal	38	18	11	9	61	54	+7	65	Qualification for the Europa League play-off round
6	Valencia	38	18	8	12	68	54	+14	62
7	Deportivo La Coruña	38	16	10	12	48	47	+1	58
8	Málaga	38	15	10	13	55	59	−4	55
9	Mallorca	38	14	9	15	53	60	−7	51
10	Espanyol	38	12	11	15	46	49	−3	47
11	Almería	38	13	7	18	45	61	−16	46[a]
12	Racing Santander	38	12	10	16	49	48	+1	46[a]
13	Athletic Bilbao	38	12	8	18	47	62	−15	44	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round[b]
14	Sporting Gijón	38	14	1	23	47	79	−32	43[c]
15	Osasuna	38	10	13	15	41	47	−6	43[c]
16	Valladolid	38	12	7	19	46	58	−12	43[c]
17	Getafe	38	10	12	16	50	56	−6	42[d]
18	Real Betis (R)	38	10	12	16	51	58	−7	42[d]	Relegation to the Segunda División
19	Numancia (R)	38	10	5	23	38	69	−31	35
20	Recreativo Huelva (R)	38	8	9	21	34	57	−23	33

Source: LFP and Yahoo! Sport
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. ALM 1–1 RAC; RAC 0–2 ALM
2. Since Barcelona, winners of the 2008–09 Copa del Rey, already qualified for the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League, losing cup finalists Athletic Bilbao earned a spot in the third qualifying round of the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League.
3. SPG: 12 pts; OSA: 2 pts → OSA 3–3 VLD; VLD: 2 pts → VLD 0–0 OSA
4. GET 0–0 BET; BET 2–2 GET

La Liga 2008–09 winners
Barcelona 19th title

Results

Home \ Away	ALM	ATH	ATM	FCB	BET	RCD	ESP	GET	MCF	MLL	NUM	OSA	RAC	RMA	REC	SFC	RSG	VCF	VLD	VIL
Almería		2–1	1–1	0–2	1–0	0–1	0–3	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	3–1	2–2	3–2	3–0
Athletic Bilbao	1–3		1–4	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	0–1	3–2	2–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	2–5	1–1	1–2	3–0	3–2	2–0	1–4
Atlético Madrid	3–0	2–3		4–3	2–0	4–1	3–2	1–1	4–0	2–0	3–0	2–4	4–1	1–2	4–0	0–1	3–1	1–0	1–2	3–2
Barcelona	5–0	2–0	6–1		3–2	5–0	1–2	1–1	6–0	3–1	4–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	4–0	3–1	4–0	6–0	3–3
Betis	2–0	0–1	0–2	2–2		0–3	1–1	2–2	1–2	3–0	3–3	0–0	3–1	1–2	0–1	0–0	2–0	1–2	1–1	2–2
Deportivo La Coruña	2–0	3–1	1–2	1–1	1–1		1–0	1–1	2–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	5–3	2–1	4–1	1–3	0–3	1–1	1–0	3–0
Espanyol	2–2	1–0	2–3	1–2	2–0	3–1		1–1	3–0	3–3	3–4	1–0	1–0	0–2	1–1	0–2	0–1	3–0	1–0	0–0
Getafe	2–2	1–1	1–2	0–1	0–0	1–2	1–1		1–2	4–1	1–0	3–0	0–1	3–1	2–1	0–2	5–1	0–3	1–0	1–2
Málaga	3–2	0–0	1–1	1–4	1–1	1–1	4–0	2–1		1–1	2–0	4–2	1–0	0–1	0–2	2–2	1–0	0–2	2–1	2–2
Mallorca	2–0	3–3	2–0	2–1	3–3	1–1	3–0	2–1	2–2		2–0	1–1	1–0	0–3	2–3	0–0	0–2	3–1	2–0	2–3
Numancia	2–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–4	0–1	0–0	2–0	2–0	0–1		0–0	2–1	0–2	1–0	0–2	2–1	2–1	4–3	1–2
Osasuna	3–1	2–1	0–0	2–3	0–2	0–0	1–0	5–2	2–3	1–0	2–0		0–1	2–1	1–2	0–0	1–2	1–0	3–3	1–1
Racing Santander	0–2	1–1	5–1	1–2	2–3	0–0	3–0	1–1	1–1	1–2	5–0	1–1		0–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	3–2	1–1
Real Madrid	3–0	3–2	1–1	2–6	6–1	1–0	2–2	3–2	4–3	1–3	4–3	3–1	1–0		1–0	3–4	7–1	1–0	2–0	1–0
Recreativo	1–1	1–1	0–3	0–2	1–0	1–2	0–1	1–1	0–4	2–4	3–1	1–0	0–1	0–1		0–1	2–0	1–1	2–3	1–2
Sevilla	2–1	4–0	1–0	0–3	1–2	1–0	2–0	0–1	0–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	0–2	2–4	1–0		4–3	0–0	4–1	1–0
Sporting Gijón	1–0	1–1	2–5	1–6	1–2	3–2	0–3	1–2	2–1	0–1	3–1	2–1	0–2	0–4	2–1	1–0		2–3	2–1	0–1
Valencia	3–2	2–0	3–1	2–2	3–2	4–2	2–1	4–1	1–1	3–0	4–0	1–0	2–4	3–0	1–1	3–1	2–3		1–2	3–3
Valladolid	2–0	2–1	2–1	0–1	1–3	3–0	1–1	1–0	1–3	3–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	3–2	1–2	0–1		0–0
Villarreal	2–1	2–0	4–4	1–2	2–1	1–0	1–0	3–3	0–2	2–0	2–1	1–1	2–0	3–2	2–1	0–2	2–1	3–1	0–3

Source: LFP (in Spanish)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Awards

La Liga Awards

For the first time in La Liga's history, its governing body, the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, honoured the competition's best players and coach with the La Liga Awards.^[29]

Award	Recipient
Best Player	Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Best Coach	Pep Guardiola (Barcelona)
Best Goalkeeper	Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)
Best Defender	Dani Alves (Barcelona)
Best Midfielder(s)	Xavi (Barcelona) Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona)
Best Forward	Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Pichichi Trophy

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

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Diego Forlán	Atlético Madrid	32
2	Samuel Eto'o	Barcelona	30
3	David Villa	Valencia	28
4	Lionel Messi	Barcelona	23
5	Gonzalo Higuaín	Real Madrid	22
6	Thierry Henry	Barcelona	19
	Álvaro Negredo	Almería
8	Frédéric Kanouté	Sevilla	18
	Raúl	Real Madrid
10	Sergio Agüero	Atlético Madrid	17

Source: Yahoo! Sport

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.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals against	Matches	Average
1	Víctor Valdés	Barcelona	31	35	0.89
2	Andrés Palop	Sevilla	35	35	1.00
3	Daniel Aranzubia	Deportivo La Coruña	45	37	1.22
4	Toño	Racing Santander	41	33	1.24
5	Carlos Kameni	Espanyol	47	37	1.27

Source: LFP

Top assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Xavi	Barcelona	20
2	Juan Mata	Valencia	13
3	Duda	Málaga	11
	Lionel Messi	Barcelona
5	Diego Forlán	Atlético Madrid	10
	Pedro Munitis	Racing Santander
7	Sergio Agüero	Atlético Madrid	9
	Dani Alves	Barcelona
	Juan Arango	Mallorca
	Fernando Gago	Real Madrid
	Gonzalo Higuaín	Real Madrid
	José Manuel Jurado	Mallorca
	Jesús Navas	Sevilla
	Robert Pires	Villarreal

• Source: ESPN Soccernet

Fair Play award

Rank	Club	Points
1	Barcelona	98
2	Deportivo La Coruña	102
3	Villarreal	110
4	Recreativo Huelva	113
5	Valladolid	114
6	Numancia	131
	Valencia
8	Almería	132
9	Getafe	133
10	Espanyol	134
11	Mallorca	135
12	Atlético Madrid	136
	Sevilla
14	Málaga	139
15	Osasuna	148
	Real Madrid
17	Athletic Bilbao	149
18	Racing Santander	164
19	Real Betis	165
20	Sporting Gijón	183

• Source: 2008–09 Fair Play Rankings Season.^[30]

Scoring

• First goal of the season:
  Luis García for Espanyol against Valladolid (30 August 2008)^[31]
• Last goal of the season:
  Ricardo Oliveira for Real Betis against Valladolid (31 May 2009)^[32]

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of La Liga hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Reference
Mate Bilić	Sporting Gijón	Sevilla	3–4 (A)	13 September 2008
Rafael van der Vaart	Real Madrid	Sporting Gijón	7–1 (H)	24 September 2008
Samuel Eto'o	Barcelona	Almería	5–0 (H)	25 October 2008
Mohamed Tchité	Racing Santander	Valencia	4–2 (A)	1 November 2008
Gonzalo Higuaín4	Real Madrid	Málaga	4–3 (H)	8 November 2008
Samuel Eto'o4	Barcelona	Valladolid	6–0 (H)
Thierry Henry	Barcelona	Valencia	4–0 (H)	9 December 2008
Roberto Soldado	Getafe	Sporting Gijón	5–1 (H)	25 January 2009
Frédéric Kanouté	Sevilla	Valladolid	4–1 (H)	21 March 2009
Raúl	Real Madrid	Sevilla	4–2 (A)	26 April 2009
Diego Forlán	Atlético Madrid	Athletic Bilbao	4–1 (A)	23 May 2009
Raúl Tamudo	Espanyol	Málaga	3–0 (H)	31 May 2009

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

Discipline

• First yellow card of the season: Grégory Béranger for Espanyol against Valladolid (30 August 2008)
• First red card of the season: Diego Godín for Villarreal against Osasuna (31 August 2008)

See also

• List of Spanish football transfers summer 2008
• List of Spanish football transfers winter 2008–09
• 2008–09 Segunda División
• 2008–09 Copa del Rey