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2008–09 La Liga

78th season of La Liga

Field	Value
competition	La Liga
season	2008–09
dates	30 August 2008 – 31 May 2009
winners	Barcelona
19th title
relegated	Real Betis
Numancia
Recreativo Huelva
continentalcup1	[Champions League](2009-10-uefa-champions-league)
continentalcup1 qualifiers	Barcelona
Real Madrid
Sevilla
Atlético Madrid
continentalcup2	[Europa League](2009-10-uefa-europa-league)
continentalcup2 qualifiers	Villarreal
Valencia
Athletic Bilbao (as [Copa del Rey](2008-09-copa-del-rey) runners-up)
league topscorer	Diego Forlán
(32 goals)
biggest home win	Real Madrid 7–1 Sporting Gijón
(24 September 2008)
Barcelona 6–0 Valladolid
(8 November 2008)
Barcelona 6–0 Málaga
(22 March 2009){{cite web	title =Barcelona 6–0 Málaga	url=http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=8184
publisher	RFEF	access-date=22 March 2009	language=es}}
biggest away win	Sporting Gijón 1–6 Barcelona
(21 September 2008)
highest scoring	Real Madrid 7–1 Sporting Gijón
(24 September 2008)
Real Madrid 2–6 Barcelona
(2 May 2009)
Deportivo La Coruña 5–3 Racing Santander
(8 March 2009)
Villarreal 4–4 Atlético Madrid
(26 October 2008)
matches	380
total goals	1101
prevseason	[2007–08](2007-08-la-liga)
nextseason	[2009–10](2009-10-la-liga)

19th title Numancia Recreativo Huelva Real Madrid Sevilla Atlético Madrid Valencia Athletic Bilbao (as Copa del Rey runners-up) (32 goals) (24 September 2008) Barcelona 6–0 Valladolid (8 November 2008) Barcelona 6–0 Málaga (22 March 2009){{cite web|title =Barcelona 6–0 Málaga |url=http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=8184 (21 September 2008) (24 September 2008) Real Madrid 2–6 Barcelona (2 May 2009) Deportivo La Coruña 5–3 Racing Santander (8 March 2009) Villarreal 4–4 Atlético Madrid (26 October 2008) 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.

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

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	MEX Hugo Sánchez	UDA	Obrascampo/isladelfraile.com/Corredor de Vida	Andalucía	None	None
Athletic Bilbao	Fernando García	ESP Joaquín Caparrós	100% Athletic	Petronor	None	None	None
Atlético Madrid	Enrique Cerezo	ESP Abel Resino	Nike	Kia	Kyocera	None	Paf
Barcelona	Joan Laporta	ESP Pep Guardiola	Nike	UNICEF	None	TV3	None
Betis	Pepe León	ESP José María Nogués	Kappa	Andalucía	None	None	None
Deportivo	Augusto Lendoiro	ESP Miguel Ángel Lotina	Canterbury of New Zealand	Estrella Galicia	None	None	None
Espanyol	Daniel Sánchez Llibre	ARG Mauricio Pochettino	uhlsport	Interapuestas.com	Trina Solar	TV3	Abasol
Getafe	Ángel Torres	ESP Míchel	Joma	Grupo Galco	Thecam	SDS Seguridad	EADS CASA, Antonio y Ricardo
Málaga	Fernando Sanz	ESP Antonio Tapia	Umbro	Málaga Ciudad Genial	Andalucía	Tesesa	Instituto de Fertilidad Clínicas Rincón, Málaga Hoy
Mallorca	Mateu Alemany	ESP Gregorio Manzano	Reial	Illes Balears/Viajes Iberia	Construcciones Llabrés Feliu	IB3	Illes Balears
Numancia	Francisco Garcés	ESP Juan José Rojo Martín	Errea	Caja Duero	Areniscas Stone	CleanBird	Castilla y León es Vida
Osasuna	Patxi Izco	ESP José Antonio Camacho	Diadora	Yingli Solar	NGS Technology	Caja Navarra	Reyno de Navarra, NGS Technology
Racing Santander	Francisco Pernía	ESP López Muñiz	Joma	None	None	None	None
Real Madrid	Vicente Boluda	ESP Juande Ramos	Adidas	Bwin.com	None	None	None
Recreativo	Francisco Mendoza	ESP Lucas Alcaraz	Cejudo	Cajasol	Andalucía	Toyota Niponuba	Condado de Huelva, Fresón de Palos
Sevilla	José María del Nido	ESP Manolo Jiménez	Joma	[888.com](888-com)	Andalucía	NO8DO	None
Sporting	Manuel Vega-Arango	ESP Manolo Preciado	Astore	Gijón, Asturias	Vegasol	Asturias Paraíso Natural, Deporte Asturiano	Asturias Paraíso Natural, Deporte Asturiano
Valencia	Vicente Soriano	ESP Unai Emery	Nike	Valencia Experience, Unibet	Compac Encimeras	Canal Nou	None
Valladolid	Carlos Suárez Sureda	ESP José Luis Mendilibar	Puma	Caja Duero	Pepetravel.com	None	Del Cura y Miranda AXA, Castilla y León es Vida
Villarreal	Fernando Roig	CHL 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, 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	ESP Manolo Zambrano	Sacked	7 October 2008	ESP Lucas Alcaraz	7 October 2008	18th
Osasuna	ESP José Ángel Ziganda	Sacked	13 October 2008	ESP José Antonio Camacho	13 October 2008	16th
Espanyol	ESP Tintín Márquez	Sacked	30 November 2008	ESP José Manuel Esnal	1 December 2008	17th
Real Madrid	GER Bernd Schuster	Sacked	9 December 2008	ESP Juande Ramos	9 December 2008	5th
Almería	ESP Gonzalo Arconada	Sacked	21 December 2008	MEX Hugo Sánchez	22 December 2008	16th
Espanyol	ESP José Manuel Esnal	Sacked	20 January 2009	ARG Mauricio Pochettino	20 January 2009	18th
Atlético Madrid	MEX Javier Aguirre	Sacked	2 February 2009	ESP Abel Resino	2 February 2009	7th
Numancia	CRO Sergije Krešić	Sacked	17 February 2009	ESP Pacheta	17 February 2009	19th
Betis	ESP Paco Chaparro	Sacked	6 April 2009	ESP José María Nogués	6 April 2009	16th
Getafe	ESP Víctor Muñoz	Sacked	27 April 2009	ESP Míchel	27 April 2009	17th

League table

Results

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.

Award	Recipient	Best Player	Best Coach	Best Goalkeeper	Best Defender	Best Midfielder(s)	Best Forward
ARG Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
ESP Pep Guardiola (Barcelona)
ESP Iker Casillas (Real Madrid)
BRA Dani Alves (Barcelona)
ESP Xavi (Barcelona)
ESP Andrés Iniesta (Barcelona)
ARG 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	URU Diego Forlán	Atlético Madrid	32
2	CMR Samuel Eto'o	Barcelona	30
3	ESP David Villa	Valencia	28
4	ARG Lionel Messi	Barcelona	23
5	ARG Gonzalo Higuaín	Real Madrid	22
6	FRA Thierry Henry	Barcelona	19
ESP Álvaro Negredo	Almería
8	MLI Frédéric Kanouté	Sevilla	18
ESP Raúl	Real Madrid
10	ARG 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	ESP Víctor Valdés	Barcelona	31	35	0.89
2	ESP Andrés Palop	Sevilla	35	35	1.00
3	ESP Daniel Aranzubia	Deportivo La Coruña	45	37	1.22
4	ESP Toño	Racing Santander	41	33	1.24
5	CMR Carlos Kameni	Espanyol	47	37	1.27

Source: LFP

Top assists

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

Scoring

First goal of the season: ESP Luis García for Espanyol against Valladolid (30 August 2008)
Last goal of the season: BRA Ricardo Oliveira for Real Betis against Valladolid (31 May 2009)

Hat-tricks

Main article: List of La Liga hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Reference
CRO Mate Bilić	Sporting Gijón	Sevilla	3–4 (A)	13 September 2008	[http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=6427](http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=6427)
NED Rafael van der Vaart	Real Madrid	Sporting Gijón	7–1 (H)	24 September 2008	[http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=6590](http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=6590)
CMR Samuel Eto'o	Barcelona	Almería	5–0 (H)	25 October 2008	[http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=6885](http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=6885)
BDI Mohamed Tchité	Racing Santander	Valencia	4–2 (A)	1 November 2008	[http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=6968](http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=6968)
ARG Gonzalo Higuaín4	Real Madrid	Málaga	4–3 (H)	8 November 2008	[http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=7034](http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=7034)
CMR Samuel Eto'o4	Barcelona	Valladolid	6–0 (H)	[http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=7033](http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=7033)
FRA Thierry Henry	Barcelona	Valencia	4–0 (H)	9 December 2008	[http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=7291](http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=7291)
ESP Roberto Soldado	Getafe	Sporting Gijón	5–1 (H)	25 January 2009	[http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=7681](http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=7681)
MLI Frédéric Kanouté	Sevilla	Valladolid	4–1 (H)	21 March 2009	[http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=8183](http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=8183)
ESP Raúl	Real Madrid	Sevilla	4–2 (A)	26 April 2009	[http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=8557](http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=8557)
URU Diego Forlán	Atlético Madrid	Athletic Bilbao	4–1 (A)	23 May 2009	[http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=8745](http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=8745)
ESP Raúl Tamudo	Espanyol	Málaga	3–0 (H)	31 May 2009	[http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=8775](http://actas.rfef.es/actas/RFEF_CmpPartido?cod_primaria=1000144&CodActa=8775)

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

Discipline

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

Attendances

Source:

No.	Club	Average	Change	Highest
1	FC Barcelona	71,947	-5.6%	79,500
2	Real Madrid CF	71,328	5.6%	98,700
3	Atlético de Madrid	44,605	-1.4%	57,500
4	Sevilla FC	41,507	4.9%	45,500
5	Valencia CF	38,263	-6.0%	50,000
6	Real Betis	37,137	-0.8%	50,000
7	Athletic Club	35,000	-3.5%	40,000
8	Málaga CF	24,849	24.2%	30,000
9	RCD Espanyol	23,832	9.0%	35,000
10	Real Sporting de Gijón	22,945	36.8%	25,000
11	Villarreal CF	19,159	-1.2%	25,000
12	Real Racing Club de Santander	18,555	5.9%	22,200
13	Deportivo de La Coruña	18,316	2.9%	34,000
14	CA Osasuna	17,823	3.5%	19,031
15	Real Valladolid	17,417	-1.2%	23,600
16	Recreativo de Huelva	16,334	-6.0%	19,000
17	RCD Mallorca	15,184	-14.9%	22,000
18	UD Almería	12,715	-18.3%	18,000
19	Getafe CF	10,500	-1.5%	16,000
20	CD Numancia	8,096	60.4%	9,500

References

"Real Madrid 7–1 Sporting". [[Royal Spanish Football Federation.
"Barcelona 6–0 Valladolid". [[Royal Spanish Football Federation.
(21 September 2008). "Sporting 1–6 Barcelona". [[Royal Spanish Football Federation.
"Real Madrid 2–6 Barcelona". [[Royal Spanish Football Federation.
"Deportivo 5–3 Racing Santander". [[Royal Spanish Football Federation.
"Atlético Madrid 4–4 Villarreal". [[Royal Spanish Football Federation.
(2006-09-13). "Barça take the moral high road".
(7 October 2008). "Zambrano es cesado y su puesto lo ocupará Lucas Alcaraz". [[Recreativo de Huelva]].
(7 October 2008). "Lucas Alcaraz: "Volver al Recre es especial para mí"". [[Recreativo de Huelva]].
(13 October 2008). "El CA Osasuna releva a Ziganda de sus funciones". [[CA Osasuna]].
(13 October 2008). "Acuerdo con Camacho para dirigir a Osasuna". [[CA Osasuna]].
(30 November 2008). "Márquez, cesado". [[RCD Espanyol]].
(1 December 2008). "Mané, nuevo entrenador del Espanyol". [[RCD Espanyol]].
(9 December 2008). "Schuster, destituido del Real Madrid". [[Real Madrid C.F.]].
(9 December 2008). "Juande, sustituto de Schuster". [[Real Madrid C.F.]].
(21 December 2008). "El Almería cesa a Gonzalo Arconada". [[UD Almería]].
(22 December 2008). "Hugo Sánchez, nuevo entrenador del Almería". [[UD Almería]].
(20 January 2009). "Mané, destituido como técnico del Espanyol". [[RCD Espanyol]].
(20 January 2009). "Pochettino será el nuevo técnico del Espanyol". [[RCD Espanyol]].
(2 February 2009). "Javier Aguirre, destituido". [[Atlético de Madrid.
(2 February 2009). "Abel Resino, nuevo técnico del Atlético de Madrid". [[Atlético de Madrid.
(17 February 2009). "El Numancia destituye a Kresic y nombra como nuevo entrenador a Pacheta". [[CD Numancia]].
(17 February 2009). "El Numancia sustituye a Kresic por Pacheta". [[CD Numancia]].
(6 April 2009). "El Betis destituye a Paco Chaparro". [[Real Betis]].
(6 April 2009). "El Betis destituye a Chaparro y lo sustituye por José María Nogués". [[Real Betis]].
(27 April 2009). "Víctor Muñoz cesado del Getafe". [[Getafe CF]].
(27 April 2009). "Míchel, nuevo entrenador del Getafe". [[Getafe CF]].
(13 November 2012). "Ganadores de las cuatro ediciones de premios de la LFP". ABC.
(3 June 2009). "Clasificaciones del Premio Juego Limpio". [[Royal Spanish Football Federation.
"RFEF".
"RFEF".
https://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn/archive/esp/aveesp09.htm

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