Fantasy Sports
Kieran Darcy, ESPN Staff Writer 5y

Stick with Messi, avoid Bale in La Liga fantasy this week

Fantasy Soccer, Fantasy

The biggest game in La Liga this weekend, by far, is Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona on Saturday. Barcelona are currently top of the table on 24 points, with Atletico Madrid just one point behind.

It's a matchup pitting the best offensive team in the league against the best defensive team. Barcelona have scored 34 goals so far this season, 10 more than Sevilla in second place. Atletico Madrid have conceded only eight goals, one fewer than Valencia and Real Valladolid.

Normally I wouldn't stock my fantasy team with any players who are going up against Atletico Madrid. The question is, do I make an exception for Barcelona -- more specifically, for Lionel Messi?

The answer, unequivocally, is yes!

Let's start by taking a look at Messi's numbers so far this season, shall we? He's scored nine goals, tying him for the league lead with teammate Luis Suarez, and those two also share the lead in shots, with 46.

Furthermore, Messi is also tied for the league lead in assists with five, and he's the leader in chances created with 34.

All this despite the fact Messi has already missed two games this year due to injury, came off midway through the first half in the game he got hurt, and came off the bench in the second half of another game.

Messi has accumulated 253.4 fantasy points -- over 40 points more than any other player. And he scored two goals against Real Betis in Barcelona's most recent game. Messi will be my Tier 1 forward and captain, and I suggest he should be yours, too.

If you have any lingering doubts, let's take a look at how Messi performed in his two games against Atletico Madrid last season. At home, Barcelona won 1-0. Messi scored the goal, took five shots, and had five chances created. He didn't score in the 1-1 draw at Atletico Madrid, but he did take a team-high six shots, and had two chances created.

Messi may not score a goal on Saturday, but he almost certainly will put up at least a decent fantasy score. Only twice this season has he failed to post double-digits, and in one of those games he finished with 9.9 points. His season-low was 5.9 points, but that game was played on an awful pitch at Real Valladolid in Matchweek 2.

Real talk

Things seem to have settled down at Real Madrid. They've won four straight games since making a change at manager, and have outscored their opponents 15-2 in the process.

Their stars are back to being great fantasy options then, right?

Not so fast.

First of all, I'm not going to put too much stock in two of those games, since one was a 4-0 Copa del Rey win over third-tier Melilla, and the other was a 5-0 Champions League win over lowly Viktoria Plzen.

The other two games were a 2-0 home win over Real Valladolid, and a 4-2 win at Celta Vigo last time out. Those are good results, and the performances have been better. But let's take a look at the goal-scorers in those games.

Vinicius Junior, a substitute, scored the first one against Real Valladolid (via a heavy deflection off a defender), and Sergio Ramos scored the other via a penalty kick.

Ramos also scored on a penalty kick against Celta Vigo, and there was another goal from a substitute, this time Dani Ceballos. Celta also scored an own goal, and Karim Benzema got the other one.

One name you won't see mentioned in the paragraphs above? Gareth Bale.

Bale picked up a goal and an assist against Viktoria Plzen, but he's gone without a goal or assist in his past seven league games. And he's not a player like Messi, who will pick up lots of points in other ways.

In those past seven league games, Bale hasn't cracked double-digits in fantasy points once, and is averaging just 6.5 points per game.

I don't trust him, even playing at home against 13th-place Eibar on Saturday. (Ramos will definitely be my Tier 1 defender, however.)

My Tier 1 midfielder will be Sevilla's Pablo Sarabia, who has four goals and four assists on the season and is eighth overall in fantasy points, nearly 30 points ahead of Bale. Sarabia's production is more diverse -- he's also third in chances created -- and thus he's much less likely to flop than Bale.

And Sevilla, who are level on points with Atletico Madrid and ahead of them on goal difference, are actually the biggest favorites of the weekend, playing at home against Real Valladolid.

Other picks

Borja Iglesias, Espanyol (Tier 2 forward): He's scored at least one goal in four straight games, and five of the past six. Iglesias is up to sixth overall in fantasy points on the season.

Brais Mendez, Celta Vigo (Tier 2 midfielder): He only started three of Celta's first eight games. But Mendez is coming on strong now -- he has scored a goal in each of the past three games, and had an assist in two of those games as well.

Junior Firpo, Real Betis (Tier 3 midfielder): He has two goals and an assist in his past two league games, and also picked up an assist in Betis' most recent Europa League fixture against AC Milan. And he plays as a wing-back, so he picks up more points via tackles, interceptions and clearances than you might expect.

Bernardo Espinosa, Girona (Tier 2 defender): He plays in the middle of Girona's three-man backline, and leads the league in clearances with 87. Espinosa is averaging 12.4 fantasy points over his past five games, with a low of 9.5.

Diego Lopez, Espanyol (Goalkeeper): In his first five home games this season, he kept four clean sheets and conceded only one goal. Lopez is fourth among goalkeepers in fantasy points so far this season, and he'll be playing at home again this week, against Girona.

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