La Liga Opta Facts - Matchday 1 - 17/18 August

Almeria v Villarreal
Almeria have not lost any of their four home meetings with Villarreal in the Primera Division (3W 1D).
Villarreal achieved their third promotion to the Primera last season - after their first promotion, they suffered their worst ever top-flight campaign to date (1998/99, 36 points).
On the contrary, Almeria achieved their second promotion to the top-flight last season - they gained their best ever points total the year after their promotion (52 points in 2008/09).
Current Villarreal manager Marcelino Garcia Toral has never lost against Almeria in the top-flight (W3 D1).
Villarreal have only won two of their 13 previous opening day games in La Liga (D5 L6), though both victories came away from home (1-2 in Vallecas, 0-3 in the Mestalla).
The Yellows claimed promotion to La Liga in the final gameweek of the Segunda last season despite losing 1-0 at home to Almeria.
Villarreal only conceded more than one goal in two of their final 20 league games last term.
Almeria scored a league-high 19 headed goals last season.
Since the Frenchman made his Segunda debut, only former Almeria striker Charles (13) scored more goals in the second division than Jeremy Perbet (11).
Ustari has lost all three league games he has played against Villarreal.

Barcelona v Levante
Barcelona have won eight of their last nine meetings with Levante in La Liga, drawing the other.
The Catalan side have won all of their eight previous top-flight meetings with Levante on home soil.
Los Granotas have conceded an average of 3.25 goals per game in these eight trips to the Nou Camp in the Spanish league.
The 5-0 hammering Levante suffered in the Camp Nou last season equalled their worst ever La Liga defeat (also lost 5-0 v Real Madrid in 2004/05).
Cesc Fabregas has scored in three of the last four clashes between Barcelona and Levante in the league, including the victory in the Nou Camp last term.
Fabregas made 185 passes in the opposition half against Levante last season, the most by a single player against one opponent in the top-flight.
Barcelona had the highest average possession in any of the top five European leagues last season (69%), whilst Levante had the lowest (35%).
Levante will be playing in their fourth successive top-flight season; their best ever run of consecutive top tier campaigns.
Lionel Messi was the top scorer in La Liga last season, netting 46 goals - four few than the 50 goal record haul he netted two campaigns ago.
Levante have never won their opening fixture in a La Liga season (D5 L3).

Celta Vigo v Espanyol
Celta Vigo sealed La Liga survival last season after winning 1-0 against Espanyol on the final day.
Four of Celta Vigo's five previous home victories over the Catalan side have ended with the same scoreline: 1-0.
Luis Enrique will make his La Liga managerial debut; his Roma side in 2011/12 had the second highest possession figure in Serie A (60%) after champions Juventus (61%).
Espanyol won just three points having conceded the first goal last season - a La Liga-low.
Celta Vigo have lost last season's star man Iago Aspas to Liverpool; only Lionel Messi contributed directly to a higher portion of his team's goals in La Liga than Aspas last term.
Sergio Garcia has participated in more goals for Espanyol than any other player in La Liga under Javier Aguirre (seven goals, four assists).
With 27 goals last season, new Celta striker Charles was the top scorer in the Segunda last season (Aspas scored 23 goals in Celta's promotion campaign).
The last four times Espanyol have started a top-flight campaign away from home, they have suffered defeat, failing to score in three of those games.
Pizzi attempted more crosses than any other player in La Liga last season (338, including corners).
Rafinha attempted more passes in the opposition half than any other player in the second division last term (1417).

Osasuna v Granada
Osasuna lost both clashes with Granada last season; their last victory over the Andalusian side came back in February 2012 (2-1).
In that victory, Javad Nekounam scored his final league goal for Osasuna; the Iranian is Osasuna's top scoring midfielder over the last 10 seasons (24 goals).
Granada have only won one of their five visits to Pamplona in La Liga (2-1 last season).
Dani Benitez was the scorer of the winning goal in this one Granada victory in Pamplona, netting his first ever top-flight goal in the process.
The Andalusian side have lost their opening game in each of their last two top-flight seasons (1-0 v Betis and Rayo Vallecano).
New Osasuna striker Oriol Riera scored more headed goals than any other player in the Segunda last season (seven).
Granada had the second worst shot conversion rate in La Liga last season (10%), behind Osasuna (8%). Two years ago, Granada had the worst rate (9%).
Osasuna scored just 15 goals at the Reyno last season, their worst ever home goal haul.
New Granada striker Riki scored 13 goals for Deportivo last season; his best ever return in a top-flight campaign.
The Reds scored their last five goals last season after the half-time break.

Rayo Vallecano v Elche
Under Paco Jemez, Rayo Vallecano registered their best ever top-flight points haul last season (53 points).
Elche have won their last two top-flight meetings with Rayo Vallecano (3-0 and 1-0 in 77/78).
In fact, this was Elche's only victory in 39 total visits to Madrid in La Liga (D6).
After Barcelona (69%), Rayo Vallecano had the highest possession figure in La Liga last season (58%).
Edu Albacar was the top scoring defender in the Spanish segunda last season (eight).
Roberto Trashorras averaged more long passes per game than any other player in the top-flight last season (12.4).
Rayo Vallecano have never won a first round game when they have started the campaign away from home in La Liga (D4 L8).
Elche are one of only two teams Rayo Vallecano have faced in La Liga but never scored against (other is Castellon).
Cristian Sapunaru was shown a league-high 18 yellow cards last season.
Of the last 18 goals scored by Rayo in La Liga last season, none of the scorers remain at the club.

Real Madrid v Real Betis
Real Madrid have won four successive league games against Betis in the Bernabeu (scoring 3.7 goals per game).
The Green-and-Whites are the only team to have recorded more than one 0-0 draw against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu over the last 10 seasons.
Betis are one of two teams (with Tenerife) that Cristiano Ronaldo has faced in the league on home soil and never scored against.
Jorge Molina has scored more goals against Real Madrid than any other Primera side, including in each of Betis' last two trips to the Bernabeu.
Mesut Ozil, scorer of a brace in the 3-1 victory over Betis last season, created more big chances than any other player last season (24).
Betis were the first team to ever beat Real Madrid on their own pitch in a La Liga season (1-0 in 1934).
Asier Illarremendi won 59% of the duels he contested in La Liga last season, the best record of the ten midfielders to contest the most duels.
Ruben Castro scored his first top-flight goals against Real Madrid in 2001 when he played for Las Palmas, but has not scored against the Whites since.
The last time there were five Andalusian teams in the top-flight (2008/09), Real Betis were relegated to the Segunda.
The Whites have not opened a season with a home defeat since 1984/85, when they lost 0-3 to Barcelona.

Real Sociedad v Getafe
Real Sociedad have only won one of their six home meetings with Getafe in the top-flight (3-0 in 2005).
The Blues have logged five draws at the Anoeta in La Liga, more than against any other opponent on the road in their top-flight history.
Getafe have found the net at least once in each of their previous nine opening La Liga fixtures.
The last three goals netted by Real Sociedad against Getafe in La Liga have all been headers scored by different players (Paco Sutil, Carlos Martinez, Carlos Vela).
Real Sociedad defenders scored a joint-high 11 goals in La Liga last season, whilst Getafe conceded a league-high 12 to opposition defenders.
Pedro Leon made a league-high six assists from dead ball situations last season.
Carlos Vela was one of only two players (with Iago Aspas) to be his team's top scorer and top assister last season (14 goals and nine assists).
Luis Garcia has never lost against los txuri-urdin in the top-flight (W3 D3).
Carlos Martinez scored the only goal of his La Liga career against Getafe.
Alvaro Vazquez was caught offside more frequently than any other player in La Liga last season (52.6 minutes).

Sevilla v Atletico Madrid
Sevilla are without a win in five league meetings with Atletico Madrid (D3 L2), their last victory against them coming back in 2010 (3-1).
Sevilla did, however, beat Atletico Madrid on the last occasion they played them on the opening day; Julio Baptista scored a debut goal in that game back in 2003.
Atletico have won two successive league games against Sevilla; they last won three in a row against them in La Liga back in 1993.
Both these teams have lost the player that scored the highest percentage of their league goals last season: Alvaro Negredo (43%) and Radamel Falcao (42%).
New Sevilla forward Kevin Gameiro had the second best minutes/goal average in Ligue 1 (eight or more goals) last season (one every 108 minutes) after Zlatan Ibrahimovic (one every 99).
David Villa will make his debut for Atletico against the team he has scored the most La Liga goals against (14).
Thibaut Courtois kept more clean sheets than any other La Liga keeper last season (20).
Ivan Rakitic created more chances per game than any other player in La Liga last season (2.97).
The last time there were five Andalusian teams in La Liga, Sevilla qualified for the Champions League (2008/09).
When they have opened the season on home soil, Sevilla have opened with a victory in seven successive campaigns.

Valencia v Malaga
Valencia have won four successive home league games against Malaga; they have never won four in a row against them.
The Mestalla is the ground that Malaga have played the most often without winning in La Liga (12 times, no victories) together with the Bernabeu since their reformation.
Excluding Sevilla, Valencia are unbeaten in 17 home league games against sides from Andalusia (D3).
Malaga lost on the last occasion they faced Valencia on the opening day of a La Liga campaign.
Valencia scored a league-high 17 headed goals last season.
Willy Caballero conceded five goals on the last occasion Malaga played at the Mestalla, more than in any other game he played last term.
Los Che saw a league-high 11 opposition players sent off last season.
Malaga were the only team not to lose having scored the first goal of a game in the 2012/13 La Liga campaign.
No team won more points with goals scored in the 88th minute or later than Valencia last season (10).
Helder Postiga committed a league-high 100 fouls and was offside a league high 52 times last term.

Valladolid v Athletic Bilbao
Athletic have only lost one of their last eight league games against Valladolid (5W 2D).
However, the Basque side have only won one of their last nine league games in Pucela against Valladolid (D2).
The last four times Valladolid have opened up a top-flight season on home soil, they have lost.
The last time Athletic Bilbao played a full league game without picking up a yellow card was against Valladolid at the old San Mames.
Against no other side has Susaeta scored more league goals than against Real Valladolid (three).
Txingurri Valverde has never drawn in six league games against Valladolid (W2 L4), nor has JIM in the league against Bilbao (W3 L1).
Indeed, Valverde has lost both of his previous two league trips to Pucela, conceding exactly twice in each of these games.
Gorka Iraizoz made more saves per game than any other stopper in La Liga last season (4.37).
Ander Herrera won more fouls than any other player in the top-flight last term (107).
Valladolid scored more own goals than any other side in 2012/13 (four).