How La Liga Stands Heading Out of the First International Break

La Liga has finally got going, and while a three-week hiatus just as the season started accelerating felt unnecessary, it gives us a moment to halt the chaos and really take a look at the storylines that are being written in the early stages of the campaign.

Let’s take a look, from the top of La Liga to the bottom, and see just what is going on: from the best teams to the breakout stars to relegation battles to the off-field chaos.

Barca, Raphinha Looking to Break Records

We start with the high-flyers on top of the standings, Barcelona. Looking to three-peat the La Liga title for the first time since the Pep days, the Catalans have rampaged out to a five-point lead on top of the standings already, are the only team in Europe’s top five leagues with a perfect record after more than five games played, and lead Europe’s top five leagues in scoring, with a whopping 31 in just 7 matches.

Hansi Flick’s men are on track to demolish the La Liga all-time goals record in a season, on pace for 168, 47 more than Madrid’s already impressive 121 from the 11/12 season. A large amount of those goals have come from talisman and newly-appointed captain Raphinha, who is also on pace for an unbelievable 65 league goals this campaign. The Brazilian is also nearly halfway to Kylian Mbappe’s Pichichi-winning tally in the league last season, a ridiculous start.

These numbers may be explained by Flick’s system, now in its third year and with most key players now intimately familiar with the tactical setup. Barcelona’s intense pressing, especially from players like Raphinha and Anthony Gordon, set the tone of intensity that opponents have so far been unable to keep up with for a full 90 minutes.

While Barca likely won’t keep up these otherworldly numbers, especially with a tough patch of La Liga fixtures awaiting them after the international break, it is still a magnificent start from Raphinha and Flick’s side.

While Barcelona’s start has been defined by their overwhelming attacking, Betis have taken a different route. Looking at the top of the La Liga standings, you’ll see the usual suspects: Barca, Atleti, and Real Madrid. However, tucked into that top three, right between the Madrid rivals, is Real Betis.

From seven matches, Betis have won five, including a home win against Madrid, and have lost just one, a freak 5-2 loss away to Levante, discounting which sees Betis having conceded just twice all campaign so far.

The Benito Villamarín has also been a fortress so far, with Betis still at a perfect record and yet to concede at their home ground. However, it’s a record that will be tested after the break, with a Champions League tie at home to Porto sandwiched between home matches against Osasuna and Barcelona.

Betis’ defence has been superb, especially players like goalkeeper Alvaro Valles and center backs Natan and Marc Bartra. It’ll be incredibly interesting to see if the side from Seville can keep up this form.

Going into this season, Roberto Fernandez was seen as a promising forward line piece for Espanyol, having scored 13 goals in his first two years at the RCDE Stadium. This year, however, the 24-year-old has scored six goals in his first seven matches, earning his first Spain call-up and debut cap over the International break.

Fernandez has now appeared on the radar of Spurs, and it will be interesting to see if he can continue his Espanyol form post-break. Is this a purple patch or the start of a European-level career?

As the historic and famously steep terraces of the Mestalla enter their 103rd and final year of use for Valencia, the fallen giants were looking to provide a fitting sendoff. So far, however, the sendoff has been historically disappointing. Not only have the results been embarrassingly bad, with four points from their opening seven matches seeing them 19th, but they had to wait until their fourth match at the Mestalla to score their first in front of the home crowd.

It’s not just the results that have been embarrassing, though. Despite it being Valencia fans’ last chance to support their club at the only ground they’ve ever known to do it in, fans have still boycotted the first ten minutes of matches in protest of owner Peter Lim, now entering his tenth year of ownership in an infamously disastrous tenure.

It’s a sentiment that has been echoed by Valencia legend Santiago Canizares, who has called for full stadium boycotts to embarrass the ownership. The season defined by Valencia leaving their iconic stadium could end in the club’s first relegation in 40 years, and an embarrassment like that could well be the final nail in Lim’s coffin as Valencia owner.

It has all resulted in the first managerial sacking of the season, with Carlos Corberan being given his marching orders after a little under two years at the club, just two weeks into September. Replacing him is former Mexico boss Javier Aguirre. Aguirre is a veteran Spanish manager, having previously managed six Spanish clubs, including Atlético Madrid, Osasuna, and Espanyol across fourteen years in Spanish football.

The 67-year-old Mexican may not provide fans with anything they haven’t seen before, but hopefully will be a steady head in ensuring that their 70,000-seater Nou Mestalla debuts next season in the top flight.

When a 32-year-old Mariano Diaz signed for Alaves in the summer of 2025, not much was expected of the striker. A Dominican forward known for being a longtime Real Madrid backup, scoring a famous El Clásico goal, and oddly being the first to wear the Madrid #7 shirt after Ronaldo left, Mariano had just come off a disappointing year with Sevilla and a year without a club. In his first season with Alaves, expectations were met: 13 appearances and his only goals being a hat-trick in the Copa del Rey against a club playing in the regional Basque leagues.

This season, however, Mariano has turned back the years, scoring three and assisting three in his opening seven matches for Alaves, playing just 323 minutes. As Alaves continue to challenge for Europe after a great start, Mariano will be a key figure off the bench to help them achieve it.

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Throughout the entire summer, Atleti were adamant about keeping their star man, Argentinian Julian Alvarez. While they were successful in their endeavor, it’s so far looked like they needn’t even bother. Despite the 26-year-old having just 83 minutes of action in the league so far this season, Los Rojiblancos sit second place in the standings, fresh off a derby day win against hated rivals Real Madrid, also done without significant contribution from their Argentinian star.

This speaks to what could be a wider issue with Alvarez, who, despite crucial cup goals, has scored just twice in the league in the past year. In the league, despite Alvarez’s plaudits, players like Ademola Lookman, Alex Baena, and Giuliano Simeone have reigned far above Alvarez. As the situation continues to cool down with Barcelona’s interest seemingly fading (if it was ever truly there in the first place), Alvarez is expected to soon be back in form under Simeone. If he can’t refind his form soon, however, los Rojiblancos’ second-top earner will soon find himself at the exit door.

While we’ve been talking about some high-flyers, we turn our attention to the bottom of the standings, to the two sides who accompany Valencia in the relegation spots – Elche and Malaga. In the case of Malaga, it was always a strange decision to take a newly promoted team that was in the third division just under two months ago and reinforce it with just loans and free transfers, leading many to predict a poor season from the promoted side. So far, it’s a decision that has in no way been proven correct. The Andalusian side are the only side in La Liga still without a win, acquiring all of their three points so far from draws, scoring as many goals as points gained in their opening seven.

While a 4-0 loss to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu has so far been their only lopsided defeat, they are just at a skill level below that of what’s required for La Liga.

Similarly, Elche find themselves in the relegation spots, but have looked much better than Malaga. Since their 5-0 defeat at the hands of Barcelona nearly two months ago, Elche are yet to be held scoreless. Elche have also been losers of two points due to winners after the 90th minute, losing 3-2 to Sociedad and Real Madrid through late Petar Sucic and Carlos Espi winners, respectively.

Led by a red-hot Fer Nino, who’s scored five already, Elche definitely have been showing the signs of turning around their form to leap out of the relegation spots, especially after a win away to Espanyol just before the break. They just need to shore up their defence and finally keep a clean sheet, something they still have yet to do this season.

With Elche’s goalscoring rate, Valencia’s change in dugout, as well as an inconsistent Levante and leaky Racing directly above them, this survival fight could still be one for the ages.

On the other side of the promoted teams spectrum, football fans of the 2000s could finally be once again treated to a familiar sight – Deportivo in Europe, a feat they haven’t accomplished in 18 years, 22 years if only counting proper competition appearances. It certainly wasn’t a sight most fans thought possible when Deportivo were at rock bottom in the third division back in the early stage of the decade.

Now, however, after a flying start to the season, the newly-promoted side find themselves 7th in the league, just three points out of a likely Champions League spot in 5th. The club was in the third division as recently as 2024, a historic comeback for one of Spain’s most historic clubs. Sadly, though, Deportivo will have to rethink their squad as talisman and top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will miss at least a month with a meniscus injury.

Putting their 7-2 loss to Barcelona aside (which could have been 11 or 12), Racing have been immensely leaky to start the season, having let in 21 in their opening seven matches. Their Barca loss was immediately followed up with a 5-0 loss to Celta, both of which were preceded by a 3-2 loss to Rayo.

All in all, Racing are still yet to keep a clean sheet, and despite having scored more than Betis, they sit 16th in the standings. Like Elche, if Racing can sort out their defending, they should be able to survive comfortably, especially if Yassir Zabiri, currently on six goals for the season, continues to perform.

The most recently updated of the stories, our last piece changes our pace from the bookends to the league to the middle of it. The saga of 12th-placed Rayo Vallecano has been one of wonder this season, but it hasn’t been on the pitch. So far this season, Rayo have been respectable, losing just one game that wasn’t against Barcelona or Madrid.

Striker Sergio Camello has also become one of the surprises of the season, netting seven so far, level with Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal in the goalscoring charts. However, they’ve become La Liga laughingstocks due to their stadium situation.

Vallecas is famously one of the most old-fashioned grounds in Europe’s top five leagues, with fans only being able to purchase tickets through queuing for a physical one. Located in a small Madrid community, Vallecas is a blast from football’s past that is a must-see for any groundhoppers visiting the Spanish capital.

Just over 10 kilometres from Real Madrid’s new Santiago Bernabeu, it provides a stark contrast to Los Blancos’ newly renovated spaceship. However, the stadium’s poor condition, lack of running water in the toilets, mountains of trash, and overall cleanliness issues had forced the stadium to be closed for repairs ahead of the La Liga season. It forced Rayo to move to neighboring Butarque, home of Leganes, for their first two home matches.

However, the stadium reopened during the international break, and fans were excited to see the new condition of their beloved ground, nearly five months since its last match. Sadly, fans were disappointed to see that little had changed, especially regarding the toilet running water situation. An ultras group even broke into the stadium before its return, a Trofeo de Vallecas match against Cagliari, and vandalized the stadium in protest of the club’s board. The local municipality has considered stripping Rayo of its license to use Vallecas while the stadium has been cleaned, and is proposing a renovation project to increase the capacity and make the stadium more up-to-date.

The stadium is scheduled to host its first official match since reopening on October 10th against Bilbao, but the saga will continue on for the foreseeable future.

With La Liga finally returning this weekend, those were the stories to be familiar with in order to be properly caught up to speed in time for club football. Over the coming months, we will see these narratives continue to play out. Can Barcelona maintain their ridiculous start? Will Rayo keep their stadium? Can players like Fernandez, Camello, and Zabiri maintain their goalscoring form? Will Deportivo challenge for Europe? I can’t wait to find out.