list of the greatest La Liga players ever sees Leo Messi come 4th & Cristiano Ronaldo 23rd

Isn’t Leo Messi the best La Liga player ever?

With it being bang smack in the middle of the international break, it should come as no surprise that a new list has come out to cause controversy.

The Centre for Investigations into the History and Statistics of Spanish Football 

have put together their list of the greatest players to ever play in the 85-year history of La Liga.

This La Liga study was headed by José Antonio Ortega, who analysed the performances of over 9,000 players to appear in the Spanish top flight since the late 1920s.

“The research built on similar value based criteria seen in sports like basketball, where points scored, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals and fouls can give a clear idea of a player’s performance… According to the values established in this footballing study, 24 points were awarded to each player based on minutes played per season, one point for each goal scored, 0.6 points for penalties, for example. Points were also subtracted for incidents such as own goals (0.4) and sendings off (1.5).”

Raul listed as the greatest La Liga player ever

The results caused CIHEFE to ascertain that the greatest La Liga player ever is Real Madrid legend Raul Gonzalez.

Barcelona legend César Rodriguez came in second whilst Telmo Zarra of Athletic Bilbao tipped Leo Messi to third.

As you can imagine, with so much support online, Leo Messi’s fourth placed finish has not gone down well with many Barcelona fans.

Sporting Gijon and Barcelona great Enrique Castro ‘Quini’ came in fifth, see the full points tallies below.

Juan Arza, Alfredo di Stéfano, Francisco Gento, Carlos Alonso ‘Santillana’ and Guillermo Gorostiza completed the top 10.

Cristiano Ronaldo comes 23rd

A key factor in the study was minutes played in La Liga, which left Ronaldo in 23rd.

The Portuguese superstar did see off some fine recent players in Spain’s top flight, including David Villa (32), Xavi Hernandez (49), Iker Casillas (62) and Aritz Aduriz (109).

The top 5 La Liga players ever, according to CIHEFE

Raul Gonzalez – 528 points

César Rodriguez – 524 points

Telmo Zarra – 493 points

Leo Messi – 490 points

Enrique Castro ‘Quini’ – 488 points

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