FIFA 23: Team of The Season Predictions - La Liga
Hello and welcome to La Liga Team of The Season Predictions. One of the most weird recent seasons, but not for your usual leaders.
Barcelona should become champion very easily, with one of the best defensive records in history of La Liga and a lot of their defenders should be included in Team of The Season. Of course, main hero of Barcelona (feels like) is Marc Andre Ter Stegen. He brought a lot of points by himself to Barca and without him it might’ve been a bit closer race.
Battle for 2nd is actually close. Both Madrid clubs fighting for that second spot and both clubs have their own heroes. Madrid has Benzema and Vinicius in attack, while Atletico employs one of the best players of 2023: Antoine Griezmann. Griez went on an amazing form for the whole 2023 and resurrection of Atletico Madrid basically connected to his form. They struggled hard in first half of the season, but managed to turn it around. Real Madrid had their ups and downs this season. Club is actually enigma – they can easily win vs Barcelona, but then lose to some random club. Or hit a good form, start winning games, but then suddenly they are losing to Granada away from home 4-1. So yeah, it’s been a weird season for them in La Liga (but they won Copa Del Rey and still in Champions League, while others can’t say the same).
Apart from your usual big 3 – we have other teams. Real Sociedad started season well, as per usual, but in the 2nd part of the season they aren’t as good. Probably they will stay in top 4 and next season San Sebastian will see Champions League on Anoeta, but could’ve been a bit more. Still, I’d say a lot of fans would be happy on this result. They didn’t have a lot of standout players, but we might see some TOTS from them. Which fans wouldn’t be as happy as Sociedad fans? Betis fans, I thought they had whatever was needed for Top-4 challenge this season, but crucial injury to Fekir ruined their season a lot, because he was producing great level and they were in top 4 for a long time (before Atletico came in smashing everyone). Sadly only 5th or 6th spot. Same goes to Villarreal, who started season slowly, lost Emery to Aston Villa and were looking not as hot, but then Quique Setien came in and changed their season. They were midtable before 2023, but now they still have small chance for Top 4, but it’s really slim one. We’ll probably get Parejo, as we get him every year and he’ll be in most of your TOTS packs.
So yeah, these teams should represent TOTS at most, there should be some unusual inclusions from lower rated teams, but they won’t be very common. So let’s see who I’ve chosen.
Goalkeeper – it was easy one. Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and there aren’t even an alternative. Conceded only 15 goals this season so far, kept insane number of clean sheets and saved Barca numerous times like Turkish clinic saved his hair. I’d consider someone else, if MATS numbers wouldn’t be as special, but really got no choice, especially when we get only 1 GK per TOTS.
In defense I have Jules Kounde. Of course, 17 clean sheets are important, but he also managed to assist 3 times and played multiple positions on the pitch. He was sometimes RB, so his position should be either CB or RB. Should be very good FUT card and I’m sure loads of people would enjoy it.
Another option – Eder Militao. Everyone loves Eder, he has TOTY and will get his TOTS card, due to popular demand and him being good. At first, when Rudiger came in – I thought he’d replace Militao, but no, Eder proved himself once again and also managed to score 5 goals this season which is a lot for defender in La Liga.
3rd option is actually hard. It’s between Jose Maria Gimenez and Pau Torres for me. Both had great seasons, both had high highs and low lows. Atletico, as I’ve said – started pretty slow, but managed to overcome it and Gimenez managed to get 9 clean sheets, 2 goals and 1 assist. While Pau Torres, playing in worse team, managed to get the same amount of CS and got 1 goal. I know that goals don’t matter for CBs, I’m just highlighting that they do something apart from defense. Feel like popularity would be on Gimenez side, he’s well known player and Atletico simply has more fans. But I can see a world, where both players get special cards.
With fullbacks it’s really hard in La Liga this year. Feels like no full-back played at his best. Nahuel Molina from Atletico seems like a good choice at RB, as he had solid stats, also 2 assists and 3 goals (admittedly he got most of them in the last month, before that he wasn’t getting many involvements). And people always vote for someone hyped and young, so Alejandro Balde from Barcelona is another option. He was very solid in his first professional year defensively and also managed to get 5 assists and more importantly he replaced Jordi Alba, who felt irreplaceable for a long long time. Of course, 14 clean sheets is a big bonus for him.
Other than that – it’s hard to mention somebody else. Felt like not many defenders really stood out this season, but we still should get meta defenders, that will be really good in game.
Moving to midfielders and that’s where people are usually having discussions and fun. It’s always a big debate who to include and who will miss out on big names. Feels like this year only 1 player is locked and it’s Pedri. Even without voting – he’ll get in. He’s popular, he plays well, he passes eye test and everyone loves him. He scored 6 goals this season and felt like every his goal was important (I actually checked and 5 out of 6 his goals were game winning ones). Another Barcelona midfielder that probably will be in – Frenkie De Jong. Barca wanted to get rid of him, but he never left and proved himself at his best level. 2 goals and 2 assists for him, but he plays his role fantastically and every stats man loves him. Numbers for Barcelona midfielders aren’t the best, compared to some midfielders in other leagues, but it’s not about numbers, especially in Barcelona’s team, where you need control and a lot of passing.
Speaking about other teams – Fede Valverde would be my choice from Real Madrid. He started season wonderfully, but then he had some issues and mid of the season wasn’t the best. But lately he’s been playing well once again. 7 goals and 3 assists this season and a lot of popularity in FUT community. Very good player, very good card, will be expensive! I’d also include someone from KroosModric pairing, but feels like they won’t be in for different reasons. Modric was good, 3 assists, 4 goals, but felt like his 2nd part of the season not the best. Same can be said about Kroos, even tho he producing good statistical numbers, he’s also got 2 goals and 3 assists, but feel like people won’t vote for him, cause they are bored and want other usable cards.
Apart from Real Madrid and Barcelona there are teams that actually exist in La Liga and play well. One of those teams is Real Sociedad. Their leader – Mikel Merino – should get in TOTS, he got 1 goal and 9 assists and he helps Sociedad to maintain that 4th UCL Spot. He’s actually got the most assists in La Liga, which is surprising.
Won’t be surprised to see Dani Parejo to get into TOTS, because it’s Dani Parejo and it’s TOTS time. Felt like he never missed out on TOTS in Villarreal’s shirt and there’s a chance that he gets in. 4 assists and 3 goals might not be the best numbers (actually the same as Modric, for example), but it’s Dani Parejo. EA might still give him a card, even no one will vote for him.
Another shout is Gabri Veiga. Burst on a scene was very impressive. No one knew who is he before this season, but he managed to show himself with 9 goals and 6 assists (which is very good numbers for CM) and a lot of European clubs would like to sign him, if Celta actually sells him.
Phew, that might be it with Midfielders. A lot of options and I have honestly no idea who will make the cut, especially when number of spots is limited.
Finally we can move on to attackers. Of course, there are 4 people that will be in TOTS no matter what: Benzema, Lewandowski, Vinicius and Griezmann.
Let’s go 1 by 1. Lewandowski scored 19 goals and 6 assists, Benzema got 17 goals and 3 assists, Griezmann scored 13 goals and 12 assists, Vinicius got 10 goals and 9 assists. All 4 lead goal scoring and assisting charts, so all 4 will get it. Griezmann is probably the best player of La Liga in 2nd half of the season.
Next option is Enes Unal from Getafe. They might get relegated, but Enes Unal trying to save them as much as possible. He scored 14 goals out of 30 team managed to score and got 3 assists. So actually participated in more than 50% of team’s goals. Impressive to me, at least deserves a moments card.
Another person who does a carry job for a club – Iago Aspas. Celta’s legend performed great one more time with 12 goals and 3 assists. I think one of Aspas or Veiga will get TOTS and I’d probably enjoy more Veiga TOTS, but if it’s Aspas – then he also deserves it!
And the last player will be controversial to me. I feel like I’m putting Ousmane Dembele not because of his amazing performances, but because he’s popular in FUT. But apart from 5 goals and 5 assists – he enables Lewandowski to play just better. When Dembouz went off injured – Lewandowski simply stopped scoring. They are playing well together, so I won’t be surprised to see him get a card like Son or Varane and be very good and expensive!
So yeah, that’s probably it. Very hard league for me to predict, feels like everyone producing average numbers, no one scoring loads of goals anymore, not even 1 striker scored more than 20 goals in La Liga, this season feels very odd. Barcelona conceded only 11 goals in 33 games, that’s amazing number, but only 3 teams passed 60 goals mark and only 4 teams passed 50 goals mark. You can imagine how exciting it was to watch some games. It’s fine tho, TOTS should be very good, people should get loads of nice cards! We’ll see how it goes! Hit me up on Twitter with criticism and I’ll talk with you!
