The results of Matchday 37 set up a particularly unusual situation, as the title, the European race and the relegation battle have all been decided before the final round of the campaign. After 1930/31 and 2017/18, this is just the third time in the history of Spanish football’s top flight that there is no major objective left for the clubs to decide when entering the final matchday. However, there are several individual battles and other storylines worth paying attention to…
Sorloth overtakes Dovbyk, but the Pichichi isn’t over yet
Given out each year to the league’s top goalscorer, the Pichichi Trophy is one of the most prestigious individual prizes in Spanish football. And, Alexander Sorloth is the leader heading into the final day, following his sensational four-goal performance against Real Madrid in the penultimate round, reminiscent of Diego Forlan’s Matchday 37 hat-trick when he won it in 2004/05, also for Villarreal.
Sorloth has moved on to 23 goals, but Girona’s Artem Dovbyk is still very much in contention on 21 goals. Moreover, Dovbyk will play at home in the final matchday and against Granada, who are second-bottom in the standings and who have been conceding 1.95 goals per game this season, the second-worst such record in the division.
Girona coach Michel will try to support Dovbyk as much as he can, as he revealed following Matchday 37. The coach said in a press conference: “I told Dovbyk that Sorloth had scored four and he made quite the face. So, I said to him that ‘I hope you can turn it around, even if it’ll be very difficult against Granada’.”
It’s certainly going to be fun to watch that battle reach its conclusion on the final matchday, when Girona host the already-relegated Andalusians and when Villarreal visit Osasuna.
The Zarra Trophy might slip out of the injured Borja Mayoral’s grasp
Another goalscoring trophy which will be handed out is the Zarra Trophy, for the top-scoring Spaniard in the division. Borja Mayoral has long been leading this ranking with his 15 goals, even though the Getafe striker hasn’t played since the first weekend of March due to a long-term injury. Despite not being able to add to his tally, he had such a good three-quarters of the season that no other Spaniard is ahead of him.
However, Alvaro Morata pulled level on 15 goals by netting in Matchday 37 for Atletico Madrid. The No.9 of Los Colchoneros will have the chance to add to his tally in the final round, when Atleti visit Real Sociedad. If he does so, he’d be able to win the Zarra Trophy outright, which would be a first in his career.
Ter Stegen could sneak into first place and retain the Zamora Trophy
The other main individual award is the Zamora Trophy, given out each season to the goalkeeper with the best goals-conceded ratio of all those who have played a minimum of 28 games. That qualifying total isn’t usually all that important, but this year it could be decisive as reigning Zamora Trophy winner Marc-Andre ter Stegen has currently played 27 matches, having missed a lot of Barcelona’s season with injury. If the German plays on Matchday 38, when Barcelona visit Sevilla on Sunday night in the final game of the entire season, he could qualify and improve his current ratio from 0.96 to 0.93 with a clean sheet.
That would be better than the current Zamora Trophy leader Unai Simón, whose record stands at 0.94. There had been a theory that Athletic Club could rest Simon in their final game and allow him to maintain that impressive stat, but the Basque club’s coaching staff now know that ter Stegen would surpass it with a clean sheet of his own. As such, both goalkeepers will likely play and try to make every save possible in Matchday 38, with Athletic Club away at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday and Barcelona away at Sevilla on Sunday.
There is also a third candidate, Real Sociedad’s Alex Remiro. He currently has a record of 0.97, but could yet end up with the best ratio if the goals fly in against his rivals in the final round of the campaign, a matchday that does still have several intriguing battles to resolve.
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