Spanish La Liga Team of the Week

Real Madrid continued their uncharacteristic slump after a 1-0 defeat to Sevilla, leaving rivals Barcelona to open up an eight-point lead over them after a 4-1 win over Getafe which also maintained their perfect start to the season.

Malaga continued their strong performance with a solid 3-1 win over Levante, much to the surprise of many critics who panned them after a slew of departures over the summer. 

Atletico Madrid's Radamel Falcao continued his fine goalscoring form, finding the net yet again against Rayo Vallecano, but his side suffered a late scare to hang on to claim a 4-3 win.

We go with a 4-3-3 formation this week.

GK: Espinosa Casto Barriaga (Real Betis)
Real Betis edged Real Valladolid in a close 1-0 away win after Ruben Castro grabbed a late winner, but credit must go to Casto, who kept his side in the game throughout.
The 30-year-old was called into action minutes into the game to save a Javi Guerra header from close range in the first half before parrying away Patrick Ebert's headed effort from Omar Ramos' cross.

LB: Aly Cisskho (Valencia)
The summer signing from Lyon celebrated his 25th birthday in style - with a winning goal to help Valencia grab their first win of the season in the 1-0 win over Celta Vigo.
The physically-imposing left back was always troubling Celta with his overlapping runs and his efforts paid off with his winning header to head home Danny Parejo's cross on the 50th-minute mark.

CB: Carlos Marchena (Deportivo La Coruna)
Deportivo condemned Granada to continue their winless start to the season with a 1-1 draw Nuevo Los Carmenes.

Marchena was majestic at the heart of Deportivo's defence, rallying his back line against Granada's formidable duo of Antonio Floro Flores and Gabriel Torje, both on loan from Udinese. Granada were unable to convert their superior possession (54%) into chances - a testament to Marchena's excellent all-round defending.

CB: Inigo Martinez (Real Sociedad)
The promising 21-year-old put in a performance in defence which every manager would want from their defender - keep it solid at the back with a clean sheet, go up front and score a goal.
Born and bred in Real Sociedad's academy, Martinez scored his third senior goal for the club after heading home Carlos Vela's corner kick to give them a comfortable 2-0 win over Real Zaragoza.

RB: Cicinho (Sevilla)
Not to be mistaken for his namesake who plied his trade at Real Madrid in 2006, Sevilla's Cicinho had the unenviable task of going up against Cristiano Ronaldo and the overlapping Marcelo.
Sevilla were on the back foot for most of the game after taking an early lead via Piotr Trochowski but their defence held strong, with Cicinho in particular deserving credit in keeping the misfiring Real Madrid strikers at bay.

CM: Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona)
A slew of injuries, and an upcoming Champions League game combined meant that Barcelona were had a decimated look about them, with David Villa and Lionel Messi rested on the bench in the 4-1 win against Getafe.

Despite the recent talks of being unable to fit in, Fabregas took up the role of orchestrating Barcelona's attack and provided penetrating passes throughout for his side, one of which was an excellent sliding pass to unlock the defence for Adriano to open the scoring.

CM: Joan Verdu (Espanyol)
Espanyol drew Athletic Bilbao in a six-goal thriller (which ended 3-3, if you can't do the math), in which Verdu starred in. Despite his side having only 38% of possession, Verdu linked up play to the attack smoothly and grabbed a goal and an assist as well. 

His lovely combination play with Victor Sanchez helped his side bamboozle the disciplined Bilbao defence to open the scoring before turning in a loose shot which was parried his way by Gorka Iraizoz. 

CM: Isco (Malaga)
Despite losing several star players over the summer, Malaga continue to surprise critics with a strong start to the season and Isco's fine form is part of the reason for it.

He hasn't scored any goals so far but his off-ball movement, ball retention and distribution has been key for Malaga's attack. His perfectly weighted through ball for Saviola opened the scoring for Malaga as they went on to beat Levante 3-1.

LW: Carlos Vela (Real Sociedad)
The Mexican's promising career faded off at Arsenal and his attempt to reinvigorate it at Real Sociedad looks like an excellent move both for him and the club.

Vela was constantly threatening Real Zaragoza with his darting runs and pulling defenders wide. He crossed in a corner for Martinez's goal (as mentioned earlier) and also grabbed one for himself after being scythed down in the box and converting the subsequent penalty.

RW: Jesus Navas (Sevilla)
Navas was a constant threat to Real Madrid down the right flank and was causing plenty of problems against the attack-minded Marcelo.

Although he didn't get on the scoresheet, his ability to push the ball high up the pitch to send the Real defence scurrying back deserves credit for helping to relieve pressure on his defensive colleagues.

CF: Aritz Aduriz (Athletic Bilbao)
Finally, we have a week without the spectacular Radamel Falcao in as the main striker in the Team of the Week and Aduriz fully deserves his spot here for his role in Athletic Bilbao's 3-3 draw against Espanyol.

The former Valencia man started off the match by having his header deflected onto the woodwork and upped his game in the second half when his side went 2-0 down. Aduriz then powered home Ibai Gomez's free kick ten minutes after the restart and sealed the equaliser with a marvellous volley seven minutes from time.