Which team dominated the La Liga XI of the week for Gameweek 8?

Neymar continued filling the huge void left by the injured Lionel Messi with aplomb, after he netted four goals in Barcelona’s 5-2 victory over Rayo Vallecano on Saturday. The Brazil international, who garnered a perfect WhoScored rating (10), was unsurprisingly the highest rated player in La Liga over the week, but was he joined by more Barcelona teammates? Or did another team dominate the XI?

Despite scoring the most goals of any team over the weekend in Spain’s top-flight only Luis Suarez (8.69) could join Neymar in the team of the week. It was actually their fiercest rivals, Real Madrid, that dominated the team of the week with three players in the starting fold thanks to their routine 3-0 win over Levante in the weekend’s earliest kick-off.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the pick of the bunch with a WhoScored rating of 8.99, and is joined by Marcelo (8.95) and Raphael Varane (8.02). Ronaldo and Marcelo were both goalscorers during the comfortable win at home, whereas Varane was a model of authority at the back in the absence of long-term centre back partners Sergio Ramos and Pepe.

Varane, 22, is widely tipped as one of the brightest prospects on the planet and he will continue to reach the level expected of him with more performances like the one on display at the weekend. The France international made more at least four more clearances than any other player (8) and also made more interceptions than any other Madrid teammate (6).

Added to that, he only misplaced two passes all afternoon, finishing with a pass completion rate of 95%, which only two other players could claim to better from those that started the match. The inexperienced partnership of Varane and Nacho – who made just his second appearance of the season – could have been a vulnerable one, but they ensured Rafa Benitez’s side kept their sixth clean sheet in the league from just eight games this season.

For more stats on Real Madrid, click here to visit their WhoScored player page