1997–98 La Liga

La Liga
Season1997–98
Dates30 August 1997 – 16 May 1998
ChampionsBarcelona
15th title
RelegatedCompostela (relegation playoff)
Mérida
Sporting Gijón
Champions LeagueReal Madrid (as Champions League winners)
Barcelona
Athletic Bilbao
Cup Winners' CupMallorca (as Copa del Rey runners-up)
UEFA CupReal Sociedad
Celta Vigo
Atlético Madrid
Real Betis
Intertoto CupValencia
Espanyol
Matches played380
Goals scored1,009 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorerChristian Vieri
(24 goals)
Biggest home winSalamanca 6–0 Valencia
(12 April 1998)[1]
Biggest away winOviedo 0–5 Real Sociedad
(19 October 1997)[2]
Highest scoringSalamanca 5–4 Atlético Madrid
(21 March 1998)[3]

The 1997–98 La Liga season was the 67th since its establishment. It began on 30 August 1997, and concluded on 16 May 1998.

On 29 March 1998, following Sporting Gijón's 0–0 draw with Zaragoza, combined with Racing Santander's 4–3 loss to Athletic Bilbao, Sporting Gijón became the first team in La Liga history to be relegated in March, ending the season with a league-record lowest points tally of just 13.

Promotion and relegation

Twenty teams competed in the league – the top seventeen teams from the previous season and the three teams promoted from the Segunda División. The promoted teams were Mérida, Salamanca (both teams returning after a season's absence) and Mallorca (returning after a five-year absence). They replaced Rayo Vallecano, Extremadura, Sevilla FC, Hércules CF and CD Logrones after spending time in the top flight for two, one, twenty two, one and one years respectively. Starting from this season, twenty teams contested in the La Liga as opposed to previous seasons with twenty-two teams.

Team information

Clubs and locations

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Location of teams in La Liga 1997–98
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Canary Islands

1997–98 season was composed of the following clubs:

Team Stadium Capacity
Barcelona Camp Nou 98,772
Real Madrid Santiago Bernabéu 80,354
Espanyol Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc 55,926
Atlético Madrid Vicente Calderón 55,005
Valencia Mestalla 55,000
Real Betis Benito Villamarín 52,132
Athletic Bilbao San Mamés 39,750
Deportivo de La Coruña Riazor 34,600
Real Zaragoza La Romareda 34,596
Celta de Vigo Balaídos 32,500
Real Sociedad Anoeta 32,200
Valladolid José Zorrilla 27,846
Sporting de Gijón El Molinón 25,885
Real Oviedo Carlos Tartiere 23,500
Tenerife Heliodoro Rodríguez López 22,824
Racing de Santander El Sardinero 22,222
Mallorca Lluís Sitjar 18,000
Salamanca El Helmántico 17,341
Mérida Estadio Romano 14,600
Compostela San Lázaro 12,000

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Barcelona (C) 38 23 5 10 78 56 +22 74 Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2 Athletic Bilbao 38 17 14 7 52 42 +10 65 Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
3 Real Sociedad 38 16 15 7 60 37 +23 63[a] Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
4 Real Madrid 38 17 12 9 63 45 +18 63[a] Qualification for the Champions League group stage[b]
5 Mallorca 38 16 12 10 55 39 +16 60[c] Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round[d]
6 Celta Vigo 38 17 9 12 54 47 +7 60[c] Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round
7 Atlético Madrid 38 16 12 10 79 56 +23 60[c]
8 Real Betis 38 17 8 13 49 50 −1 59
9 Valencia 38 16 7 15 58 52 +6 55 Qualification for the Intertoto Cup third round
10 Espanyol 38 12 17 9 44 31 +13 53 Qualification for the Intertoto Cup second round
11 Valladolid 38 13 11 14 36 47 −11 50
12 Deportivo La Coruña 38 12 13 13 44 46 −2 49
13 Zaragoza 38 12 12 14 45 53 −8 48
14 Racing Santander 38 12 9 17 46 55 −9 45[e]
15 Salamanca 38 12 9 17 46 46 0 45[e]
16 Tenerife 38 11 12 15 44 57 −13 45[e]
17 Compostela (R) 38 11 11 16 56 66 −10 44 Qualification for the relegation playoffs
18 Oviedo (O) 38 9 13 16 36 51 −15 40
19 Mérida (R) 38 9 12 17 33 53 −20 39 Relegation to the Segunda División
20 Sporting Gijón (R) 38 2 7 29 31 80 −49 13
Source: LFP
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) head-to-head points; 3) head-to-head goal difference; 4) head-to-head goals scored; 5) goal difference; 6) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ a b RMA 2–0 RSO; RSO 4–2 RMA
  2. ^ Real Madrid was qualified directly for the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League as holders.
  3. ^ a b c MLL: 9 pts; CEL: 5 pts; ATM: 2 pts
  4. ^ Since Barcelona, winners of 1997–98 Copa del Rey, was qualified for the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League, losing cup finalists RCD Mallorca earned a spot in the first round of the 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
  5. ^ a b c RAC: 8 pts; SAL: 4 pts → SAL 2-0 TEN; TEN: 4 pts → TEN 2-0 SAL

Results

Home \ Away ATH ATM FCB BET CEL COM RCD ESP MLL MER RAC RMA ROV RSO SAL RSG TEN VCF VLD ZAR
Athletic Bilbao 1–0 3–0 0–0 2–1 2–0 1–1 1–3 3–1 5–1 4–3 1–1 3–0 1–1 1–0 2–2 3–0 0–3 2–0 1–0
Atlético Madrid 3–0 5–2 0–0 3–3 3–1 3–0 0–2 2–3 4–0 2–1 1–1 4–1 2–2 1–1 2–1 2–2 3–1 5–0 2–1
Barcelona 4–0 3–1 1–3 3–2 2–0 2–1 3–1 0–0 3–1 2–0 3–0 2–1 3–0 1–4 2–1 3–2 3–4 1–2 1–0
Betis 1–1 2–3 0–2 2–0 1–0 1–0 1–3 2–1 2–1 0–2 3–2 1–1 0–0 2–1 2–1 3–0 1–0 3–0 3–3
Celta de Vigo 1–1 1–1 3–1 2–0 3–3 2–1 1–0 1–0 2–0 1–2 2–1 3–0 2–1 4–1 1–0 0–0 1–0 2–0 2–1
Compostela 1–4 2–1 2–2 2–3 0–0 0–0 1–1 2–2 3–0 3–1 2–3 1–0 1–3 2–0 2–0 1–2 3–1 0–0 2–0
Deportivo La Coruña 3–0 2–2 3–1 2–0 1–1 2–6 1–1 1–1 0–1 4–1 2–2 2–1 1–1 1–0 2–1 1–0 1–2 1–3 2–1
Espanyol 0–1 2–2 1–1 5–0 1–1 1–0 2–0 1–0 0–0 0–0 1–0 0–0 0–3 3–0 1–1 2–0 3–0 2–0 0–1
Mallorca 4–0 2–1 0–1 1–2 4–2 2–1 0–0 2–2 1–0 2–1 0–0 1–1 0–1 1–0 6–2 5–1 2–1 1–1 0–2
Mérida 0–0 2–1 1–2 1–3 4–0 3–3 1–0 1–1 0–0 1–2 2–2 2–1 3–1 1–0 1–0 1–1 1–0 0–0 0–1
Racing Santander 0–0 0–1 2–4 2–0 2–1 1–1 0–1 1–1 0–1 2–0 1–2 0–0 3–1 1–0 4–1 2–1 2–1 1–2 2–3
Real Madrid 0–0 1–1 2–3 1–0 3–1 2–1 0–0 2–1 2–0 1–0 2–2 5–1 2–0 1–0 3–0 3–0 1–2 3–1 0–2
Oviedo 1–2 0–2 1–0 0–0 3–1 1–1 1–1 1–1 0–1 2–0 0–1 1–1 0–5 2–0 2–1 1–0 0–0 0–1 3–0
Real Sociedad 1–1 0–0 2–2 2–0 2–1 5–1 1–1 2–0 1–0 2–1 1–0 4–2 2–2 1–1 2–1 1–1 1–1 3–0 0–1
Salamanca 0–0 5–4 4–3 0–0 0–1 0–1 4–1 2–1 1–1 3–1 0–0 0–2 0–2 0–0 4–0 2–0 6–0 1–0 1–2
Sporting Gijón 1–2 2–3 1–4 2–3 0–1 0–2 0–3 1–0 1–3 0–0 2–1 0–2 1–2 0–2 1–1 0–2 0–3 1–2 2–3
Tenerife 0–2 2–2 1–1 3–1 1–3 5–1 0–0 0–0 1–4 1–1 2–2 4–3 1–0 0–0 2–0 2–1 3–2 1–0 0–0
Valencia 1–1 4–1 0–3 1–0 2–1 4–1 1–0 0–0 0–0 3–0 6–1 0–2 1–1 3–2 0–1 2–2 1–2 1–2 2–1
Valladolid 3–0 2–1 1–2 1–3 0–0 4–1 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 1–1 1–0 0–4 1–2 1–1 2–1 0–3 4–0
Zaragoza 1–1 1–5 1–2 3–1 1–0 2–2 1–2 1–1 2–3 1–1 2–0 2–2 3–3 0–0 1–1 0–0 1–0 0–2 0–0
Source: LFP (in Spanish)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation playoff

Team 1 Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score Team 2 1st leg 2nd leg
Villarreal CF (a) 1–1 SD Compostela 0–0 1–1
Real Oviedo 4–3 UD Las Palmas 3–0 1–3

First leg

21 May 1998 Villarreal CF 0–0 SD Compostela Villarreal
21:45 Report (in Spanish) Stadium: El Madrigal
Attendance: 9,000
Referee: Víctor Esquinas Torres Community of Madrid
22 May 1998 Real Oviedo 3–0 UD Las Palmas Oviedo
21:45 Iván Ania 9' (pen.), 27'
Dely Valdés 59'		 Report (in Spanish) Stadium: Carlos Tartiere
Attendance: 23,500
Referee: Eduardo Iturralde González Basque Country (autonomous community)

Second leg

24 May 1998 SD Compostela 1–1
(1–1 agg.)		 Villarreal CF Santiago de Compostela
21:45 Chiba 57' Report (in Spanish) Alberto 7' Stadium: Multiusos de San Lázaro
Attendance: 11,500
Referee: Manuel Díaz Vega Asturias
25 May 1998 UD Las Palmas 3–1
(3–4 agg.)		 Real Oviedo Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
22:00 Gamboa 20'
Walter Pico 65'
Paquito 66'		 Report (in Spanish) Gamboa 29' (o.g.) Stadium: Insular
Attendance: 21,000
Referee: Antonio Jesús López Nieto Andalusia

Awards

Pichichi Trophy

The Pichichi Trophy is awarded to the player who scores the most goals in a season.

Rank Player Club Goals
1 Italy Christian Vieri Atlético Madrid 24
2 Brazil Rivaldo Barcelona 19
3 Spain Luis Enrique Barcelona 18
4 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Darko Kovačević Real Sociedad 17
5 Bulgaria Lyuboslav Penev Compostela 16
6 Portugal Pauleta Salamanca 15
7 Uruguay Fernando Correa Racing Santander 14
8 Argentina Gabriel Amato Mallorca 13
Argentina Juan Esnáider Espanyol
Croatia Alen Peternac Valladolid

Zamora Trophy

The Ricardo Zamora Trophy is awarded to the goalkeeper with the lowest ratio of goals conceded to matches played.

Rank Player Club Goals against Matches Average
1 Spain Toni Espanyol 31 37 0.84
2 Spain Alberto Real Sociedad 37 38 0.97
3 Romania Bogdan Stelea Salamanca 32 30 1.07
4 Spain Imanol Etxeberria Athletic Bilbao 42 38 1.11
5 Spain Andoni Zubizarreta Valencia 40 34 1.18

See also

References

  1. ^ "Salamanca 6–0 Valencia". LFP. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  2. ^ "Real Oviedo 0–5 Real Sociedad". LFP. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  3. ^ "Salamanca 5–4 Atlético Madrid". LFP. Retrieved 14 September 2010.