Below is the final Pythagorean table for the 2011-12 Spanish Primera División which concluded today (13 May).  The league Pythagorean exponent is 1.70.

Real Madrid and Barcelona were far and away the best of Primera, but if you look solely at their offensive/defensive goal records there was very little to choose between them.  Just on those expectations the league title should have gone down to the wire, and maybe Barça could have retained their crown.  But Real played at a much higher level than previous seasons, especially on the road (a 1:1 ratio of points won at home and away, incredible).

Other big performers were Málaga, who had +6 Pythagorean residual and leapfrogged Atlético Madrid and Levante into a Champions League place, and Osasuna, with a +11 Pythagorean residual and barely missed the European places despite a -17 goal differential.

Very few teams grossly underperformed over the season, and most sides deserved their final positions, but the cruelest cut was suffered by Villarreal.  Once again, a relegated team finished with more than 40 points, but this time Villarreal were undone by the final surge by Zaragoza and Granada and their own mistakes.  Zaragoza’s flight to safety was remarkable when you recall that they had 25 points with nine matches left!

 
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