Final Pythagorean table for the 2011-12 Spanish Primera Division

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!

League Table Pythagorean
Team GP W D L GF GA GD Pts W D L Pts Δ
Real Madrid 38 32 4 2 121 32 +89 100 29 5 4 92 +8
Barcelona 38 28 7 3 114 29 +85 91 29 6 3 93 -2
Valencia 38 17 10 11 59 44 +15 61 17 10 11 61 +0
Málaga 38 17 7 14 54 53 +1 58 14 10 14 52 +6
Atlético Madrid 38 15 11 12 53 46 +7 56 16 10 12 58 -2
Levante 38 16 7 15 54 50 +4 55 15 10 13 55 +0
Osasuna 38 13 15 10 44 61 -17 54 11 10 17 43 +11
Mallorca 38 14 10 14 42 46 -4 52 13 11 14 50 +2
Sevilla 38 13 11 14 48 47 +1 50 14 10 14 52 -2
Athletic Bilbao 38 12 13 13 49 52 -3 49 13 10 15 49 +0
Getafe 38 12 11 15 40 51 -11 47 11 11 16 44 +3
Real Sociedad 38 12 11 15 46 52 -6 47 13 10 15 49 -2
Betis 38 13 8 17 47 56 -9 47 12 10 16 46 +1
Espanyol 38 12 10 16 46 56 -10 46 12 10 16 46 +0
Rayo Vallecano 38 13 4 21 53 73 -20 43 11 8 19 41 +2
Zaragoza 38 12 7 19 36 61 -25 43 9 10 19 37 +6
Granada 38 12 6 20 35 56 -21 42 9 10 19 37 +5
Villarreal 38 9 14 15 39 53 -14 41 11 10 17 43 -2
Sporting de Gijón 38 10 7 21 42 69 -27 37 9 9 20 36 +1
Racing Santander 38 4 15 19 28 63 -35 27 6 10 22 28 -1

 

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