Thibaut Courtois and Marc-André ter Stegen get plenty of spotlight – as they should.
They are the starting goalkeepers for Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively, and the former of the two clearly established himself as the best in the world after helping lead Los Blancos to the Champions League Title last season.
But those two superstars aren’t the only great goalkeepers in LaLiga worth getting to know.
Let’s rank the 10 best LaLiga goalkeepers. Courtois and ter Stegen will feature highly, but who is No. 1? And how many surprises are represented on the list?
10. Jan Oblak, Atlético Madrid
If this list were made before the 2021/22 season, Jan Oblak would undoubtedly be in the top three. And there was a point before Thibaut Courtois found his best form in the 2019/20 season that Oblak would have been a favorite for the top spot.
The problem is that he has been poor since the start of the last season. It’s hard to explain how one of the best keepers in the world is now barely one of the top 10 keepers in his own league, but Oblak has been making strange errors for the last season-and-a-half while not making nearly as many mind-blowing saves as he used to.
There are signs of Oblak turning things around, and he surely can never do as badly as he did in 2021/22 when his save percentage was just 66.
But with a save percentage still hovering below 70, it is hard to call Oblak one of the five best LaLiga goalkeepers. He is only in the top 10 on the strength of his reputation, which is, admittedly, outstanding.
9. Rui Silva, Real Betis
Rui Silva was a solid goalkeeper for Granada, but he has blossomed into one of the league’s top-performing goalkeepers since joining top-four hopefuls Real Betis as the replacement for LaLiga veteran – and former Barcelona star – Claudio Bravo.
This season, Silva is fourth in LaLiga in save percentage, improving from 75 to 79.2 in his second season with Los Verdiblancos.
Silva is someone who should continue to rise up this list, though the competition at the goalkeeper position is quite fierce in Spanish football. Villarreal’s Geronimo Rulli couldn’t even make the list!
8. Unai Simón, Athletic Bilbao
Spanish national team goalkeeper Unai Simón isn’t enjoying his best season thus far, but he is still absolutely one of the best LaLiga goalkeepers and someone with all the potential in the world.
At the age of 25, the big Simón is only just entering his prime in goal for the Lions of LaLiga. Simón was downright awesome in 2019/20 as a 22-year-old, allowing just 0.87 goals per game with a save percentage of 78.
He came close to the 75 percent mark last season after rebounding from a poor 2020/21.
Still young, once Simón becomes more consistent, he will be a fixture in the top five for sure.
7. Jeremías Ledesma, Cádiz
Cádiz might be one of the worst teams in LaLiga, but they have managed to survive in the top flight because of a strong defense, led by Jeremías Ledesma in goal.
Just ask Barcelona and Real Madrid fans how frustrating it is to face this guy in goal when he is on his “A” game, which seems to be more often than not. He knows how important he is to the Yellow Submarine’s hopes of picking up valuable points.
Ledesma is one of the top ten goalkeepers in LaLiga in terms of save percentage, and the Argentinian has actually never had a save percentage below 70 percent at any point in his career.
Last season, he stopped more than 76 percent of the shots he faced despite playing for a bottom-table side. Ledesma is still saving 73.5 percent of the shots he faces, even though Cádiz allow nearly two goals per game.
6. Giorgi Mamardashvili, Valencia
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is the most-discussed Georgian in world football, but more people should show respect to Giorgio Mamardashvili. Goalkeepers don’t get their deserved due, and Mamardashvili is a prime example of that.
The 22-year-old shot-stopper is one of the best young goalkeepers you will find in the entire world, yet most football fans have probably never heard of him. Valencia may not be top-four contenders in LaLiga like they used to be, but this is still a solid, historic club. Their standout goalkeeper should be more well-known.
Mamardashvili is seventh in the league in save percentage for the 2022/23 season, having stopped 76 percent of the shots he faced last season as one of LaLiga’s big breakout stars.
A name to know going forward, Mamardashvili truly could become the next world-class keeper in Spanish football.
5. David Soria, Getafe
Faithful LaLiga fans know David Soria very, very well. One of the faces of a persistently stingy Getafe side that seems to know how to always scrape by in LaLiga, Soria is another player whom Madridistas, in particular, do not have fond memories of facing head-to-head.
Soria is capable of some of the best saves you will see in LaLiga. Like Courtois and ter Stegen, Soria can make saves that he has no right to make, erasing sure-fire goals.
A leader for Getafe, Soria had back-to-back seasons with less than a goal per game allowed, during which time Getafe finished fifth and eighth in the table, respectively.
4. Yassine Bounou, Sevilla
“Bono”, as he is known, is one of the very best goalkeepers in Spanish football and has even challenged Thibaut Courtois for this distinction in the past couple of seasons. When Oblak and ter Stegen struggled for form, it was Bono who rose as the biggest breakout star of the 2020/21 season to challenge Courtois at the summit of LaLiga goalkeepers.
Now, Bono is entrenched as one of the best LaLiga goalkeepers, having saved 77.4 and 78.0 percent of the shots he faced in the previous two seasons, respectively.
Though Sevilla is struggling and Bono’s numbers do not look as good, he is still as important as ever to the club, making saves to keep Sevilla in matches.
3. Édgar Badía, Elche
Elche’s survival hopes hinge on the incredibly underrated Édgar Badia, who is another top keeper every elite club in LaLiga loathes to face.
Badía is very consistent and frequently makes highlight-reel saves, elevating his game against the absolute best attacking players that the league has to offer. And goodness to Elche need that.
Badía saved over 75 percent of the shots he faced last season, and while that number has slipped in 2022/23 amidst Elche’s serious struggles, the 30-year-old is actually the best goalkeeper in the league in terms of post-shot expected goals prevented.
Therefore, he more than belongs near the top of the list of the best LaLiga goalkeepers.
2. Marc-André ter Stegen, Barcelona
After struggling mightily in 2021/22 and not fairing out too well the season before either, Marc-André ter Stegen has fully rebounded in the 2022/23 season with a better defense in front of him. Yes, the signing of Jules Koundé from Sevilla has been quite instrumental.
Ter Stegen was arguably the best goalkeeper in the world in the first half of the 2019/20 season, and then rivals Thibaut Courtois and Manuel Neuer took center stage in LaLiga and the Champions League, respectively.
The former Borussia Mönchengladbach star is one of the best in the world on the ball and in terms of reflex saves. His talent is unquestionable. His mentality and consistency, however, were called into question.
That is no longer the case. Ter Stegen is saving a jaw-dropping 87.5 percent of the shots he faces in LaLiga, making him one of Europe’s absolute best shot-stoppers again.
He struggled in the Champions League comparatively, but that had more to do with Barcelona’s woeful displays as a team.
1. Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid
There can be no doubt that Thibaut Courtois is the best goalkeeper in LaLiga. Even though he hasn’t been as good as in previous seasons, he has still been great, setting the bar so high that even performing as a top-five keeper in the league by most metrics is considered “only a good” year for the Belgian.
The man is untouchable and the perfect Real Madrid goalkeeper, having fought hard to prove that he belongs in goal.
Courtois has more than succeeded Keylor Navas, and he is so good that many Madridistas already feel he is a better keeper than Iker Casillas. That is no knock on San Iker, but rather a fair evaluation of how brilliant Courtois is.
Look at the stats. Courtois allowed just 0.59 goals per game and saved nearly 80 percent of the shots he faced in 2019/20 when Real Madrid won LaLiga in a huge bounce-back season for the club and for the goalkeeper himself.
Then, Courtois was even better in the injury-plagued 2020/21 season, saving over 80 percent of what he faced.
And then in 2021/22, Courtois maintained a clean sheet percentage over 44, allowed just 0.81 goals per game, and saved nearly 78 percent of the shots he faced.
When it comes to consistency, nobody in LaLiga can measure up to Courtois.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.