Real Madrid watched Barcelona outlast their local rivals Girona on Saturday night in La Liga action, and they were able to find the same late goal in order to edge past a consistently stingy Getafe.
And lo and behold, it was, once again, the pairing of Arda Guler and Kylian Mbappe to hook up and give Real Madrid the late goal they needed for a 1-0 win, maintaining their slight lead in the table over Barcelona heading into next weekend’s Clasico.
With all due respect to the Real Betis attacking duo of Abde and Antony, the top five La Liga Player of the Season rankings list thus far is dominated by the Clasico rivals.
But who is first? And which team has more candidates in the top five? Let’s take a look.
5. Barcelona LW Raphinha
Raphinha has been playing just as much on the right side of the Barcelona attack as on the left side, and it feels like the 2024/25 Ballon d’Or candidate is becoming even more underrated in comparison to the hype machine Lamine Yamal is (rightfully) generating.
The Brazilian international cooked up five goal contributions in his first five starts of the season, and when he returns from injury, Barcelona will be truly ready to rock and roll. He is their X-Factor.
4. Real Madrid AM Arda Guler
Arda Guler showed signs of superstardom towards the end of the 2024/25 season when Carlo Ancelotti actually started to play him in the playmaker role, and, now, he is unequivocally the breakout superstar of the 2025/26 La Liga season.
The Turkish international has been a genius at the heart of the Real Madrid attack, pulling all the strings with a whopping three goals and four assists while averaging 2.6 key passes per contest.
3. Real Madrid LW Vinicius Junior
Quietly, Vinicius Junior is second in the league in goal contributions with nine, and Real Madrid will never bench or slander him again. Any criticisms of the Brazilian superstar have been erased by his excellence on the field, as Vini Jr. has led by example.
With Kylian Mbappe growing into his own at the striker position, Vinicius is blowing everyone wide open on the wings and finally showing his true quality again, benefiting from Mbappe’s improvement.
2. Barcelona RW Lamine Yamal
The only reason why Lamine Yamal doesn’t have even better numbers than two goals and four assists is simply because he’s only been able to start four matches due to injury.
Yamal is the best winger in world football, no doubt, and even Vinicius can’t hold a candle to him, though he comes close. The 18-year-old phenom is averaging more than five dribbles completed per game, which is just insane.
1. Real Madrid ST Kylian Mbappe
There’s the rest of this list, and then there is Kylian Mbappe. With 10 goals, Mbappe is doubling up everyone else in La Liga in the Pichichi race and is easily the best finisher and the best player in the league at creating his own shot.
Mbappe is on his own planet at this point, and in addition to the goals, his all-around numbers at striker also dwarf everyone else and would even put Karim Benzema’s totals to shame with 3.1 dribbles completed and 2.6 key passes per game.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.