By Esper · Published · Updated
This map ranks all 20 La Liga teams of 2022–23 on the five style axes behind our FM26 tactic cards: pressing intensity, defensive line, tempo, width and build-up. The tables below show the teams at each end of every axis, the chart sets pressing against possession, and the full grid for all 20 teams is at the bottom.
What the five axes measure
- Pressing Intensity — Tackles won, interceptions and fouls, ranked twice and combined: once per game and once relative to the time spent without the ball, with the second ranking counted double.
- Defensive Line — Opponents caught offside per game. Teams that hold a higher line usually catch more.
- Tempo — Shots per game.
- Width — Crosses per game.
- Build-Up — Share of possession. The cards read more of the ball as a shorter build-up.
Every rank is within this league’s 20 teams for this season.
Pressing against possession
Narrow play, high finishes
Real Betis were last for width (13.5 crosses a game), Villarreal 19th (13.7) and Real Sociedad 18th (14.2). They finished 6th, 5th and 4th, with 60, 64 and 71 points. At the other end Valencia crossed the most (24.3 a game) and Athletic Bilbao were 2nd (24.2), and they finished 16th and 8th. Rayo Vallecano were 3rd for width (21.9) and finished 11th.
Barcelona: first for possession, second for line, 20th on the pressing count
Barcelona won with 88 points. They had the most possession (64.3%), the 2nd-highest line (3.2 opposition offsides a game) and the 2nd-highest tempo (15.0 shots a game). On the plain per-game count of tackles won, interceptions and fouls they ranked 20th, the lowest in the league, but 1st once time without the ball is counted, which put them level in 5th for pressing. They repeated the pattern the next season: see the 2023–24 report.
Real Madrid finished 2nd with 78 points and led tempo (16.7 shots a game) with the 18th-ranked line (1.5) and the 17th-ranked width (15.1).
Pressing: Real Sociedad first, Almería last
Real Sociedad ranked 1st for pressing (4th per game, 3rd adjusted) and finished 4th with 71 points. Celta Vigo were 2nd, with the highest per-game count in the league, and finished 13th with 43. Almería had the highest defensive line (4.2 offsides a game, far ahead of Barcelona on 3.2) but ranked last for pressing, and finished 17th with 41 points.
Mallorca: the lowest line and the lowest tempo, 9th
Mallorca had the lowest defensive line (1.1) and the lowest tempo (8.5 shots a game) and finished 9th with 50 points. Getafe had the least possession (39.9%) and finished 15th. Elche finished bottom with 25 points.
Top and bottom three on each axis
Pressing Intensity
Tackles won, interceptions and fouls, ranked twice and combined: once per game and once relative to the time spent without the ball, with the second ranking counted double.
| Rank | Team | Per game · out of possession |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Real Sociedad | 4th · 3rd |
| 2nd | Celta Vigo | 1st · 6th |
| 3rd | Rayo Vallecano | 5th · 5th |
| Rank | Team | Per game · out of possession |
|---|---|---|
| 20th | Almería | 16th · 20th |
| 19th | Girona | 19th · 18th |
| 18th | Getafe | 11th · 19th |
Defensive Line
Opponents caught offside per game. Teams that hold a higher line usually catch more.
| Rank | Team | Opp. offsides / game |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Almería | 4.2 |
| 2nd | Barcelona | 3.2 |
| 3rd | Osasuna | 2.9 |
| Rank | Team | Opp. offsides / game |
|---|---|---|
| 20th | Mallorca | 1.1 |
| 19th | Valladolid | 1.4 |
| 18th | Real Madrid | 1.5 |
Tempo
Shots per game.
| Rank | Team | Shots / game |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Real Madrid | 16.7 |
| 2nd | Barcelona | 15.0 |
| 3rd | Athletic Bilbao | 14.2 |
| Rank | Team | Shots / game |
|---|---|---|
| 20th | Mallorca | 8.5 |
| 19th | Getafe | 9.6 |
| 18th | Cádiz | 10.3 |
Width
Crosses per game.
| Rank | Team | Crosses / game |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Valencia | 24.3 |
| 2nd | Athletic Bilbao | 24.2 |
| 3rd | Rayo Vallecano | 21.9 |
| Rank | Team | Crosses / game |
|---|---|---|
| 20th | Real Betis | 13.5 |
| 19th | Villarreal | 13.7 |
| 18th | Real Sociedad | 14.2 |
Build-Up
Share of possession. The cards read more of the ball as a shorter build-up.
| Rank | Team | Possession |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Barcelona | 64.3% |
| 2nd | Real Madrid | 60.9% |
| 3rd | Villarreal | 56.9% |
| Rank | Team | Possession |
|---|---|---|
| 20th | Getafe | 39.9% |
| 19th | Mallorca | 41.1% |
| 18th | Cádiz | 41.9% |
All 20 teams
| Finish | Team | Pressing Intensity | Defensive Line | Tempo | Width | Build-Up | FM26 card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st88 pts | Barcelona | =5th | 2nd | 2nd | 7th | 1st | — |
| 2nd78 pts | Real Madrid | =5th | 18th | 1st | 17th | 2nd | Carlo AncelottiHand-researched card |
| 3rd77 pts | Atlético Madrid | 15th | 17th | 4th | 15th | =10th | Diego Simeone |
| 4th71 pts | Real Sociedad | 1st | 8th | 9th | 18th | 4th | Imanol Alguacil |
| 5th64 pts | Villarreal † | 11th | 4th | 6th | 19th | 3rd | Quique Setién27 of 38 games |
| 6th60 pts | Real Betis | 7th | 5th | 16th | 20th | =10th | Manuel Pellegrini |
| 7th53 pts | Osasuna | 14th | 3rd | 13th | 5th | 14th | Jagoba ArrasateHand-researched card |
| 8th51 pts | Athletic Bilbao | 10th | 11th | 3rd | 2nd | 7th | Ernesto Valverde |
| 9th50 pts | Mallorca | 13th | 20th | 20th | 13th | 19th | Javier Aguirre |
| 10th49 pts | Girona | 19th | =15th | 11th | =8th | 8th | Míchel |
| 11th49 pts | Rayo Vallecano | 3rd | 9th | 5th | 3rd | 9th | Andoni Iraola |
| 12th49 pts | Sevilla † | 9th | 12th | 10th | 4th | 5th | Jorge Sampaoli19 of 38 games |
| 13th43 pts | Celta Vigo † | 2nd | =15th | 8th | 10th | 12th | Carlos Carvalhal26 of 38 games |
| 14th42 pts | Cádiz | 16th | 14th | 18th | 14th | 18th | Sergio González |
| 15th42 pts | Getafe † | 18th | 7th | 19th | 12th | 20th | Quique Sánchez Flores31 of 38 games |
| 16th42 pts | Valencia † | 4th | 13th | 7th | 1st | 6th | — |
| 17th41 pts | Almería | 20th | 1st | 14th | 16th | 16th | RubiHand-researched card |
| 18th40 pts | Valladolid † | 8th | 19th | 12th | 11th | 13th | Pacheta27 of 38 games |
| 19th37 pts | Espanyol † | 17th | 10th | 15th | =8th | 17th | Diego Martínez27 of 38 games |
| 20th25 pts | Elche † | 12th | 6th | 17th | 6th | 15th | — |
† Changed manager during the season. The figures are the team’s whole season, so they mix more than one manager’s games; the card is filed under one of them, with the number of games that manager took. Teams without a card (—) are kept as a team record only, usually because no manager was in charge for most of the season.
Notes and sources
- Barcelona's FM26 card covers two seasons (2022–24), so the grid shows no card for this season. It can be opened at /fm-tactics/fm26/xavi-barcelona-2223.
- Teams level on a stat share a place. Barcelona and Real Madrid share 5th for pressing.
- Figures are rounded to one decimal place, while ranks use the unrounded figures. Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid both show 1.5 opposition offsides a game but rank 17th and 18th.
- † marks a team that changed manager during the season: Villarreal, Sevilla, Celta Vigo, Valencia, Getafe, Valladolid, Espanyol and Elche. Their figures cover the whole season, so they mix more than one manager's games. Valencia and Elche have no FM26 card because no single manager had enough games.
- Real Madrid, Osasuna and Almería link to a hand-researched card instead. Its five axes show the same ranks as this report, but the rest of the card was researched and written separately and describes the manager’s approach in its own words, so it may not line up with every number here.
Source: FBref (Sports Reference) team season statistics for La Liga 2022–23, 20 teams. Ranks calculated on 14 October 2026.
- How the five axes are calculated (methodology)
- Browse all FM26 tactic cards
- More league style reports
- Real Madrid 2022–23 FM26 card — Carlo Ancelotti (hand-researched)
- Osasuna 2022–23 FM26 card — Jagoba Arrasate (hand-researched)
- Almería 2022–23 FM26 card — Rubi (hand-researched)
- Barcelona 2022–24 FM26 card — Xavi Hernández (hand-researched)
- Real Sociedad 2022–23 FM26 card — Imanol Alguacil
- La Liga 2023–24 Style Map: Sevilla Pressed Hardest and Crossed Most, and Finished 14th
- La Liga 2024–25 Style Map: Barcelona Led Three Axes, and None of the Top Three Pressed the Most
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