By Esper · Published · Updated
This map ranks all 20 La Liga teams of 2024–25 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
Barcelona: first on three axes, last on the pressing count
Barcelona won the league with 88 points and led three of the five axes. Opponents were caught offside 4.8 times a game, far ahead of Valencia in second (2.8) and the most extreme defensive-line figure in the division. Barcelona also took the most shots (17.6 a game) and had by far the most possession (68.3%, against 60.4% for Real Madrid in second).
Their pressing rank is the interesting part. Barcelona ranked 6th overall, a blend of two very different numbers. On the plain per-game count of tackles won, interceptions and fouls they were 20th, the lowest in the league. Set against the time they spent without the ball, they were 1st. A team that holds the ball for more than two thirds of the match has few chances to win it back, so a raw count punishes it. The adjusted ranking is what shows that, when Barcelona did not have the ball, they went after it harder than anyone.
None of the top three pressed the most
The top three finishers were Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. The top five for pressing were Rayo Vallecano, Alavés and Real Sociedad (level in second), Sevilla and Betis. Barcelona (6th) were the closest, Real Madrid were level in 7th, and Atlético were level in 17th.
Rayo Vallecano ranked 1st for pressing, 2nd on both the per-game count and the adjusted one, and finished 8th with 52 points. Alavés had the highest per-game count in the league and finished 15th. Sevilla were 4th for pressing and finished 17th, one point above the relegation places. At the other end, Valladolid ranked last for pressing and last for shots (8.7 a game), and finished bottom with 16 points. Pressing hard did not guarantee points in 2024–25, but not pressing at all did not help either.
Atlético: third in the table, bottom for defensive line
Atlético Madrid finished 3rd with 76 points and ranked 20th for defensive line: opponents were caught offside only 1.0 times a game, while Barcelona's opponents were caught close to five times as often. Atlético were also level in 17th for pressing. They were not a low-possession side (6th at 52.6%), so the deep line was not simply a result of rarely having the ball.
The top three for width finished 9th, 16th and 15th
Osasuna crossed the most (21.6 a game), followed by Girona (21.2) and Alavés (21.0), who finished 9th, 16th and 15th. The top two finishers were nowhere near the top of this table: Barcelona were 10th for width and Real Madrid 18th at 15.2 crosses a game. Real Madrid were still 2nd for shots and 2nd for possession despite crossing so little. Only Celta Vigo (13.2) and Leganés (13.0) crossed less.
Possession and points are different things
Girona were 3rd for possession at 56.3% and 2nd for width, yet finished 16th with 41 points. Villarreal were 5th with 70 points while ranking 19th for pressing, 18th for defensive line and 3rd for tempo (14.0 shots a game). At the bottom of possession were Espanyol (39.8%), Getafe (41.8%) and Leganés (42.6%).
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 | Rayo Vallecano | 2nd · 2nd |
| =2nd | Alavés | 1st · 6th |
| =2nd | Real Sociedad | 6th · 3rd |
| Rank | Team | Per game · out of possession |
|---|---|---|
| 20th | Valladolid | 15th · 20th |
| 19th | Villarreal | 14th · 18th |
| =17th | Atlético Madrid | 18th · 14th |
| =17th | Osasuna | 13th · 17th |
Defensive Line
Opponents caught offside per game. Teams that hold a higher line usually catch more.
| Rank | Team | Opp. offsides / game |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Barcelona | 4.8 |
| 2nd | Valencia | 2.8 |
| 3rd | Osasuna | 2.7 |
| Rank | Team | Opp. offsides / game |
|---|---|---|
| 20th | Atlético Madrid | 1.0 |
| 19th | Mallorca | 1.1 |
| 18th | Villarreal | 1.1 |
Tempo
Shots per game.
| Rank | Team | Shots / game |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Barcelona | 17.6 |
| 2nd | Real Madrid | 16.3 |
| 3rd | Villarreal | 14.0 |
| Rank | Team | Shots / game |
|---|---|---|
| 20th | Valladolid | 8.7 |
| 19th | Leganés | 9.1 |
| 18th | Espanyol | 9.2 |
Width
Crosses per game.
| Rank | Team | Crosses / game |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Osasuna | 21.6 |
| 2nd | Girona | 21.2 |
| 3rd | Alavés | 21.0 |
| Rank | Team | Crosses / game |
|---|---|---|
| 20th | Leganés | 13.0 |
| 19th | Celta Vigo | 13.2 |
| 18th | Real Madrid | 15.2 |
Build-Up
Share of possession. The cards read more of the ball as a shorter build-up.
| Rank | Team | Possession |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Barcelona | 68.3% |
| 2nd | Real Madrid | 60.4% |
| 3rd | Girona | 56.3% |
| Rank | Team | Possession |
|---|---|---|
| 20th | Espanyol | 39.8% |
| 19th | Getafe | 41.8% |
| 18th | Leganés | 42.6% |
All 20 teams
| Finish | Team | Pressing Intensity | Defensive Line | Tempo | Width | Build-Up | FM26 card |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st88 pts | Barcelona | 6th | 1st | 1st | 10th | 1st | Hansi FlickHand-researched card |
| 2nd84 pts | Real Madrid | =7th | 17th | 2nd | 18th | 2nd | Carlo Ancelotti |
| 3rd76 pts | Atlético Madrid | =17th | 20th | 7th | 11th | 6th | Diego Simeone |
| 4th70 pts | Athletic Bilbao | 9th | 8th | 8th | 4th | =11th | Ernesto ValverdeHand-researched card |
| 5th70 pts | Villarreal | 19th | 18th | 3rd | =12th | 13th | Marcelino |
| 6th60 pts | Real Betis | 5th | 5th | 4th | 15th | 7th | Manuel Pellegrini |
| 7th55 pts | Celta Vigo | =12th | 9th | 9th | 19th | 5th | Claudio Giráldez |
| 8th52 pts | Rayo Vallecano | 1st | 14th | 5th | 5th | 8th | Iñigo Pérez |
| 9th52 pts | Osasuna | =17th | 3rd | =11th | 1st | 15th | Vicente Moreno |
| 10th48 pts | Mallorca | =12th | 19th | 17th | 8th | 14th | Jagoba Arrasate |
| 11th46 pts | Real Sociedad | =2nd | =6th | 15th | 7th | 4th | Imanol Alguacil |
| 12th46 pts | Valencia † | 10th | 2nd | 16th | 6th | =11th | Carlos Corberán21 of 38 games |
| 13th42 pts | Getafe | 15th | =6th | 10th | 9th | 19th | José Bordalás |
| 14th42 pts | Espanyol | 16th | 13th | 18th | 16th | 20th | Manolo González |
| 15th42 pts | Alavés † | =2nd | 10th | 14th | 3rd | 16th | Eduardo Coudet23 of 38 games |
| 16th41 pts | Girona | 11th | 16th | 13th | 2nd | 3rd | MíchelHand-researched card |
| 17th41 pts | Sevilla † | 4th | 11th | 6th | 17th | 10th | García Pimienta31 of 38 games |
| 18th40 pts | Leganés | =12th | 15th | 19th | 20th | 18th | Borja Jiménez |
| 19th32 pts | Las Palmas † | =7th | 4th | =11th | =12th | 9th | Diego Martínez29 of 38 games |
| 20th16 pts | Valladolid † | 20th | 12th | 20th | 14th | 17th | — |
† 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
- Teams level on a stat share a place, shown as =2nd. Alavés and Real Sociedad share 2nd for pressing, and Atlético Madrid and Osasuna share 17th, which is why the bottom pressing table shows four teams.
- Figures are rounded to one decimal place, while ranks use the unrounded figures. Real Madrid, Villarreal and Mallorca all show 1.1 opposition offsides a game but rank 17th, 18th and 19th.
- † marks a team that changed manager during the season: Valencia, Alavés, Sevilla, Las Palmas and Valladolid. Their figures cover the whole season, so they mix more than one manager's games. Valladolid have no FM26 card because no single manager had enough games.
- Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Girona 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 2024–25, 20 teams. Ranks calculated on 14 October 2026.
- How the five axes are calculated (methodology)
- Browse all FM26 tactic cards
- More league style reports
- Barcelona 2024–25 FM26 card — Hansi Flick (hand-researched)
- Athletic Bilbao 2024–25 FM26 card — Ernesto Valverde (hand-researched)
- Girona 2024–25 FM26 card — Míchel (hand-researched)
- Atlético Madrid 2024–25 FM26 card — Diego Simeone
- Rayo Vallecano 2024–25 FM26 card — Iñigo Pérez
- Premier League 2024–25 Style Map: Who Pressed Hardest and Who Held the Highest Line
- Earlier season: 2023–24 report
Data checked on · Report an error