{"id":40515,"date":"2026-06-15T06:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T06:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/40515\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T06:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T06:45:14","slug":"spains-best-xi-based-statistically-on-whoscored-ratings-from-2025-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/40515\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain’s best XI – based statistically on WhoScored ratings from 2025-26"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spain are looking to repeat history from 2010 by going from European champions to world champions too at this summer\u2019s World Cup<\/a> \u2013 but have they taken their form players?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve turned to football stats website WhoScored<\/a> and their comprehensive player ratings, said by themselves to be \u201cconsidered to be the most accurate, respected and well-known performance indicators in the world of football.\u201d<\/p>\n

A good way to judge, then, who the best Spanish players have been in Europe\u2019s top five leagues this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ratings are based on a unique, comprehensive statistical algorithm, calculated live during the game,\u201d WhoScored explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are over 200 raw statistics included in the calculation of a player\u2019s\/team\u2019s rating, weighted according to their influence within the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery event of importance is taken into account, with a positive or negative effect on ratings weighted in relation to its area on the pitch and its outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using those ratings, here is the best-rated Spain XI from across the 2025-26 campaign (league only).<\/p>\n

The big headline when the squad was announced was the complete lack of Real Madrid players \u2013 and these figures suggest that was justified\u2026<\/p>\n

GK: Joan Garcia (7.08)<\/p>\n

You might have expected to see Premier League Golden Glove winner David Raya here, but his rating was only 6.65.<\/p>\n

The fact Raya has been given the number one shirt over Garcia is interesting, but there\u2019s a chance neither of them start over Unai Simon at the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Simon\u2019s rating was the lowest of the three at 6.59, but he was playing for the worst team out of them.<\/p>\n

Garcia became a La Liga champion at the first time of asking after his cross-city move from Espanyol to Barcelona.<\/p>\n

RB: Eric Garcia (7.02)<\/p>\n

The other Garcia is Barca\u2019s title-winning squad split his gametime between centre-back and right-back.<\/p>\n

Tottenham Hotspur\u2019s Pedro Porro would be a more natural choice at right-back, but given how his club\u2019s season went, it won\u2019t come as much of a surprise that his rating was lower.<\/p>\n

CB: Jacobo Ramon (7.02)<\/p>\n

No place on the plane for Como defender Ramon, but his time might come \u2013 especially if Real Madrid buy him back and he proves himself there.<\/p>\n

Ramon, a Spain under-21 international, helped Cesc Fabregas\u2019 side qualify for the Champions League for the first time in their history, playing in 32 Serie A games and boasting a pass completion rate above 91%.<\/p>\n

CB: Kike Salas (7.10)<\/p>\n

Another player overlooked for the World Cup squad, who like Ramon has only played for Spain up to under-21 level, Salas played 26 times in La Liga for Sevilla this season.<\/p>\n

LB: Alex Grimaldo (7.38)<\/p>\n

When you look at the number of goal contributions Grimaldo has got from left wing-back this season, it\u2019s no surprise his rating is so high.<\/p>\n

Just the eight goals and eight assists in the Bundesliga for the Bayer Leverkusen defender, who\u2019ll now be vying with Chelsea\u2019s 6.74-rated Marc Cucurella for World Cup gametime.<\/p>\n

CM: Pedri (7.25)<\/p>\n

One of the top assist providers in La Liga this season with Barcelona, Pedri is set to play in his fourth major international tournament.<\/p>\n

Pretty good going for someone who\u2019s still only 23.<\/p>\n

CM: Pablo Fornals (7.06)<\/p>\n

A blast from the not-so-distant past brings us to ex-West Ham playmaker Fornals.<\/p>\n

In his second season back in Spain with Real Betis, he scored nine goals and six assists to help his side secure a long-awaited return to the Champions League.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t quite enough for him to break back into the national team. At 30, he might have missed his last chance of going to a World Cup.<\/p>\n

CM: Fermin Lopez (7.10)<\/p>\n

Ruled out of the World Cup through injury, Lopez did a reverse Fornals by scoring six goals and adding nine assists in La Liga this season.<\/p>\n

The Barcelona attacking midfielder usually played in the number 10 role but sometimes drifted to the left wing.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll be hoping to be coming into his prime at the age of 27 by the time of the next World Cup. He\u2019s some player<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RW: Lamine Yamal (8.23)<\/p>\n

This one was inevitable.<\/p>\n

Still only 18 and set to light up his first World Cup, having shone for Spain at Euro 2024, Yamal was the highest-rated Spaniard of them all this season.<\/p>\n

With 16 goals and 11 assists in La Liga, Barca\u2019s number 10 was the only player to reach double figures in both categories.<\/p>\n

A bona fide superstar.<\/a><\/p>\n

LW: Dani Olmo (7.04)<\/p>\n

It feels like we\u2019re shoehorning Olmo in a bit here since he usually plays more centrally, but the alternative would have been Mikel Oyarzabal at 7.03 and he spent the season as a striker.<\/p>\n

Besides, like his fellow Barca attacking midfielder Lopez, Olmo can drift to the left, so we\u2019re saying it\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n

All in all, he scored seven goals and set up eight more on the way to Barca\u2019s title win. He\u2019s Spain\u2019s bearer of the number 10 shirt this summer.<\/p>\n

Nico Williams, for what it\u2019s worth, got a rating of 6.91.<\/p>\n

CF: Toni Martinez (7.09)<\/p>\n

Bit of a curveball up front, with Alaves frontman Martinez coming out on top.<\/p>\n

He scored 14 goals in La Liga this season for a side who only finished one point above the relegation zone.<\/p>\n

Martinez boasted the best average of aerial duels won per game \u2013 4.8 \u2013 in all of La Liga, but the 28-year-old hasn\u2019t represented his country since under-19 level.<\/p>\n

\"Spain<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: How Real Madrid could line up with Bernardo Silva after agreeing signing<\/a><\/p>\n

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every member of Spain\u2019s 2010 World Cup-winning squad?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain are looking to repeat history from 2010 by going from European champions to world champions too at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4966,4298,17,7287,369],"class_list":["post-40515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-latest","tag-popular","tag-spain","tag-stats-and-tables","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}