La Liga Team of the Week: Casemiro, Sergio Rico and Michael Krohn-Dehli Star

The final game week in Spain before the latest international break was a big one, with two stand-out games being a replay of the UEFA Super Cup at the start of this season and the Madrid derby.

Our team of the week takes players from both of those fixtures, but also from the best of the rest action as several surprising results emerged elsewhere.

Our selection process means we analyse every game to pick out a star XI from the weekend's fixtures, choosing the best players to form a viable formation; this time around we've gone for a Villarreal-esque 4-4-2, which is only a little ironic, considering they top the table, lost this weekend and don't have a single player in our XI.

Only the best players in each position from this weekend's action make the cut, leading, as always, to several tough decisions along the way. In addition to individual form, we take into account such factors as opposition quality and overall contribution to the team's display.

There was a three-way tussle for the goalkeeper spot, with Keylor Navas of Real Madrid and Antonio Adan of Real Betis both putting in good performances and deserving credit for the points gained by their respective sides.

Sergio Rico is our man, however, for a confident, mature and match-winning performance for Sevilla as they overcame Barcelona 2-1.

Only a Neymar penalty found its way past Rico in the end, with the Spanish No. 3 goalkeeper pulling off several big saves from the Brazilian before that highly debatable spot-kick was given.

A great starting point for running off his line, some confident aerial play and the consistency needed against such a powerful attack were also traits the 22-year-old showed.

Sergi Roberto has been outstanding this season and was the same against Sevilla—he was, undoubtedly, Barcelona's best performer in the defensive ranks and also used the ball well once he moved into midfield.

The first half saw him cover for Gerard Pique more than once and win the ball when two-vs.-one at times—and there was little he could do to prevent either goal in the second half, even though the end shot or cross came from his side of the area. The 23-year-old had already run in with different attackers, correctly, and couldn't block either goal.

He looks on the verge of establishing himself as the first-choice right-back ahead of Dani Alves now, but expect Sergi Roberto to feature in midfield too due to low squad numbers at the Camp Nou.

Our first centre-back comes from the Madrid derby and it's Atletico's younger Uruguayan, Jose Maria Gimenez.

It could be argued that the two younger centre-backs on each team—Gimenez and Raphael Varane—were far stronger and more consistent with their defensive work than either of the more-senior figures alongside them in the game, Diego Godin and Sergio Ramos.

Gimenez, 20, was the most aggressive and sure of them all, winning each of his challenges with surety, timing and strength. A late tackle to prevent a Gareth Bale counter-attack was perfectly executed.

Our other centre-back choice is Real Betis' Heiko Westermann, who was excellent as his side won 2-0 at Rayo Vallecano.

Defensively, the German did everything asked of him, making clearances and interceptions on the stretch and being predictably solid aerially too, with Bruno beside him equally impervious.

The main reason for selecting Westermann, 32, ahead of his team-mate was simply the surprising quality shown with a sudden surge out of defence—which he finished by spreading play wide, continuing a run into the box and scoring after receiving the return pass.

A great goal, but his passing out of defence could do with some work—so many of his long passes were over-hit or inaccurate.

Left-back Benoit Tremoulinas was a big threat for Sevilla going forward and then excellent defensively when it mattered too.

His form has been hit-and-miss this season but the Frenchman came up big in this game, overlapping to cause problems for Barcelona down the right—up against Sergi Roberto quite often—and his delivery was, as usual, capable of creating danger.

The penalty given against Tremoulinas was ridiculous and shouldn't go against the fine work he did in preventing Barca's attack down that flank earlier on.

On the right side of midfield, Athletic Bilbao's Markel Susaeta produced one of his stand-out performances at the weekend. He was a total menace to Valencia with pace, drive infield and, importantly, end product.

Susaeta, 27, scored in the 3-1 win and set up a couple of chances for his team with delivery from just inside the channel, rather than crossing from extremely wide.

Naturally, he also worked hard, put in plenty of challenges as he always does and helped his side play aggressively around Valencia's middle cluster of players—if only he could do this more regularly, he'd be a guaranteed starter and a huge player for the Basque team.

Our player chosen from the white half of the Madrid derby is holding midfielder Casemiro, who came in to bulk up the centre of the park and occupy spaces behind Toni Kroos and Luka Modric for Rafa Benitez's men.

The Brazilian did his job to perfection, making lots of big tackles in the middle of the park and stopping Atleti's wide men cutting in to create chances for the attackers, while also being good with his distribution.

Casemiro was quick to close down and at times strolled into space higher upfield to give his team an out-ball from defence.

The only problem for the 23-year-old is that he likely knows he'll be out the XI again more often than not as Real look to partner Kroos and Modric whenever possible.

Roberto Trashorras was the calm, consistent influence in the midfield battle as Rayo lost 2-0 to Betis, but his own performance still warrants being included in our team of the week even though he ended on the losing side.

The veteran Spaniard, 34, seemed to let the game revolve around him from a deep position in midfield and direct play as he wanted, getting the ball off each of his team-mates in turn and pushing them into a better position to construct the next phase of play.

Ultimately, it didn't lead to points and Rayo have a tough season ahead, where Trashorras will be key to their survival and success.

Sevilla's star man in the win over Barcelona was, without doubt, Michael Krohn-Dehli.

From a left-sided attacking-midfield position, the Denmark international caused all sorts of problems as he got behind Barcelona's midfield, cut in to create shooting chances and got the better of Gerard Pique more than once.

Left free at the far post, he scored the opening goal of the game—then set up Vicente Iborra for the second shortly afterward. A tremendous all-round performance and our player of the week overall.

The effectiveness and endurance of Aritz Aduriz continues to astound.

Athletic Bilbao's striker is absolutely key to their way of playing, looking to get the ball toward him in the final third and having runners behind and around him—but he's much more to them than just a target man to aim long balls at.

His goals and attacking play in recent weeks have owed as much to agility and technical work as to strength, with his movement inside the box for his strike against Valencia this time out a prime example. Aduriz also claimed an assist in the win.

London buses... Malaga waited six games without scoring a single goal in La Liga this season, then this weekend they hit three—with two coming in the opening seven minutes.

Charles, in the side largely due to Nordin Amrabat's injury absence, netted all three with a well-taken hat-trick—a close-range finish, a spectacular volley and an opportunistic swept-home late third to wrap up a 3-1 win over Real Sociedad.

For his goals alone he deserves a spot, but Charles' pace, running in the channels and persistence in annoying La Real's centre-backs were all good examples of what Malaga need to find on a more-frequent basis this term.

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