In every league campaign there are always heroes. There are the defensive lynchpins, the midfield generals, and maybe even a goalkeeper, but those who stand out more than anyone are usually the players who are directly involved in goals. In the case of Real, shining a light on these pivotal contributors would not be flattery, for Madrid’s goal scorers and creators played a pivotal role in their side’s path to success. As impressive as a haul of 93 points is, this was not a pretty league campaign. As Zidane likes to note, Madrid "suffered" their way through various comebacks and tight victories, secured by Real's valiant offensive stalwarts again and again.

Thus, it is only right to identify just which players were most crucial to all these enthralling wins, if not to learn something, but as homage to the heroes of La Liga 2016/17.

The Methodology

From my previous stat-pack article:

Goals. We obsess over them, count them, objectify them, youtube them, and idolize their scorers - and not without good reason. Goals are the currency by which football operates. For all our fawning over pre-assists and vertical passes, goals are the direct actions that win games - it’s as simple as that. But are all goals created equal? The surface-level answer is "yes", since every goal is worth a unit of 1 (except for away goals, but let’s ignore them since they bear little relevance to my article). But when you take into account the order in which goals are scored, one finds that some goals contribute more to the attainment of results than others. For example, Ronaldo’s winning goal against FC Barcelona in last season’s El Clásico at the Camp Nou, was a crucial strike that moved Real Madrid from potentially gaining one point to winning three points. That sort of goal importance contrasts with his last minute goal against Real Betis in 2016/17, which added to Madrid’s 5-1 lead, but had little to no effect on the outcome. Such contextual information makes it easier to analyze a players’ importance to his team’s results, especially when the types of goals are broken down further: winning goals, opening goals [some of which overlap with winning goals], equalizing goals, go ahead goals that aren’t winners, goals that end up being cancelled out, goals that secure a lead by 2, goals that secure a lead by 3, goals that secure a by 4, goals that secure a lead by 5, [and goals that cut into a deficit].

While what is outlined above was previously designed for goals, the exact same methodology applies to assists. Each category remains the same for the final ball, with the goal of separating the assists that truly mattered and the ones that didn’t.

But before we dive into the heady stats, let’s plot down the basic stuff so you can more easily wrap your mind around the analysis to come.

Basic Goal Scoring Data

&lt;a href="#" mce_href="#"&gt;&lt;img alt='Total Goal Stats ' src="https:&amp;#47;&amp;#47;public.tableau.com&amp;#47;static&amp;#47;images&amp;#47;Ba&amp;#47;BasicGoalStats_RealMadrid_LaLiga&amp;#47;TotalGoalStats&amp;#47;1_rss.png" mce_src="https://public.tableau.com/static/images/Ba/BasicGoalStats_RealMadrid_LaLiga/TotalGoalStats/1_rss.png" style="border: none" mce_style="border: none" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;

Unsurprisingly, Ronaldo has been far and away Real Madrid's most prolific goal scorer in the league. While his haul of 25 is the lowest he has managed since joining the capital club, his excellent goal per 90 minute (goal p90) ratio of 0.9 means that this is down to the lesser minutes he has received. Alvaro Morata is some ways off in 2nd place, with 15 strikes to his name, but considering that he has only received 1334 minutes (often in bite-sized pieces), his goal scoring record is nothing short of remarkable. In fact, he even beat out Ronaldo for the team's best goal ratio at 1 every 90 minutes. Morata's main competitor, Benzema, managed far less spectacular, but still respectable, statistics. His end-of-season form pushed him to 11 league goals, 1 ahead of Isco, who managed by far his largest ever goal scoring total. Not to be left behind, James found the back of the net 8 times and at an even more impressive goal per minute ratio than Isco and Big Benz. After the aforementioned top five, ties begin to arise between players as the number of goals scored begins to descend into the lower echelons of the numerical order. Nevertheless, it is truly impressive to see the number of players that have scored in the league (19), though it is clear that only select individuals can lay claim to being crucial to Real's goal scoring exploits (at least according to this basic statistical analysis). In-Depth Goal Scoring Data

<a href="#" mce_href="#"><img alt='Detailed Goal Stats Pres ' src="https://public.tableau.com/static/images/De/DetailedGoalStats_RealMadrid_LaLiga/DetailedGoalStatsPres/1_rss.png" mce_src="https://public.tableau.com/static/images/De/DetailedGoalStats_RealMadrid_LaLiga/DetailedGoalStatsPres/1_rss.png" style="border: none" mce_style="border: none" /></a>



While the top scorers in the basic statistics section seem to dominate this segment, the thorough breakdown above has allowed Sergio Ramos to rise in the fore. In danger of being forgotten when looking at the rawer arrangement of the data, we can now see that Ramos was indeed incredibly important to Real's title success. All 7 of his goals came in periods where they were sorely needed: 4 won the game, 2 equalized play, and 1 opened the scoring. Especially memorable was his header vs. FC Barcelona, which bought Madrid a point out of nothing, and his dramatic late winner in a 3-2 win vs. Deportivo La Coruña.

However, while Ramos' heroics must not be forgotten, Real Madrid's greatest goal scorer was undoubtedly Cristiano Ronaldo. Unfairly pegged for stat-padding in insignificant moments since the beginning of time, any real analysis of his numbers puts that narrative to bed. His 6 winning goals, 8 opening goals (2 of which were winners), 4 equalizing goals, and 2 deficit reduction strikes, are touched by nobody and they make up 18 of his total 25 goals. When factoring in the less decisive, but still significant, "secured Real's lead by 2" goals, the Portuguese ace has only netted 4 shots that can be considered to be "fluff."

And just to be clear, these well-timed blows have come against "quality "opponents: a hat-trick against Alavés and another vs. Atlético Madrid, 3 goals in 2 games vs. Sevilla, 2 goals in 2 games vs. Valencia, an equalizing spot-kick vs. Villarreal, a double vs. Las Palmas to salvage a draw, and a brace vs. Celta Vigo on the penultimate match day of the season.

To be sure, Ronaldo didn't do it all by himself. Aside from Ramos, the much maligned Benzema managed 3 winning goals, which were matched by Isco and Morata, who both also picked up one equalizer each. After them, the numbers get thinner, but the sheer volume of players that netted at least one winning, opening, or tie-ing goal, demonstrates the strength of the supporting cast behind main man Ronaldo and his title-snatching exploits.

Basic Assist Data

As key as goal scorers are, it would be a woeful mistake to forget the men who set them up.

&lt;a href="#" mce_href="#"&gt;&lt;img alt='Total Assist Stats ' src="https:&amp;#47;&amp;#47;public.tableau.com&amp;#47;static&amp;#47;images&amp;#47;Ba&amp;#47;BasicAssistStats_RealMadrid_LaLiga&amp;#47;TotalAssistStats&amp;#47;1_rss.png" mce_src="https://public.tableau.com/static/images/Ba/BasicAssistStats_RealMadrid_LaLiga/TotalAssistStats/1_rss.png" style="border: none" mce_style="border: none" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;

Just like with the goals chart, right off the bat you notice a few standout players. Unsurprisingly, (or perhaps surprisingly, if you're one of those people who still thinks Kroos only passes sideways) German cyborg Toni Kroos leads the pack with 12 assists, at a pretty good rate of 0.4 p90. Marcelo matches the p90 statistic but trails by two in his assist total. That pattern continues past Isco and until Lucas Vázquez, who managed 7 assists at a world class ratio of 0.5 p90. James Rodríguez is the only other player who matched that assist per minute brilliance, as everyone lower than the Colombian delievers a maximum of 0.3 assists p90 (with the exception of Coentrao and Mariano, whose figures are greatly inflated by a tiny sample size). So based on these rudimentary figures, a noticeable difference in quality has seemingly appeared. On the one hand you have the elite creators: Toni Kroos and co., and on the other hand you have the respectable but unexceptional providers: Ronaldo and co. In-Depth Assist Data