Not many will take too much note of Real Valladolid’s 13th placed finish, but this really is a massive achievement for this club. They had the smallest budget of the whole division and comfortably avoided relegation.
Credit for this must go to Sergio, the coach. There have been some really good players at the club, with Mohammed Salisu emerging as a really great centre-back and Sergi Guardiola having the best season of his career in attack. But really, this was about Sergio and his solid and no-frills 4-4-2 formation.
Even though they scored the third-fewest goals, they had the seventh-best defensive record and their solid defence made them so much harder to beat than the other relegation candidates.
They collected 15 draws this season and this was a big difference compared to the teams below them. Even when they weren’t winning, they were often able to add one point to the collection and these added up.
This was a quietly brilliant campaign for Real Valladolid and they’ll surely be looking to invest a bit more in the next transfer market to give their talented coach a better squad to work with.
