Alexander Sorloth
Girona Real Madrid

Two key races to be decided in La Liga next week: Alexander Sorloth causes disbelief for Artem Dovbyk

The Pichichi race will come down to the final day of the season, after Alexander Sorloth‘s remarkable performance against Real Madrid, becoming just the 11th players in history to score a poker against Los Blancos. Much to the dismay of Artem Dovbyk.

Sorloth’s tally allowed him to leap past Dovbyk into the top spot for the top scorer in the league, and he will go into Villarreal’s final game against Osasuna with a two-goal lead over the Ukrianian. He did add to his tally with a goal against Valencia, but will have a fight on his hands to overhaul Sorloth. He is up against one of the worst defences in La Liga though, as Granada travel to Montilivi.ç

After the match, Girona manager Michel Sanchez explained that Dovbyk could scarcely believe the news coming from Castellon, as he wrestled with whether to bring on Cristhian Stuani. He did confirm that Dovbyk would be in the team next week to face Granada.

“They were telling me that Sorloth had four, although I wanted to put Stuani on so he could enjoy this moment. I told him that I hoped he could turn it around against Granada, but that Sorloth had four and he did that – putting his hands on his head-…”

Meanwhile there is also the Zamora race to be decided in the last matchday, for the goalkeeper with the best goals to games ratio. There was the curious sight of Athletic Club goalkeeper Unai Simon being subbed off against Celta Vigo after an hour to protect his goal ratio. Athletic kept a clean sheet this weekend against Sevilla, but it was Julen Agirrezabala who played in goal.

They face Rayo Vallecano away from home in the final game, and Simon will likely have to play. His current average is 0.94 goals per game, but if Marc-Andre ter Stegen keeps a clean sheet against Sevilla in Barcelona’s final game, then he would register a rate of 0.94, and win if Simon has not played. Athletic also play ahead of Barcelona, meaning the German goalkeeper will know what he needs, or if he can win it, but if ter Stegen does not play, he will not hit the 28 games necessary to qualify for the award.

Meanwhile, Real Sociedad’s Alex Remiro is still in with an outside shot. He currently has an average goals conceded per game of 0.97, and if Simon and ter Stegen both concede, and Remiro keeps Atletico Madrid out at the Reale Arena.

In terms of the league positions themselves, the relegation spots, European qualification and title race are all settled going into the final matchday. This just the third time this has happened in history, according to Pedro Martin.

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Tags Alexander Sorloth Artem Dovbyk Girona Jude Bellingham Pichichi Real Madrid Unai Simon Villarreal Zamora Trophy
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