Messi, Oblak and La Liga Team of the Season so far

As the Spanish top flight enters its winter break, we look back at the players who have shined throughout this first half of the campaign

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  1GK: Jan Oblak

  Usually so formidable at the back, rotten luck with injuries has seen Atletico Madrid look uncharacteristically vulnerable when out of possession.

  Luckily for Diego Simeone's men, they can still count on Oblak, who continues to be near-unbeatable between the posts even without the likes of Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez screening him.

  The Slovenian boasts the meanest defensive record in La Liga, keeping eight clean sheets to date and conceding a mere 12 goals.

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  2RB: Dani Carvajal

  Statistics can be misleading, but Dani Carvajal's importance to Real Madrid is underlined by their woeful record without him.

  The right-back has struggled with injury in the 2018-19 season, playing nine of the Merengue's opening 16 Liga games and starting just eight. 

  Incredibly, Madrid have not lost any of the games Carvajal has started, while suffering defeat in five of the other eight (including the 3-0 reverse at the hands of Eibar, which saw Carvajal enter as a late substitute.)

  Even while seeing his playing time restricted, Dani continues to show he is a cut above the rest.

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  3CB: Gerard Pique

  While there have been a few jitters, particularly during the early stages of the season, Gerard Pique has been Barcelona's defensive rock.

  The centre-back has seen a host of players line up alongside him as Barca have suffered badly with injuries.

  Samuel Umtiti and Thomas Vermaelen have missed most of the campaign, leaving newcomer Clement Lenglet to receive a baptism of fire at Camp Nou.

  Despite those difficulties and instability, Pique has been an ocean of calm. He has also popped up with three goals in La Liga to help the leaders' cause.

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  4CB: Marc Bartra

  Betis have been one of the revelations of the Liga season so far, combining flashes of exhilarating football with a sturdy base at the back. Marc Bartra, who arrived in Andalusia at the start of 2018, is the cornerstone of that defensive effort.

  The former Barcelona and Dortmund centre-half has been ever-present so far in the 2018-19 campaign, marshalling a backline that ranks among Spain's tightest.

  Bartra has endured a difficult professional career marked with setbacks – not least the injuries sustained in Dortmund's horrific bombing attack – but, at 27, he is performing at the peak of his powers.