Top 5 La Liga Centre Backs for Defensive Stats Combined

Concluding our feature on the world's most dominant centre-backs from last season, we analyze the purely defensive statistics of Spain's La Liga players to compile the top 5.

Of the league's top 6, eventual champions Barcelona are represented on the leader board along with 6th placed Athletic Bilbao. The remaining 3 players to make the list all play for mid-table clubs with Gijon, Zaragoza and one of world football's new financial super powers, Malaga all with a centre-half in the top 5.

Paulo Da Silva
On top of the pile, Zaragoza's January signing Paulo Da Silva, who failed to make the grade in the Premier League with Sunderland, showed his worth in Spain in his 10 starts for the club in the second half of the season. The experienced Paraguay international made 33 tackles in his limited appearances last term, giving him the best tackles per game rate of the 5 with 3.3. He also made just 5 fouls in his 10 starts despite this, with his 0.5 fouls conceded per game again leading the way. The 31-year-old finished in the top 3 for every defensive category, proving his overall defensive rating from WhoScored.com right.
 
Due to his near impeccable all-round stats, the defender showed very little significant weaknesses, suggesting Sunderland may have been too quick to discard the Paraguayan having just started him once in the league.

Ivan Hernandez
Gijon's Ivan Hernandez played a far bigger role in his side's 10th place finish, starting 24 games at centre-back. The 31-year-old Spaniard made a decent 5.42 clearances compared to the league's average but failed to top any of the categories other than finishing tied first for making no errors leading to shots or goals.

His main area for improvement lays in his tackling having made just 48, an average of just 2 per game, placing him 5th in the list. His heading could also be better having lost as many aerial duels as he won with 26 or 1.08 per game on average.

Eric Abidal
Barcelona's Eric Abidalís league appearances were restricted last season due to a sensational story which eventually saw him lift the Champions League trophy for the club, just months after undergoing successful  surgery on a liver tumour. The France full-back, also 31, filled in at centre-back on 11 occasions from the start last term, proving his versatility in defence with some admirable displays in his lesser favoured position. He lost the least aerial duels per game in that position with just 0.36 as well as being economical in the tackle, making just 0.64 fouls per game on average.

His figures rank bottom of the 5 in a number of categories, but understandably so due to his sides superiority in Spain and indeed Europe. He made list lows of 0.36 blocks per game, 2.55 interceptions per game, 2 clearances per game, and despite losing the least aerial duels he also won the fewest per game with a lowly 0.36, perhaps his weakest facet.

Weligton
Malaga's Weligton played more than any of his other contenders, making his all-round defensive statistics all the more impressive. The Brazilian is also 31 and his experience saw him average highs of 1.39 blocks per game, 4.58 interceptions per game and 6 clearances per game, indicative of his willingness to throw his body on the line for his side. Perhaps his strongest attribute and score in turn was in his aerial success. He won 83 duels over the season, nearly 4 times more than any of the others in the top five and with over double the average per game with 2.68.

The only areas in which Weligton faltered slightly included the fact that he was the only player on the list to make an error which directly led to an opposition goal. His 38 fouls conceded also gave him the highest rate per game and the only of the leader board to exceed 1 a match with 1.23.

Borja Ekiza
Athletic Bilbao defender Borja Ekiza is the only man to make the list who is under 30, and indeed isn't 31. At 23 the centre back possesses the most potential in the leader board having made 21 starts for Europa League qualifiers Bilbao last term. The Spaniard made an impressive 3.57 interceptions per game considering his clubs stature, and also made an equally commendable 3.24 tackles per game having completed 68 in just 21 games. His aerial success rate was also decent having won 22 headers but lost just 14, a 0.67 per game average.

His second bottom finish in terms of clearances made is expected due to the fact that he played for the second highest finishing side of the 5 represented. Other than that, the young defender showed very little blemishes to his defensive record, proving he may be a crucial part of Bilbao's European adventure next season.