🇪🇸 OneFootball's LaLiga Season Awards 2023/24 | OneFootball

Real Madrid wrapped up their 36th LaLiga title at a canter, taking the crown back from arch-rivals Barcelona.

But who else stood out this season?

Player of the Season 👏

He came, he saw, he conquered – there really wasn’t much that Jude Bellingham didn’t do in his maiden LaLiga campaign.

A debut goal here, a last-minute winner there, not to mention countless moments of brilliance for Real Madrid, including two El Clásico smash-and-grabs.

The England international is still only 20 but played with a maturity that belied those tender years and inspired Carlo Ancelotti’s side to reclaim the title.

This is Bellingham’s world, we’re all just living in it.

Young Player of the Season 👶

LaLiga won’t see much more of Sávio after his loan spell at Girona opened the door to a long-anticipated move to Manchester City this summer.

The Brazilian winger produced nine goals and 10 assists this term and will be add a fresh layer of attacking quality at the Etihad Stadium next season.

Surprise of the Season 🤯

The saga of Xavi‘s Barcelona future dominated large parts of the season’s second half.

Fresh from January’s 5-3 home defeat to Villarreal, the former playmaker announced his intention to step down in the summer.

With the pressure off, the Blaugrana gradually returned to form and prompted president Joan Laporta to convince Xavi into a U-turn.

But barely a month after that public pronouncement, the Terrassa native found himself deposed ahead of his side’s final day trip to Sevilla.

Coach of the Season 👔

The cigars were dusted off again in Madrid as Carlo Ancelotti reasserted himself as the master of all he surveys.

Los Blancos’ sexagenarian head coach shows no signs of slowing down as his side swaggered to the title with a 10-point cushion.

A potential 15th European crown could be set to follow, exactly 10 years since Ancelotti delivered La Décima to the Santiago Bernabéu.

Signing of the Season 🤑

The Pichichi award boiled down to a shootout between Artem Dovbyk and Alexander Sørloth.

Two goals separated the Girona and Villarreal marksmen in the race to be LaLiga’s top scorer heading into a final weekend where fate played its part.

Dovbyk pipped his rival by a solitary strike after a hat-trick against Granada while injury to Sørloth in a draw at Osasuna denied him the chance to overtake.

At a cut-price fee of €7m, the Ukrainian proved a worthwhile addition as the Blanquivermells sealed a previously unlikely Champions League qualification spot.

Managerial Change of the Season 🔄

Villarreal blinked first in the managerial sack race by parting with Quique Setién just four weeks into the new season.

His replacement Pacheta lasted barely two months but they finally struck gold with the return of Marcelino.

The man who guided the club to a fourth-place finish in 2015/16 took over a team languishing five points from the relegation zone but galvanised the Yellow Submarine to the cusp of a Conference League position, losing out to Real Betis by four points.

Biggest Improvement of the Season 📈

Girona continue to prove the doubters wrong after building on their credible first season back in LaLiga by breaking the traditional top three stranglehold.

Under Míchel, the Catalans emphatically surpassed expectations to become the first club since Valencia in 2011/12 to disrupt the Real Madrid-Barcelona-Atlético de Madrid axis.

They went toe-to-toe with the champions for large parts of the season with a series of statement victories that secured Champions League qualification with a 32-point markup.

Feelgood Story of the Season ❤️

When Alavés bounced back to the Spanish top flight after a 12-month hiatus, few gave them any real hope of surviving.

A club whose budget was heavily dwarfed by every club in the league, including one who came up with them in Almería, faced an uphill battle.

But Luis García’s side rolled with the punches and came through their first season back with a more than respectable 12th-place finish.

Goal of the Season 😍

As Barcelona’s season went from bad to worse, they needed something special to see them through even run-of-the-mill games.

Lamine Yamal came up with the goods as the fallen champions scraped past Mallorca in March to keep their faded title bid alive.

Are we finally witnessing a rightful heir to Lionel Messi’s no. 10 shirt in Catalonia?

Game of the Season 🏟

Real Madrid 3-2 Barcelona

It might be cliché to pick the season’s biggest fixture but the encounter at the Bernabéu really did live up to its billing.

Barcelona travelled to the Spanish capital with a chance to claw back the title race deficit to five points heading into the final six games.

Twice the visitors took the lead and were pulled level before a Bellingham winner deep in added time saw Los Blancos move comfortably out of their arch-rivals’ reach.

But Lamine Yamal’s late first-half strike, with the score at 1-1, proved a turning point as it was controversially disallowed after Andriy Lunin had clawed the ball away.

LaLiga’s lack of goal-line technology meant the decision was referred to VAR, which prompted Barça president Joan Laporta to demand the game be replayed.