ONLY BEATEN IN POSSESSION STATS BY REAL MADRID AND FC BARCELONA

Having the ball does not guarantee a win - that is abundantly clear in today's football. However, with the help of statistics, it is true that having more of the ball makes it more likely for you to pick up points and, as a result, end the season higher up in the table. Sevilla FC can attest to that fact after data released by LaLiga through their 'Beyond Stats' project. The statistics put us in third place over the 38 matches with an average of 58% per game. Only FC Barcelona, with 62.8%, and the champions Real Madird, with 58.7%, are above Lopetegui's team. Behind us are Villarreal CF (57%) and RC Celta (55.7%).

The data goes beyond that. It is not only important to have the ball - it also matters what you do with it. The stats show we are in third place in terms of passes per minute of possession - with 16.2. Real Madrid lead the list with 17.5 passes per minute of possession and are just above Barcelona with 17. Atlético Madrid and Real Betis are in joint fourth with 15.4.

'Beyond Stats' also tracked how many players participated in each possession and, once more, we are in third place. Real Madrid lead this stat with 3.69 players on average in each possession, below them are Barcelona with 3.57 and we have 3.26. Below us are Villarreal with 3.1 and Real Betis with 2.95. The last piece of data was the average passes per possession which, yet again, sees us with the bronze medal. We average 5.6 passes per possession, below Madrid with 6.5 and Barcelona with 6.4.