The La Liga season continues this weekend with one of the marquee matchups on the schedule as Barcelona is set to clash with Real Madrid in a highly anticipated clash. DraftKings built its contests for this Saturday around that game with matchups between Leganes and Villarreal as well as Atletico Madrid and Espanyol also among the games to choose from in their daily fantasy league competitions. Here is a look at the optimal lineup for Saturday’s DraftKings La Liga fantasy leagues.
GK: Jan Oblak, Atletico Madrid
Salary: $5,900
Real Madrid and Barcelona should be a high scoring contest so we prefer to rely on Oblak and Atletico Madrid picking up a win in a lower scoring game against Espanyol when it comes to picking our goalkeeper for Saturday’s contests. Oblak has the potential to register the clean sheet victory so he should be a strong pick in a relatively lopsided matchup that favors Atletico Madrid.
D: Stefan Savic, Atletico Madrid
Salary: $3,400
It only makes sense to double down on Atletico with one of the club’s most productive La Liga fantasy defenders, especially when you consider Savic’s price tag in DraftKings competitions. Savic is a bargain at under $3.5K and he should be a popular choice in this week’s DraftKings competitions.
D: Victor Ruiz, Villarreal
Salary: $3,000
Villarreal should be able to take care of their business in their matchup with Leganes on Saturday so Ruiz should be a strong value pick. Ruiz has been Villarreal’s seventh-most productive fantasy option regardless of position in standard fantasy scoring leagues this season so he is an excellent bargain at just $3K in DraftKings competitions.
M: Ivan Rakitic, Barcelona
Salary: $6,800
Rakitic has been extremely productive for Barcelona this season and his value only increases should Neymar miss this game against Real Madrid. Lionel Messi is still the best fantasy option up front for Barcelona but we can only afford so many superstars under the salary cap and Rakitic is an excellent value option at under $7K.
M: Arda Turan, Barcelona
Salary: $6,700
Turan’s fantasy production has almost equaled what Rakitic has done and they are both around the same price in DraftKings competitions. As is the case with Rakitic, Turan’s value only increases if Neymar doesn’t play in this game against Real Madrid.
F: Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid
Salary: $10,300
Ronaldo showed the world why he is one of the best to ever play the game with a hat trick against Atletico Madrid and it won’t shock anybody if he delivers another monster performance against another rival this weekend. Both Ronaldo and Messi should be at their best in the head-to-head showdown but since we can only choose one we will roll with the hotter of the two and hope that Ronaldo outperforms Messi in the latest clash between two of the world’s top strikers. Ronaldo is always a good option in terms of La Liga fantasy. Real Madrid enters the week as the league leaders with 33 points so far this season. Their 36 goals scored in 13 games are also the most in the Spanish league this year.
F: Antoine Griezmann, Atletico Madrid
Salary: $6,600
With Ronaldo and Messi both listed at more than $10K, it only makes sense that we will look elsewhere for the perfect complimentary striker to fill out our lineup. Griezmann has been excellent for Atletico Madrid this season and at just $6.6K he is an outstanding value play at the forward position in DraftKings competitions. Atletico Madrid is in fourth place in the Spanish Primera with 24 points so far. They have managed to net 28 goals this season, which is the third-most.
FLEX: Sergi Roberto, Barcelona
Salary: $5,100
After plugging in a pair of excellent value plays at the defender positions, our highest-priced defender takes our FLEX spot as the best available option with the remaining $5.3K we have left over to address this position. Roberto has been Barcelona’s most productive fantasy defender of late so he is an easy choice to fill our FLEX spot in our DraftKings lineup for Saturday’s contests. Barcelona enters the week in second place with 27 points. They have scored 33 goals in 13 games so far this year, which is the second-most in the Spanish Primera. They’re an excellent option for La Liga fantasy.
