UD Las Palmas, the newly promoted club that loves the ball and hates conceding goals

Under the coaching of Garcia Pimienta, the Canary Islanders have climbed to eighth place and sit on the podium in terms of possession stats.

For Las Palmas, the 2023/24 season is their first at La Liga level since 2017/18, but you wouldn’t know it just from watching them play. After finishing second in Segunda last term, Los Amarillos came up to the top tier and continued to play the same brand of possession-based football that earned them promotion in the first place. Promoted sides often drastically change their style of play to cope with the higher level, but not Las Palmas.

The squad managed by Francisco Javier Garcia Pimienta, the former coach of FC Barcelona’s B team, sit third in the rankings in terms of average possession. Their average of 58 percent is only bettered by FC Barcelona and by Real Madrid, with the latter set to pay a visit to the Estadio Gran Canaria this coming Saturday.

This will also be a meeting of the sides with the two best defences in Spain, as Real Madrid have conceded just 13 goals and UD Las Palmas 17. That is reminiscent of last season, when the team from the Canary Islands finished with the best defensive record in Segunda, conceding just 0.69 goals per game.

Las Palmas’ excellent defensive numbers are down to the saves of starting goalkeeper Alvaro Valles, but are also thanks to their possession-based approach that keeps the ball away from their opponents. This was the formula in their most recent victory, a 2-0 win away at Rayo Vallecano, which was the club’s first top-tier victory in Spain’s capital since 1969. Las Palmas achieved 57% possession on the road, scored twice through Alberto Moleiro and Javier Munoz, and also needed Valles to make a couple of super saves against