By Gabrielle Amado

Player of the Round: Barcelona’s Other Suarez

Round 19 officially graduates Denis Suarez from a rising star to full-fledged LaLiga starlet. 

Barcelona’s younger Suarez put his name in lights, scoring his side’s opening goal in their eventual 0-4 romp over Eibar. This marked his first ever goal for Barcelona across all competitions, laying the foundations for the beginning of what we anticipate to be a long chapter at the Camp Nou.

The 23-year old came on just ten minutes into the match for Sergio Busquets who picked up an early injury (insert Luis Enrique heart attack here). With huge shoes to fill, Denis Suarez proved not only that he can hold his own but that he too can shine alongside his star-studded squad.

When you get a (very tight) celebration hug from the Almighty Messi, you know you’ve done something special; our way of hugging Denis is awarding him the coveted player of the round title!

Super-Sub: Pablo Sarabia

Pablo Sarabia has proven to be one of the best bargain buys in LaLiga this season. The 24-year old made a move from Getafe to Sevilla for 1 million euro (which is LITERALLY the equivalent of the McDonalds dollar menu in today’s footy market) and already has 7 goals and 11 assists to his name.

His latest display of excellence came in Round 19’s 7-goal nail-biter between Sevilla and Osasuna, when Sarabia came in for Gabriel Mercado in the 66th minute and made Jorge Sampaoli one proud Papa.

The midfielder set up Franco Vazquez in the 80th minute, putting his men ahead 2-3, but he didn’t stop there. 12 minutes later, Sarabia decided he wanted his name in the books too; scoring a stoppage time goal that put his men 2-4 to the good.

While Osasuna hit the back of the net a minute later, Sevilla would go on to win 3-4 thanks to Pablo Sarabia’s Super-Sub forces! 

Rising Star: Marc Navarro

Who? Don’t worry, you’re probably not alone. 

Marc Navarro is a rising starlet emerging for Espanyol who had an absolute dream debut on Saturday in his side’s 3-1 win over Granada. 

The Espanyol B player was handed his first ever start at right back for the Catalan side and made it a night to remember. 

Navarro scored a SENSATIONAL goal in the 48h minute; a left-footed screamed that smashed passed Guillermo Ochoa (like many do…42 this season to be exact) and onto LaLiga’s radar. 

After that GOLAZO, something tells me we’ll be seeing a lot more of this 23-year old rising star. 

P.S. I hate to say I told you so…but I told you so! Our weekly edition of Born on BeIN starred Carlos Soler who, as another LaLiga rising sensation, scored this weekend in Valencia’s 0-2 win over Villarreal and came in as a close second for rising star of the weekend. 

Be right back…going to book my trip to Vegas! 

Goal of the Round: Antoine Griezmann

Griezmann please-mann…you make it look so easy! 

The Frenchmann (see what I did there) now has 5 goals to his name in 2017, more goals than any other LaLiga player.

Griezmann shoots from 30 yards out, sending a stunner of a goal into the lower left-hand corner. It wins for beauty and significance as it was an 80th minute equalizer, leveling the board at 2-2 and ultimately salvaged Diego Simeone’s men a point.

It must be noted that Griezmann would have made this section of the round-up a plural ‘goals of the week’ had his goal in the 73rd minute not been offside…

LaLiga File is your one stop shop for a look back at the latest round in the Spanish top-flight. Sometimes it’s serious, sometimes its cheeky, but it always strives to bring you a sassy synopsis of (one of) the world’s best leagues. Tweet at us @beINSPORTSUSA and @gabbyamado using the hashtag #LaLigaFile with your comments, questions and, if you must, complaints.