# 1987–88 La Liga

The 1987–88 La Liga season was the 57th since its establishment. It began on 29 August 1987, and concluded on 22 May 1988.
Real Madrid finished the season as champions for the third season running, the runners-up this time being Real Sociedad, while Barcelona finished a disappointing sixth, though they did at least have Copa del Rey success as consolation for their lack of form in the league.

## Teams and location

This season, the league was expanded to 20 teams and the relegation playoffs returned.
| Team | Home city | Stadium |
| Athletic Bilbao | Bilbao | San Mamés |
| Atlético Madrid | Madrid | Vicente Calderón |
| Barcelona | Barcelona | Nou Camp |
| Cádiz | Cádiz | Ramón de Carranza |
| Celta Vigo | Vigo | Balaídos |
| Español | Barcelona | Sarriá |
| Las Palmas | Las Palmas | Insular |
| Logroñés | Logroño | Las Gaunas |
| Mallorca | Palma | Lluís Sitjar |
| Murcia | Murcia | La Condomina |
| Osasuna | Pamplona | El Sadar |
| Real Betis | Seville | Benito Villamarín |
| Real Madrid | Madrid | Santiago Bernabéu |
| Real Sociedad | San Sebastián | Atocha |
| Sabadell | Sabadell | Nova Creu Alta |
| Sevilla | Seville | Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán |
| Sporting Gijón | Gijón | El Molinón |
| Valencia | Valencia | Luis Casanova |
| Valladolid | Valladolid | José Zorrilla |
| Zaragoza | Zaragoza | La Romareda |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Real Madrid (C) | 38 | 28 | 6 | 4 | 95 | 26 | +69 | 62 | Qualification for the European Cup first round |
| 2 | Real Sociedad | 38 | 22 | 7 | 9 | 61 | 33 | +28 | 51 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | Atlético Madrid | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 60 | 38 | +22 | 48 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Athletic Bilbao | 38 | 17 | 12 | 9 | 50 | 43 | +7 | 46 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Osasuna | 38 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 40 | 34 | +6 | 40 | |
| 6 | Barcelona | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 49 | 44 | +5 | 39 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 7 | Celta Vigo | 38 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 43 | 40 | +3 | 39 | |
| 8 | Valladolid | 38 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 31 | 34 | −3 | 38 | |
| 9 | Sporting Gijón | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 44 | 49 | −5 | 38 | |
| 10 | Sevilla | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 41 | 46 | −5 | 37 | |
| 11 | Zaragoza | 38 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 54 | 56 | −2 | 36 | |
| 12 | Cádiz | 38 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 47 | 54 | −7 | 35 | |
| 13 | Logroñés | 38 | 12 | 9 | 17 | 28 | 45 | −17 | 33 | |
| 14 | Valencia | 38 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 44 | 53 | −9 | 33 | |
| 15 | Español | 38 | 11 | 11 | 16 | 44 | 55 | −11 | 33 | |
| 16 | Real Betis | 38 | 14 | 5 | 19 | 42 | 54 | −12 | 33 | |
| 17 | Murcia (O) | 38 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 31 | 42 | −11 | 31 | Qualification for the relegation playoffs |
| 18 | Mallorca (R) | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | 35 | 50 | −15 | 30 | Qualification for the relegation playoffs |
| 19 | Sabadell (R) | 38 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 27 | 48 | −21 | 29 | Relegation to the Segunda División |
| 20 | Las Palmas (R) | 38 | 12 | 5 | 21 | 43 | 65 | −22 | 29 | Relegation to the Segunda División |
* ↑ Barcelona qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup as champions of the Copa del Rey.

## Relegation playoff

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Oviedo | 2–1 | Mallorca | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| Murcia | 4–1 | Rayo Vallecano | 3–0 | 1–1 |

### Second leg
## Results table

| Home \ Away | ATH | ATM | FCB | BET | CÁD | CEL | ESP | LPA | LOG | MLL | MUR | OSA | RMA | RSO | SAB | SFC | RSG | VCF | VLD | ZAR |
| Athletic Bilbao | | 5–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–4 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 |
| Atlético Madrid | 1–0 | | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 7–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| Barcelona | 1–2 | 1–2 | | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 4–2 |
| Betis | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | | 3–2 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 6–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Cádiz | 0–0 | 3–3 | 0–2 | 4–1 | | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 5–2 | 1–1 | 0–4 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 |
| Celta de Vigo | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 | | 3–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Espanyol | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 2–1 |
| Las Palmas | 3–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 5–2 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 |
| Logroñés | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Mallorca | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 4–0 | | 3–3 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 0–0 |
| Murcia | 2–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Osasuna | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 4–1 |
| Real Madrid | 5–0 | 0–4 | 2–1 | 6–0 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 3–0 | | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 7–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Real Sociedad | 0–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Sabadell | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 |
| Sevilla | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Sporting Gijón | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Valencia | 1–2 | 3–4 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 0–1 | 1–3 |
| Valladolid | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | | 1–1 |
| Zaragoza | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–7 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 8–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | |

## Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Hugo Sánchez | Real Madrid | 29 |
| 2 | Rubén Sosa | Zaragoza | 18 |
| 3 | José Mari Bakero | Real Sociedad | 17 |
| 4 | Gary Lineker | Barcelona | 16 |
| 4 | Julio Salinas | Atlético Madrid | 16 |
| 6 | Joaquín | Sporting Gijón | 15 |
| 6 | Pedro Uralde | Athletic Bilbao | 15 |
| 8 | Míchel | Real Madrid | 14 |
| 9 | Pablo Bengoechea | Sevilla | 12 |
| 9 | Emilio Butragueño | Real Madrid | 12 |
| 9 | Jorge Contreras | Las Palmas | 12 |
| 9 | Joaquín Villa | Sporting Gijón | 12 |
* La Liga 1987–88 winners
* Real Madrid 23rd title