Welcome to my team of the month series and we are back in Spain to catch up on La Liga.  There have been five games played since we were last there and here's the men who made the headlines.


GK - Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid) 21 years old
The young Belgian had a good month and kept three clean sheets.  He is really enhancing his reputation and surely it's only a matter of time before he goes back to Chelsea and takes over Petr Cech's role.

RB - Dani Alves (Barcelona) 30 years old
Alves plays a very important role for Barcelona and provides the width on the right which allows the attackers to play more centrally.  This will be a big year for Alves as he aims to earn the starting spot in Brazil's World Cup team.

LB - Sebastian Dubarbier (Almeria) 27 years old
Dubarbier made an error against Real Madrid but other than that he had a good solid month for Almeria including helping the team to two clean sheets in the 1-0 wins over Valladolid and Osasuna.

CB - Mateo Musacchio (Villarreal) 23 years old
Musacchio has done well for Villarreal this month and if he can continue this form he will be hoping for his first Argentina cap in two years.  Argentina have great attacking options but there are other weaknesses and Musacchio could help out defensively.  

CB - Marc Bartra (Barcelona) 22 years old
Bartra looks like the next star defender to come through La Masia following in the foot steps of Carlos Puyol and Gerard Pique.  Barca will be looking for a replacement for Puyol and Bartra looks like he could be the man.

CM - Ivan Rakitic (Sevilla) 25 years old
Rakitic has been outstanding this year.  Outside Barcelona and Real Madrid he has been my player of the year, just ahead of Diego Costa.  He added 2 goals and 3 assists to his tally for the season this month and on this form there's every chance we'll be seeing him at one of the top clubs soon.   

CM - Bruno (Villarreal) 29 years old
Bruno has been in good form this season and he continued that with another impressive month were he scored a goal and also added 2 assists.  He has 4 caps for Spain and could be considered for the World Cup but he has a big task ahead of him.

CM - Daniel Parejo (Valencia) 24 years old
Parejo didn't feature much in the early part of the season but when his chance came he took it and he has been in great form ever since.  He has been linked with a move to Everton and based on his recent displays he could be a great signing.    

RF - Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) 24 years old
It took Bale a while to settle which was no fault of his own as he was clearly unfit but he has started to find form this month and picked up 3 goals and 5 assists.  Bale's biggest problem is whether his lack of a preseason catches up with him as the season goes on but luckily for Real he has all summer off to recover as Wales did not qualify for the World Cup.

CF - David Villa (Atletico Madrid) 31 years old
Villa got off to a slow start at Atletico and was living in the shadow of Diego Costa but he has come to life this month and is perhaps staking his claim not to be excluded from the World Cup squad at the expense of his club team mate.  He had 6 goals and 2 assists this month.

LF - Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 28 years old
If Ronaldo doesn't win the Ballon d'Or this year he never will.  For me, Messi is still the best in the world but he has been injured and Ronaldo has taken advantage with a great year.  This month was no different and he got 9 goals and 2 assists.