Player Ratings: Real Madrid 2-0 Atletico Madrid
Real Madrid end Atletico Madrid’s twenty-six match unbeaten run in LaLiga with a 2-0 win at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium. Casemiro gave Real Madrid the lead early on in the first-half by heading in from Toni Kroos’ corner kick. The Merengues then doubled their lead in the second-half after an absolute rocket of a strike from Dani Carvajal went in off Jan Oblak’s back.
The win sees Zinedine Zidane’s side cut the gap to Diego Simeone’s men to just three points and caps off a brilliant week for Real Madrid. After a slow start to the season, Real Madrid have now beaten Atletico Madrid, Borussia Monchengladbach and Sevilla in their last three matches scoring five goals and keeping clean sheets in all three. These are our player ratings:
Starting XI:
Thibaut Courtois: 7/10
Was virtually a spectator throughout. Did however pull off a magnificent save to deny Saul with 10 minutes remaining.
Dani Carvajal: 9/10
After missing for two weeks through injury, Dani returned to the starting lineup to put in an outstanding performance. Solid as ever at the back and always willing to bomb forward. Real Madrid’s second goal came after an absolute thunderbolt from the Spanish International hit the post before deflecting off Oblak and into the net. A massive boost for Real Madrid to have him back.
Raphael Varane: 8/10
With Ramos back, Varane looks to have returned to what we’ve come to expect of him. Good performance from the Frenchman.
Sergio Ramos: 8/10
Ferland Mendy: 8/10
Toni Kroos: 9/10
The Atletico Madrid players couldn’t get near him today. Simply unplayable. It was his corner that led to the opener for Real Madrid. A vintage performance from the German.
Casemiro: 9/10
Opened the scoring for Real Madrid with a thumping header. The Brazilian was back to his best today winning tackles and breaking up play all over the pitch. Casemiro’s best performance this season.
Luka Modric: 9/10
Slowly running out of words to describe this man. Yet another absolutely world class performance from the Croatian. Real Madrid simply have no choice but to offer him a new contract.
Lucas Vazquez: 9/10
Karim Benzema: 8/10
Unlucky not to score after Oblak had turned his shot onto the post with an incredible save. Often dropped into a number ’10’ position putting in a few sublime passes for his teammates. Slowly getting back into top form.
Vinicius Jr: 7/10
Substitutions:
Asensio: 6/10 – Came on with little time left and the match all but decided.
Valverde: 6/10 – Came on during the last few minutes for his first match after a long spell on the sidelines through injury. Great to have him back on the field.
Rodrygo: 6/10 – Came on to add some fresh legs with the match already put to bed.
