Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich Player Ratings: Cristiano Ronaldo Stars Again

If you needed any further proof of Zinedine Zidane’s luck and surprising efficiency at getting results when it matters, this game should suffice. He started the night off with his usual 4-3-3. Isco took Gareth Bale’s spot, and it showed. Isco shifted from the right wing to the middle throughout the match, helping shift the formation into a diamond 4-4-2 in the first half. Real Madrid were solid when attacking and surprisingly effective at defending. But, just when you thought Real were looking better than ever, the second half started. One poor decision from Casemiro and a questionable penalty given to Robben (#NoEraPenal part 2) and an absurd own goal from Sergio Ramos, pretty much sum up the second half. That is until Madrid kicked things into gear for extra time. I have no idea what Zidane said to the team in the short period between full time and extra time, but it worked. Real Madrid scored three (yes, I said three) goals in over time to finally put Bayern down for good. Zidane didn’t have a perfect night, but he sure as heck left the Bernabéu proud of his work.

It pains me to say, but it’s almost expected at this point: Keylor Navas did not have a good performance this match. He was never really needed, and when he was, he just couldn’t get the job done. Robben had a chance early on and Navas couldn’t close the space quick enough. Then there’s the penalty which he failed to stop. Better reflexes could’ve prevented the own goal or at least made it look like less of an embarrassment. Another subpar not from Keylor.

Marcelo provided one of his most memorable performances this season, and in recent memory. He stopped two goals, which is twice as many as Navas stopped, with one of them being a beautiful goal line clearance. Then there’s his attacking prowess which was more impressive than usual. He had 8 chances created, 9 successful take ons, and one amazing assist that consisted of his best run yet. Marcelo might not have scored, but he was the key player in getting Real Madrid a win in extra time.

It’s a pity that Sergio Ramos couldn’t be the defender we so desperately needed tonight. He started the night off well, with good passing and even a lucky rebound shot that forced Boateng to make a desperate goal line clearance, but things steadily went downhill from there. Poor communication led to an absurd own goal from him. Stats tell the rest of the story: 0 successful tackles and only 2/4 aerial duels won, with one of those being in the middle third. What a stark contrast from his performance in the first leg. At least he got that offside assist, right?

Nacho had his best night in a while. A lot better than Sergio Ramos, he completed 20 of his 23, 4 interceptions, and 1 blocked shot. He looks to finally be finding his stride and it’ll be interesting to see how he develops from here on out.

Dani provided an above average performance last night. His first shot was crucial to setting the rhythm for the first half. 100% of his tackles were successful and he blocked two dangerous crosses in the first half of overtime. He did great at marking Robert Lewandowski anytime the striker tried to move even the slightest bit toward the right side. Unfortunately, that doesn’t change the fact that all of his crosses were unsuccessful, but it wasn’t a bad showing by any stretch for the Spaniard.

Casemiro was lucky to play all 120 minutes after a really careless tackle on Robben early in the second half. Was it a penalty? That’s debatable. What isn’t debatable is how dangerous careless tackles on Robben are inside the box. A second yellow card wasn’t out of the question and he really needs to learn from this. Apart from that, Casemiro got the job done in the midfield. He was surprisingly good with his distribution, with 85% of his passes finding their target and he completed both of the take ons he attempted. Plus, he was the player with the most tackles on the pitch which says a lot and, let us not forget that great assist for the first Cristiano Ronaldo goal in the 76th minute. I’ve seen a lot of lobbed crosses and that one was about as accurate as they get. Solid performance from Case.

It was a great night for the ex-Bayern midfielder, Toni Kroos. He completed 96% of his passes, which went in pretty much all directions, 4 key passes to create chances and 4 successful corner kicks, 3 of which produced said chances created inside the box. Toni also peppered his German international teammate, Manuel Neuer with a few shots. If that’s not a good night, I don’t know what is.

Modric had a good performance, but never reached the heights of the other Real Madrid midfielders. A large part of that is due to spending the majority of his night tracking back with Dani Carvajal to help defend. Regardless, Modric was very involved in the latter stages of the the second half and extra time. He started the play that ended in Cristiano’s first goal of the night, and completed 3/4 take ons attempted.

Isco failed to show the class he had this weekend in La Liga, with the exception of an exquisite tackle on Xabi Alonso in the 3rd minute. He never got around to influencing the match like was expected of him and it’ll be interesting how this affects his ranking as far as first team choices go.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “a 9?! He scores a hat trick and you GIVE HIM A 9?!”. I hear you, and if I were a fan who based these reviews on emotion, I’d agree. But the fact of the matter is that Cristiano Ronaldo was MIA for most of the match. It wasn’t till the 76th minute that he really woke up and realized he had a job to do. It’s frustrating that Real Madrid lost the lead less than a minute after his goal thanks to an own goal, but the fact that Cristiano stayed persistent really shows what type of player he is. Was he offside for his second goal? Absolutely. Was the call for his 3rd goal questionable? Yup, but at the end of the day, Cristiano Ronaldo leaves the quarterfinal round with 5 goals to his name, 3 of which were scored tonight. That’s 1 more than was required to triple his Champions League goals for the season, all while beating Lionel Messi to the coveted 100 goal mark in the competition. Whether you like it or not, the man is a living legend and we’re lucky to have seen him make history.

Much like Ramos, Benzema was disappointing especially when you consider how great he was in the first leg. He accomplished little to nothing and literally any other player would have made a bigger difference. No one was caught off guard by his substitution and the decision to replace him with a midfielder, opting to stay with Cristiano as the sole forward, speaks volumes about how poor he was this game.

Marco came on for Benzema for the last 27 minutes of regulation time. He made his mark almost immediately with his usual attacking prowess. His goal was a thing of beauty, and he once again proved why he should be considered as starting XI material more often.

Vazquez came on for Isco in the 60th minute and provided an improvement, albeit a small one. He almost scored from a volley and provided more defending than Isco.

Kovacic was in charge of replacing Toni Kroos for the final 7 minutes of over time. From what we saw, he looked up to the challenge but lhonestly, by that point the morale damage to Bayern had been done and they wouldn’t have scored even with reserve team players.