And just like that, in the span of just eight days, Real Madrid have added two more Super Cup trophies, the UEFA and now the Spanish, to their quickly growing collection of titles. After defeating FC Barcelona 2-0 Wednesday night in Madrid, 5-1 on aggregate, Real now sit atop the football world. Let’s take a closer look at the player ratings of each player who contributed to this match.
Goalkeeper and Defense
Keylor Navas – 8.5
He’s now started three matches and given up just two goals. One of those goals was a fortunate rebound, the other from a penalty after an undeserving foul.
In essence, Keylor has looked sharp to start the new campaign.
Today was no different as his team needed him to be stout and not allow Barca to gain any momentum, and that’s exactly what he did. Navas was only credited with three saves in the match, but he made several crucial sweeper like plays, cutting off through balls and playing aggressively.
He was saved by the crossbar and the post on two separate occasions, but the Costa Rican was deserving of keeping the clean sheet. As I’ve said before, I haven’t been the biggest fan of Navas in the past, but he’s doing a great job in changing my mind.
Marcelo – 8
It shouldn’t surprise any Real Madrid fan that Marcelo played great yet again tonight against Real’s arch rival. The Brazilian left back has become a guaranteed contributor to the Real attack and defense every single game.
Marcelo didn’t hesitate to move up the field and help on the attack (even with his team holding a large lead) and helped to assist Karim Benzema on the second goal of the match late in the first half.
His passing was very good linking up with Marco Asensio instead of Cristiano Ronaldo on that left wing, and he even played well when Zidane elected to bring on Theo Hernandez in the second half.
Marcelo won two tackles and stepped in front of several passes, holding Sergio Roberto, as usual, at bay for the entire match.
Sergio Ramos – 7
Captain Sergio was up to his old tricks tonight, chipping at the Barca attackers, and even messing with Leo Messi after a stoppage in play in the second half, throwing the ball over the little attackers head.
Ramos passed the ball great, completing 47 of his 50 passes, and won 1 ariel duel.
Ramos was in the right place at the right time on several occasions, and as usual was a great leader on the field.
Raphael Varane – 8.5
I spoke glowingly of Varane in my preview of the center backs, and he delivered as I expected he would again today. Rafa was so quick tracking back to cover long balls, it surprised me.
On one occasion in the first half, a through ball down the wing looked like it would send Luis Suarez in on goal, but Varane not only tracked down Suarez but won the ball off of him and cleared it away.
He also finished with the most tackles of any Real Madrid player with 5, tied for most of any player in the match.
Ramos and Varane gave no space up the middle for Suarez and Messi to try and get shots away, and with suffocating defense on the Barca midfielders, there was never a true threat of anything getting past them when they were set up.
Dani Carvajal – 6.5
Dani Carvajal didn’t play poorly in this match, I just feel he wasn’t as involved as he could’ve been.
His passing was good, but he wasn’t as lethal as usual going forward. That being said, he gave Leo Messi no time to get shots away or even dribble towards goal.