Real Madrid 1 – 1 Levante: Player Ratings for the La Liga match

Real Madrid dropped more points in the early exchanges of La Liga following a 1-1 home draw against Levante.  Here are the ratings for the players who took part in this game.

With a few injuries and rotations, many would have expected this game to have been a foregone conclusion considering the gulf in quality between the sides. The game proved to be a frustrating affair from the first whistle to the last. This result is the first time since 2007 that Real have failed to beat a newly promoted side – the last team to avoid a defeat that was newly promoted? Levante. Let’s break down some individual performances by looking at the player ratings from this match.

Kiko Casilla – 4/10:

This was the first start for Real Madrid’s backup goalkeeper, Kiko Casilla in 160 days. Despite the initial goal not being his fault, his performance did little to really ensure the faith of those in attendance and also spectating the game.

Despite making the occasional good save, Casilla also made mistakes – the worst being when he decided to dart out of his area only to fail in his objective and be saved by some tough defending from Nacho Fernandez. It may be concerning for some of the Madrid faithful that Casilla is the main backup option for Keylor Navas as Casilla does not look like a player fitting of Real Madrid.

Dani Carvajal – 6/10:

Dani Carvajal certainly had a mixed afternoon. He was given the brunt of the blame when Madrid conceded the first goal of the game with Carvajal failing to close his man down and getting spun by the Levante attacker who went on to score.

Elsewhere throughout the game, Carvajal put in some solid moments both defensively and offensively.  He was also given a foolish yellow card after getting into an unnecessary tussle. His up and down performance shouldn’t be too much of a concern as he has been solid since the start of this campaign. Look for him to bounce back to his usual standard in the coming games.