Real Madrid: Here are 5 players who deserve more widespread praise

RB Dani Carvajal

On the other side of the pitch, Dani Carvajal deserves high praise. Yes, he’s had some inconsistent performances this season against teams like PSG and Manchester City, as he struggles against speedy wingers now that the toll of playing top-level football for so many minutes if finally catching up to him.

Carvajal received little rest as the team’s only viable right back option, as the club jettisoned Alvaro Odriozola to Bayern Munich on loan following his nightmare performance on the road against Mallorca in October.

When Carvajal was rested, he was amazing. With five assists, Carvajal was one of the most important players to Real’s build-up play, providing quality crosses and tenacious defending. He makes some dumb mistakes that are uncharacteristic of a player with his quality and experience, but he’s also one of the absolute best right backs in the game.

Only three right backs – Benjamin Pavard, Kyle Walker, and Juan Cuadrado – had more accurate short passes than Carvajal, per WhoScored.com. Achraf Hakimi and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who play more as wing backs, were the only right backs with more assists, as Carvajal was also in the top 10 in key passes per 90 minutes at the position.

There are few right backs who are as well-rounded as Carvajal, and he’ll likely have an even better season in 2020-2021 when he gets his minutes managed with the more attacking Hakimi in the lineup.