Three takeaways as Real Madrid pick apart Inter Milan
By Ben Sundock
No Ramos, no problem!
Real Madrid couldn’t maintain its early lead over Villarreal on Saturday, but the pairing of Nacho and Raphael Varane not only held Inter scoreless, they saw the Italian hosts register just one shot on target.
Other than a brief flurry at the beginning of the second half, there was never a time where Real Madrid looked uneasy defending at the back or saw Thibaut Courtois tested. The steadfast defending of Dani Carvajal and Ferland Mendy sure did help the center backs a ton, however, Nacho deserves heaps of credit for his play.
Ramos was surely missed, but my goodness Nacho Fernandez might have played the best game of his Real Madrid career tonight! He jumped into the attack to draw the penalty on Nicolò Barella early on, made five tackles, and shutdown Romelu Lukaku all night.
Other than Eden Hazard, no player in the starting XI was rated higher than Nacho. He was great for 90 minutes and he will need to stay resolute in the next several games with Ramos still rehabbing.