Real Madrid: Player Ratings For The Month Of November
By Parshva Shah
Real Madrid Defenders
Sergio Ramos
Appearances – 2
Starts – 2
Minutes played – 180
Clean sheets – 0
Goals/Assists – 1/0
Rating – 5.5/10
Featuring just twice for Real Madrid before suffering an injury during the international break, Sergio Ramos was not as influential as we expect him to be. He did score a goal against Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League when these two teams met on Matchday 3, but produced a horror show at the Mestalla against Valencia, giving away a penalty.
Raphaël Varane
Appearances – 6
Starts – 6
Minutes played – 540
Clean sheets – 1
Goals/Assists – 0/0
Rating – 6.5/10
For a player who is constantly considered among the top five centre-backs in the world at the moment, Raphaël Varane has become very inconsistent. To be honest, he has not been the same player since that cruel night in Manchester.
Varane is not an error-prone defender, or atleast he wasn’t until August. The own goal he conceded against Villarreal was totally avoidable, while his miscommunication with Ferland Mendy against Shakhtar Donetsk that broke the deadlock are errors uncharacteristic of a player of Varane’s calibre.
However, he seems to be regaining his form gradually, and the solid displays against Villarreal and Inter Milan speak for themselves. He just needs confidence and consistency. For everyone counting the Frenchman out, he has only just entered his prime.
Nacho
Appearances – 4
Starts – 4
Minutes played – 360
Clean sheets – 1
Goals/Assists – 0/0
Rating – 7/10
Nacho found himself at the bottom of the centre-back pecking order when the season began, but he seems to have regained his pre-2018 form back. There’s just so much composure from Nacho when he plays at the heart of the defence instead of the full-back position. He also won the penalty against Inter Milan in the team’s commanding 2-0 win.
He has seen minutes hard to come by, especially since Éder Militão was signed in 2019. Fortunately for him, both Sergio Ramos and Éder Militão were unavailable, leaving him as the only central defender who could partner Varane. Many were apprehensive about Nacho – and rightfully so – but boy has he proved everyone wrong.
Sergio Ramos is about to return from injury, but I am glad Nacho could start and perform better than everyone expected. He has certainly usurped Militão as the third-choice centre-back. Let’s hope we can see more of Nacho in December, and the rest of the season.
Éder Militão
Appearances – 0
Starts – 0
Minutes played – 0
Clean sheets – N/A
Goals/Assists – N/A
Rating – N/A
Was either out injured or recovering from COVID-19 for the entire month. Made the squad list only twice (for the last two games of the month) but was an unused substitute in both those games.
Dani Carvajal
Appearances – 2
Starts – 2
Minutes played – 180
Clean sheets – 1
Goals/Assists – 0/1
Rating – 7.5/10
Dani Carvajal made two appearances, both away at Villarreal and Inter Milan. The game against Villarreal was the first since his recovery from an injury, and his impact was immediate. He assisted the opening goal for Mariano within two minutes. It never looked like he was away.
Continuing in the same vein against Inter Milan, he was solid defensively and linked up well with Lucas Vázquez down the right flank. He missed the following games, however, as he suffered an injury relapse.
Those two appearances were indicative of the importance of Dani Carvajal to this Real Madrid side.
Álvaro Odriozola
Appearances – 0
Starts – 0
Minutes played – 0
Clean sheets – N/A
Goals/Assists – N/A
Rating – N/A
The Spanish right-back found himself on the sidelines due to a calf injury and hence, did not make a single appearance. He has, however, returned from injury and made to the squad for the Sevilla game.
Ferland Mendy
Appearances – 5
Starts – 4
Minutes played – 381
Clean sheets – 1
Goals/Assists – 0/0
Rating – 7/10
Ferland Mendy continues his reign as the preferred left-back over Marcelo. However, he is not as convincing as he was in his debut season. That’s not to say that he has been bad. He remains an important piece of the defensive jigsaw.
What leads me to make the aforementioned claim about him not being as convincing as he was last season was that he has started to expose cracks in his armour. Mendy is definitely better than Marcelo on current form, but I do not have the same sort of assurance that I had last season.
Mendy does get into good positions in the final third but there have been numerous instances where he either has no idea what to do next or ends up making incorrect decisions. His impact in defence and attack are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Regardless, Real Madrid continue to remain unbeaten in La Liga whenever Mendy has started.
Marcelo
Appearances – 2
Starts – 2
Minutes played – 159
Clean sheets – 0
Goals/Assists – 0/1
Rating – 4.5/10
Marcelo’s errors led to two goals in the appearances that he made. Against Valencia, he gave away a penalty that Carlos Soler scored to put the game beyond Real Madrid’s reach. Secondly, he misplaced a back pass to Thibaut Courtois against Alavés that went out for a corner. The corner resulted in a handball by Nacho inside the box. As expected, the penalty kick by Alavés forward Lucas Pérez beat Courtois.
As much as it hurts to see this, the truth is that Marcelo doesn’t play at the quality demanded by Real Madrid. I have still not given up on Marcelo, but his performances are only blocking the final ray of hope.
He managed to assist Karim Benzema against Valencia though.