Real Madrid defeated Atletico Madrid 2-0 on Matchday 13. Who were the best players on the pitch for Los Merengues?
Los Merengues are riding high after 2-0 wins over Borussia Monchengladbach and Atletico Madrid – not to mention last weekend’s clean sheet victory over Sevilla at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. It seems as if Real Madrid have come out of their shells, as they looked like the champions we saw during the march to the title this summer.
The Royal Whites brought their best to the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on Saturday night against the league leaders, Atletico Madrid, in El Derbi. Here were the top five individual performances from the impressive win.
CM Luka Modric
Another week, another masterful individual effort from Luka Modric. The Croatian superstar ran himself ragged before being substituted in the final minutes of the match for a returning Fede Valverde.
Modric wasn’t quite as dominant as he was at mid-week against Borussia Monchengladbach, but he still made his presence felt. The trio of Dani Carvajal, Lucas Vazquez, and Modric operating on that right-hand side made life extremely difficult for Atleti’s counterattack attempts. All three men worked hard to press Atleti, suffocating any potential chances for young star Joao Felix.
Per WhoScored.com, the 35-year-old was second on the team with 77 pass attempts, completing 89.6 percent of them. He even threw in two interceptions. Modric has been Real Madrid’s best player in the 2020-2021 season thus far, and his greatness certainly continued on Matchday 13.
CM Toni Kroos
His long-time midfield friend Toni Kroos was even better. The German international delivered arguably the best performance of any individual player in El Derbi, masterfully controlling the pitch to the point where Atletico Madrid were seemingly hopeless to stop Kroos.
You could scarcely remember a misplaced pass from Kroos, who provided the corner for Casemiro’s early opener. Kroos completed nearly 97 percent of his 90 passes, and many of those passes were not easy. He created a trio of chances for Real Madrid, constantly switching the play or finding teammates for a progressive transition pass while navigating a tight space.
Kroos just might be the best passer in the world, and there’s an argument to be made that he’s the world’s best midfielder. With performances like this vs. an otherwise excellent Atleti side, he is rebuilding his case.
RW Lucas Vazquez
Lucas Vazquez got the start as the right winger after Dani Carvajal returned to the starting XI. Madridistas got to see an encore performance from the experienced wide man, who followed up a career day against Borussia Monchengladbach with a workhorse display in El Derbi.
The Galician winger recorded a staggering six tackles, completed 88 percent of his passes, and tied Toni Kroos for the team lead with two key passes.
There is no doubt that Real Madrid benefit from Vazquez’s work rate and pressing. He and Carvajal were a shutdown duo against Joao Felix and pretty much ruled the right-hand side of the pitch for the duration of the 90. Vazquez has earned more starts in 2020-2021 as a right winger or right back, especially when you compare his form to Marco Asensio’s.
CB Sergio Ramos
It’s always wonderful for Madridistas to see the captain back in the starting lineup. Real Madrid benefited greatly from his presence at mid-week in the 2-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach, with Sergio Ramos unlucky to score with his head due to Yann Sommer’s brilliant save.
Ramos wasn’t quite as influential to the attack, but his defending was spot-on. He had a couple of slip-ups, but he always recovered. Active as ever, Ramos took Luis Suarez out of the match and had three tackles and three interceptions as Real’s top defender.
Elite as ever with his ball-playing, which has only gotten better over the years, Ramos completed 94 percent of his passes including five of seven long balls.
DM Casemiro
The official Man of the Match, Casemiro scored the early opener with his head after literally letting his marker slip around the six-yard box. Casemiro is a goal-scoring asset in the box, and he showed that with his well-taken set piece goal.
Defensively, Casemiro looked like the “old Case”, recovering from his early-season struggles. We just might be seeing one of La Liga’s best players in 2019-2020 back at his best, and that is massive for Real Madrid. As we saw on Saturday night, Case helps Real so much defensively.
A criticism of Casemiro is his ball-playing ability, as he’s made some horrible mistakes this season, just as he has in past years. While he had one sloppy mistake deep in his own half vs. Atleti this weekend, Casemiro completed nearly 90 percent of his passes and generally looked assured in possession. Mistakes will happen, but they were few and far between on Matchday 13 for the goal-scoring hero.