Real Madrid’s season has mostly been about good second half performances that help them get past the opponents, either with relative ease or by being as nervy as ever. This time around, we didn’t have to see that. Real Madrid scored three in each half as they put six past Mallorca in a very, very enjoyable game of football at the Santiago Bernabeu. A Hat-trick from fringe player Marco Asensio, a brace of both goals and assists from Karim Benzema and a goal from Isco put things in order for Los Blancos, while Kang-in Lee scored the visitors’ only goal of the night.
How well did our players do this time around? Let’s get into it.
GK Thibaut Courtois
This was one of those games in which Thibaut Courtois didn’t really have a lot to do. Whenever he was called into action, he did well and saved most shots, or parried away crosses from the box. As for the goal that Real Madrid conceded, Courtois honestly couldn’t have done much more to save that. The shot from Kang-In-Lee was fantastic, and it went right into the bottom corner of the net. Courtois had no chance of saving it, and he did well otherwise. One thing I could maybe say is that his distribution wasn’t the best, but it’s not one of his strong points, so I don’t have many expectations when it comes to that.
Rating: 6.5/10
RB Nacho Fernandez
Nacho started as a right sided full-back this time around, as Ancelotti decided to go for Miguel Gutierrez at left-back. Nacho did what he had to do. He helped out in the central defense as well sometimes, which was nice to see. He was a bit too aggressive at times, which has been a common theme for not only him, but most of Real Madrid’s defenders this season. But yes, he was alright. Not his best performance, but certainly not his worst.
Rating: 6/10
CB Eder Militao
Eder Militao has been a consistent presence in the heart of the defense. Obviously, he has a lot of improvement to make, but he’s generally been good. He did overcommit right before Mallorca’s goal, which allowed Kang-In Lee that much space in front of Real Madrid’s goal, but other than that he was decent. He also had a couple of nervy moments towards the end of the game, but luckily Real didn’t concede more. Similarly with Nacho, not his best showing, but he did the job.
Rating: 6.5/10
CB David Alaba
David Alaba had another pretty good game in central defense. He was very calm and composed on the ball, and had a couple of decent interventions. One thing I loved about him towards the end of the game was his long-range passing. It kind of reminded me of former captain Sergio Ramos’s ability to just send long-balls to his teammates that effortlessly. He managed 93% passing accuracy on 61 passes against Mallorca, per WhoScored.
Alaba had a beautiful pass to Karim Benzema for the Frenchman’s second of the game. The Austrian had another fantastic through ball to Vinicius, who passed it to Isco to score Real Madrid’s sixth of the game. If he keeps this up, then Real Madrid wouldn’t have as much trouble replacing that part of Ramos’s game as I had imagined.
Rating: 7.5/10
LB Miguel Gutierrez
Miguel Gutierrez was given a start by Carlo Ancelotti after opting to go for Nacho Fernandez at left-back in the last game. Except for one tiny slip-up early in the first half, where Kubo got through on goal because of him, Miguel had a pretty good game overall. He was a great two-way presence, and linked up well with all the left-sided players of Real Madrid. He had a couple of great crosses into the box that deserved more than what he got out of it. A quiet but good game from Miguel.
Rating: 6.5/10
CDM Eduardo Camavinga
Another solid game from 18-year-old Eduardo Camavinga. In his first start for Real Madrid, the guy played like he’s been there for years. Completely in sync with the rest of the team. He did well to recover and help out the defense, and had some pretty neat touches that got the crowd going, along with spreading the ball out to the wings on a regular basis. He usually sat a bit deeper than his counterpart Fede Valverde, and he held his position, and did well. Very excited about his future with the club.
Rating: 7/10
CDM Fede Valverde
Quiet but decent game from Fede Valverde. He did what he was supposed to do, he passed the ball around well, and pressed Mallorca excellently. Apart from that, not a lot to say about the Uruguayan. To be honest, I know he’s young, but it would’ve been great to see him get some rest and have Camavinga finish the game for Real Madrid. Valverde has featured in every game so far, and he deserves a little bit of rest. Maybe he’ll get it once Toni Kroos comes back.
Rating: 6.5/10
CAM Marco Asensio
Fantastic game from Marco Asensio on Wednesday night. Honestly, when I saw the line-up, I was intrigued to see what he can do when he has people in the midfield taking care of the defensive side. He’s not the fastest player on the team, so it doesn’t make sense for him to start on the wings. His stamina lets him down when he plays as a central midfielder. But, this role? It’s perfect for him. He scored three goals, linked up with Karim Benzema amazingly on two of them, while trying to set up his teammates for glory as well. This is the best game I’ve seen from Marco Asensio in a long time, and it was refreshing to see him play this well. One downside is that we probably won’t see much of it unless someone gets injured or wants a rest. But yes, great performance from the Mallorcan against his boyhood club.
Rating 10/10
RW Rodrygo Goes
Rodrygo has had a string of great performances off the bench for Real Madrid this season, earning the title of a super-sub from a number of people. He finally got the start he deserved after Carlo Ancelotti gave Eden Hazard a day off, and it was the correct decision. Rodrygo did very well. He provided a lot of much-needed width in the team’s attack. The Brazilian was mobile all game. He was moving all around the attacking third, sometimes combining with Vinicius Jr on the left. That’s actually what led to Asensio’s first goal. He also had a fantastic assist to Karim Benzema ruled out because it seemed that Benzema fouled his marker in the build-up to the goal. More of the same from the Brazilian and we might be looking at a few consecutive starts.
Rating: 7.5/10
CF Karim Benzema
This guy’s simply too good. Each time I sit down to write about his brilliance, I fall short of words, because it just seems like I’m writing about him every single week. What more can I say? Two goals and two assists from the Frenchman in another awesome game. Perhaps he had a few misplaced passes in the first half, but that was really the only downside from his performance on Wednesday night. He set up Asensio for two of his three goals, and capitalized on a mistake from Mallorca’s defense to score his first of the night. For his second, he collected the ball incredibly (if he intended it) or luckily (if he did not intend it) and scored through a deflected finish. Beautiful stuff from Karim Benzema, who now has eight goals and seven assists in six games. Unreal.
Rating: 9.5/10
LW Vinicius Junior
Another awesome performance from Vinicius. Maybe not as amazing as we know he can be, but he was still incredibly entertaining. He took on and went past defenders with ease, and created a lot of chances for his teammates, one of them being the sixth goal of the night, where he passed the ball to Isco for the simple finish. He had a few weird shots, but that’s fine. He did very well otherwise.
Rating: 8.5/10