Real Madrid Player Ratings from an embarrassing 2-1 loss at Espanyol

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CORNELLA, SPAIN – OCTOBER 3: Fede Valverde of Real Madrid during the La Liga Santander match between Espanyol v Real Madrid at the RCDE Stadium on October 3, 2021 in Cornella Spain (Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images) /

RM/CM Fede Valverde

Valverde was mostly positioned on the right, even after the formation change, so that Vazquez gets enough defensive coverage. He was just there. He made a few good passes, and tried to be direct once Benzema scored Real’s goal, but nothing really came out of it. He didn’t do anything wrong, but he didn’t provide a lot of productivity in the offense. However, he was much better when he switched to a central role, because his tireless legs helped a lot going forward. That’s really it, though.

Rating: 5.5/10

CM Luka Modric

Modric did not have a great game. He was struggling to make an impact in the first half because of how non-existent Real Madrid’s offense was, and in the second half, even though he tried to pull some things off, it just didn’t really work out for him. He looked a little tired, and wasn’t able to create major chances for Real Madrid to score. He wasn’t fast enough to track back and support the defense, and wasn’t productive enough in the final third.

Rating: 4.5/10

CM Toni Kroos

Kroos had his first start of the season, and to be fair, it looked like his first start of the season. He didn’t have the usual Toni Kroos impact, and wasn’t able to do a lot with the ball. Wasn’t tracking back enough so left obvious gaps behind him, and looked a step slower than others. He’ll be fine, I’m not too worried. But, this was not a great game from Kroos, and it’s not entirely his fault, either.

Rating: 4.5/10

LM Eduardo Camavinga

Camavinga had an awkward game. He looked full of energy, and pressed Espanyol’s right side really well, but he didn’t really do stuff on the ball, because he was put in an awkward position by Ancelotti. He can’t go central, because Kroos and Modric were already there. He couldn’t trust Alaba with the overlapping runs, he couldn’t do everything on his own, because, well, no one can. He did some things right, he wasn’t able to pull off some other things, but wasn’t really at fault for anything.

Rating 5/10

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