Real Madrid faced Athletic Bilbao for a third time in 2021-2022, and like the first two encounters, Los Blancos were the victors. Except this time, they won by more than one goal, taking down the Lions 2-0 in Saudi Arabia to avenge last year’s first-round Supercopa exit and reclaim the title they won against Atletico Madrid in 2020.
Luka Modric scored a brilliant first, with Karim Benzema adding a second from the spot. Then when Raul Garcia received a penalty of his own for Eder Militao’s red-card handball, Thibaut Courtois produced one of the finest penalty saves you’ll see.
Here are the player ratings from Real Madrid’s 2-0 win in the Supercopa final over Athletic Bilbao.
GK Thibaut Courtois
Thibaut Courtois was brilliant again, and his match rating comes on the back of one of the best saves we have seen this season in any competition. The Belgian is the best goalkeeper in the world right now, and his adjustment save with his foot on Raul Garcia’s penalty is a fine example why.
Rating: 8.5
LB Ferland Mendy
Ferland Mendy completed 91 percent of his passes and didn’t make any mistakes despite often having to navigate tight pressure near his own box. The French left back was so good defensively that Alex Berenguer had to be subbed off, simply because the Bilbao star was too nervous to take the defender on. Mendy was a little lacking offensively, though, failing to support Vinicius Jr. again.
Rating: 6.5
CB David Alaba
Certainly missed in the semifinal against Barcelona, David Alaba was able to return from injury for the final despite initial worries he would be out. Real Madrid fans sure were glad to see Alaba out there, as the team played much, much better in possession and in defense. Alaba had a couple of stellar interventions, including one early world-class tackle on Inaki Williams. He did not misplace a single pass.
Rating: 8.0
CB Eder Militao
Although Eder Militao was sent off, I am not going to dock his grade for it, because there was no way he could have reacted to Raul Garcia’s header. He was unlucky. Prior to the red card, Militao was great defensively, saving a couple of goals with his blocks. Militao had seven clearances and was nearly flawless with his passing accuracy.
Rating: 7.5
RB Lucas Vazquez
You know Lucas Vazquez is having a good game when the hive mind of Twitter isn’t constantly at his throat. Sure, he wasn’t perfect and is still frustrating with the inaccuracy of his crosses, but this was a definite improvement from the last time he faced Athletic Bilbao. Combine this with a positive semifinal performance vs. Barcelona, and Vazquez is shaking off the struggles we saw at right back last month. His one-on-one defending was quite good in this one.
Rating: 7.0