3 Stars and 3 Flops from Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey exit against Athletic Bilbao

Real Madrid played miserably against Athletic Bilbao at San Mames in the quarterfinal of the Copa del Rey. Without Karim Benzema leading the line and the South Americans joining after a long flight, Real Madrid looked out of juice throughout the 90 mins. In the end, Real Madrid was fortunate that Los Leones couldn’t make it look more embarrassing, they won 1-0 and Real Madrid’s bitter relationship with resumption games continued.

Here are three stars and three flops from yet another Copa del Rey exit.

Star: GK Thibaut Courtois

This game was yet another reminder of why Thibaut Courtois is the most in-form keeper in entire Europe. Courtois had to make two saves in the game and both were pure class, while one was a shot from inside the box, the other was a powerful shot driven into the area by Dani Garcia which was surely heading in if it wasn’t for Courtois’s intervention.

Often called into work by some tricky corners and dangerous free-kick situations, Courtois had it all covered and yet again, the big Belgian couldn’t do anything about Alex Berenguer’s worldie. Courtois also had a key intervention outside the box when he had to clear the ball before Inaki Williams could reach it. That was one of the two clearances he had in the game, per SofaScore. Overall, Courtois was one of the very few bright spots for Real Madrid in this game.

Flop: CM Toni Kroos

I’ve been talking about how Toni Kroos isn’t doing too much eye-catching work this season. But, the German has always had his say when it came to the post-match stats. Alas, this one wasn’t anything similar. Kroos had an off-game and in 68 touches and 93% passing accuracy, he couldn’t register one single key pass. That isn’t Kroos-like at all and that worries me because he couldn’t do anything meaningful in this game.

Kroos’s signature passing and providing control of the game were both missing. The reason could also be the underwhelming performances from his fellow midfielders but that isn’t a reason Kroos would hide under. He had to step up his game because Casemiro and Luka Modric weren’t at their best, he didn’t and it was a truly underwhelming outing for the German. Moreover, he was replaced in the 76th minute. So did Ancelotti feel it was Kroos who was the problem in midfield? Whatever be the case, I believe in our midfield general to shake this one off and come back stronger.