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

Star: CB Eder Militao

Eder Militao had another amazing performance and he absolutely didn’t deserve to be on the losing side at the end of the 90 minutes. Real Madrid took care of things defensively leaving that one bit of magical play from Alex Berenguer aside at the 89th-minute mark. And, it is all thanks to their central defenders. Coming to Eder Militao first.

He was suspended for Brazil’s last game which meant he could use some more recovery time and it showed in his body language as opposed to his compatriots who played Brazil’s final game of the break. Militao had a key intervention when he denied Inaki Williams a sure-sort goal with a sliding block/interception.

And overall, Militao stood out with his numbers: five clearances, one block, three interceptions, and a tackle. And if that wasn’t enough, not a single player could dribble through even once against him. Militao is such an underrated passer, this game was another example of the same. 94% passing accuracy while completing six out of eight long balls is a top record any day. He won 50% of his duel both in air and on the ground and also fired a shot in a game that lacked attacking creativity from Los Blancos throughout.

Flop: CM Luka Modric

It hurts to write about Luka Modric under the Flops column. But, he was the worst player in the midfield in my opinion. Or it also could be because the expectations from him are sky high at this point and an off game hurts so much.  Luka wasn’t himself at all on the pitch at San Mames.

In 80 touches at a passing accuracy of 93%, he could only place one key pass and one cross that didn’t reach its target. His long ball accuracy stood at 50% (2/4) and that is seriously underwhelming by Luka Modric standards. There were a few recoveries by him in the game but he lost the ball a worrisome 12 times.

One of such errors also led to a shot and he could only win two of his five duels, none in the air. Modric needs to take a breather and analyze what went wrong before he takes pitch again. A lot depends on the Croatian’s shoulders because Real Madrid is a team that depends on its midfield, they’re the backbone of the attack.