Real Madrid Player Ratings for February as Courtois, defense carry a spiraling squad

LW Vinicius Jr.

Count Vinicius Jr. as among the tired last month. It is telling when a player who was arguably LaLiga’s best through the other months had exactly zero standout performances in February. The young winger was very good against Villarreal but unable to help the team score any goals due to the referee’s inability to control the match. He was violently targeted at the Estadio de la Ceramica, and the official let Villarreal get away with two penalties against Vini.

In the other matches, Vini made his mark against Rayo with a clutch game-winning assist for his trusted friend Karim Benzema. But he was pocketed by Achraf Hakimi in the Champions League and ineffective in the Copa del Rey elimination. So in those two big matches, Vini was underwhelming, and those performances overshadow a few other solid ones.

Rating: 6.0

LW/RW Rodrygo Goes

The only other player to start on the left wing last month, Rodrygo Goes was the most disappointing player of the month. So much so that he stopped starting after being in the XI in the first two matches of February.

His first match was an absolute disasterclass against Athletic Bilbao. Real Madrid had a number of poor performers in this match, as you’d imagine, but Rodrygo was the worst of the worst. Nothing he did came off on either wing, and he produced no statistics of note in a wasteful, shy performance. Rodrygo was not much better on his preferred left wing against Granada either.

Rating: 4.0

CF Isco

Carlo Ancelotti utilized Isco as a false-nine to start the month, and he wasn’t bad. Isco has been quietly decent in 2021-22, and he continued to be a productive cog in the wheel by doing his best in this role. Real Madrid didn’t do an effective job of gameplanning for Isco through the middle, though, as evidenced by the fact that he was on the receiving end of so many crosses.

Rating: 6.0

CF Karim Benzema

Now we get to Real Madrid’s true center-forward. Like so many of his illustrious teammates in the attack and midfield, Karim Benzema is clearly tired. But worse than that, Benzema had to play through his second significant injury of the campaign this past month. Real allowed him to start against PSG, and that was not a good decision. Thankfully, Benz did not make the situation worse, but he was so poor that he might as well have sat out.

Benzema had a below-average month as a whole, thanks to that PSG performance. But if we take that out of the equation, he found ways to be productive and was still vital to the cause. Benzema wasn’t necessarily at his best against either Alaves or Rayo, but Real Madrid won both matches because of his goals and assists. Make no mistake about it, Benzema is right there with Courtois as this team’s most important player.

Rating: 6.0

RW Marco Asensio

The word that is most commonly used to describe Marco Asensio is “ghost”. Because he is not a true right winger, he is often on the periphery of matches and unable to assert himself in this position. However, because he is such a lethal shooter from range and has technical quality, he is capable of atoning for his ghosting in spectacular style. And some people are willing to forget the woeful 70 previous minutes because of the brilliance of his goal. Most Madridistas, though, are not fooled, as they realize Asensio’s anonymity was a huge reason why the team needed to be bailed out at all.

Asensio scored vital goals against Granada and Alaves to help lift his team to victory. He was also beyond awful in zero-goal showings against PSG and Villarreal, with the former display standing out as among the worst ever by a Real Madrid forward in a Champions League knockout match.

Rating: 5.0

CF Gareth Bale

Just as Isco started in the middle, Gareth Bale, too, started as a center-forward at the beginning of the month against Villarreal with Benzema injured. It was Bale’s first taste of action in LaLiga since August – a month in which he found the back of the net.

Bale did not score against Villarreal, but he was a lot better than Marco Asensio on the right wing. That made fans believe Bale could start at PSG, but instead he was left on the bench for all but three minutes of the match. Meanwhile, Asensio had another dud of a performance in the Champions League.

Rating: 7.0

LW Eden Hazard

Eden Hazard never started, but he gets positive marks for shining in his only meaningful appearance, which was off the bench against Granada. Without him, Real Madrid would not have won the match. And yet Ancelotti is still leaving him off. He should have come in earlier against PSG for a struggling/worn-out Vinicius.

Rating: 7.0

ST Luka Jovic

Another game-changer off the bench against Granada who cannot seem to find a way to get meaningful minutes. Jovic and Hazard are not part of Real’s future plans, but Ancelotti must find a way to get them more involved to help the team secure LaLiga this season.

Rating: 6.5