Mallorca 0-3 Real Madrid: Player Ratings from another Vinicius Jr., Karim Benzema masterclass
LW Vinicius Jr.
World-class from Vinicius Jr. The victim of racist abuse at half-time from the Mallorca crowd, Vinicius scored the opener in clinical fashion and danced to the crowd to show that their ignorance will never get to him. It was a similar story to what Vini faced against Barcelona earlier this season in LaLiga, performing at a high level in the face of blatant racism from the crowd. Hopefully, this time, LaLiga does more than just write a letter.
Vinicius scored a goal, drew a penalty, and was a constant threat to the Mallorca defense. He was also unfairly targeted by them, just as he was against Villarreal a few weeks ago. Pablo Maffeo, for example, could have easily been red carded in the first half for his dangerous challenge on the starting left winger.
Rating: 9.0
CF Karim Benzema
What more superlatives are there for Karim Benzema? The Real Madrid striker had a performance for the ages on Wednesday, scoring a rapid-fire hat-trick to turn the tie against PSG at the Santiago Bernabeu.
He was just as decisive on Monday night at Mallorca. Benzema won the ball and made the decisive pass to Vinicius Jr. for the opener, and then he scored from the spot after combining with Vini in transition to win the penalty. And finally, Benzema rose majestically to meet Marcelo’s brilliant cross to put the game beyond all doubt at 3-0. A masterful No. 9’s performance from one of the two best strikers in the world.
Of course, the main story will be his potential injury. There is serious concern from Madridistas heading into El Clasico. Real Madrid can ill-afford to miss such an important, elegant player, especially with Barça playing their best football since the 2019/20 season.
Rating: 9.0
RW Rodrygo Goes
Rodrygo Goes worked very hard for the team and got into the battles, including with fellow young Madridista Kubo. However, Rodrygo’s work was not effective, beyond drawing a trio of fouls. He completed under 70 percent of his passes and carried very little attacking threat. In truth, Rodrygo was sloppy on the ball.
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Once again, Rodrygo is finding it difficult to find consistency. He will take a few steps forward but then have another bad day. Perhaps Real Madrid should stick with it, though. That is part of the growth process, and Rodrygo is still finding ways to help the team, even when he has a subpar game as an individual. Hopefully, he is OK, because he took a nasty challenge that was also a potential red card.
Rating: 5.0