Real Madrid were humiliated in historic fashion at the Santiago Bernabeu. The scoreline of 4-0 actually flatters them, because if you take out Thibaut Courtois’ big stops and several clear-cut misses from Barcelona, Real could have easily lost 10-0. Seriously. They were that bad.
99 percent of the blame falls on Carlo Ancelotti. He made all the same mistakes again, but this time he made them all at once and was outclassed by a much better manager with a clear vision of how to play football in the modern era.
Here are the player ratings from Real Madrid’s worst loss of the season. Madridistas are ashamed of this result, and Florentino Perez will not take this lightly. A Clasico defeat like this can never be tolerated. Ever.
GK Thibaut Courtois
The only person who can hold his head high after this awful result. Thibaut Courtois made a trio of big stops, including one double-save early in the match when the score was still 0-0. He is arguably the best goalkeeper in the world, and he did not deserve this performance around him. Courtois must be as enraged with the team’s performance as we are.
Rating: 7.5
LB Nacho Fernandez
Nacho Fernandez was poor to start the season at left back, and while he was great against PSG, he really wasn’t tested in a match that was honestly more about them melting down than anything else. Nacho was cooked by Ousmane Dembele, which really is no surprise. What’s frustrating, though, is that Real Madrid could have at least been fine at left back if Miguel Gutierrez were a first-team player. What does Carlo Ancelotti have against the Castilla guys?
Rating: 4.0
CB David Alaba
Probably David Alaba’s worst game of the season. He did some good things, including saving a goal in the first half from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with good positioning, but he also had a few nervy moments. Alaba wasn’t dominant and in control, but, to be honest, how can I fault him when the tactics were so disorganized? How could he lead when his manager set the entire team up on a mission to fail? I have to say as well, he never stopped battling until the end, too, and did not let frustration get the better of him. While I have to give him a poor rating, I still have the utmost respect for Alaba, of course.
Rating: 5.0
CB Eder Militao
And this was definitely Eder Militao’s worst performance of the season, even worse than his display against Getafe when he surrendered the goal that eventually lost the game for the Merengues. Militao started the game brightly, even making one highlight-reel pass to Vinicus Jr. from long range, sliding the ball low across the grass like a prime regista.
But Militao then had giveaways, ill-advised dribbles, and lots of sloppy positioning errors. Aubameyang outclassed him. Everyone did. And as Real continued to lose control of the game, Militao continued to lose his nerves and quality. A shocking performance from a player having a brilliant season.
Rating: 3.0
RB Dani Carvajal
Dani Carvajal was embarrassed by Kylian Mbappe against PSG in the first leg at the Parc des Princes. Honestly, he was even worse in El Clasico, because at least he can blame not having enough help and also going up against the best player in the world for the PSG display.
Against Barcelona, Carvajal was giving the ball directly to the opposition and was consistently beaten for pace off-the-ball by Ferran Torres. He was a disaster and had to be subbed off at the half. I can’t even mention a single positive thing he did. Carvajal is starting to look like he is finished at a starter at the highest level of football.
Rating: 2.0
LM Fede Valverde
Fede Valverde is the only outfield player who will get more than a “6” match rating. He nearly scored on two occasions, nearly assisted on a couple of occasions, and never stopped trying even as many of his teammates seemed to have completely given up on the pitch. That tells me everything about his quality and his desire.
There is a reason why Madridistas love Valverde and were frustrated with Carlo Ancelotti for not giving him starts. Valverde should be starting every week going forward.
Rating: 7.0
CM Casemiro
Casemiro had a couple of key defensive interventions and did his best, but his best was very much not good enough. The 30-year-old is going to get replaced by Aurelien Tchouameni if Real Madrid are able to secure the Monaco star, because Tchouameni is nearly as good defensively and far ahead of Case on the ball. Casemiro cost the team against Barcelona with his inability to keep the ball and make the right passes. He is just too shaky in possession to be an anchor man in the modern game, and I think Florentino Perez and the key decision-makers at the Bernabeu are beginning to realize this. Hence the significant interest in Tchouameni.
Rating: 5.0
CM Toni Kroos
Toni Kroos was subbed off at the half. I don’t even know what to say about his performance, because he was on for 45 minutes and the team was in shambles. But he completed 97 percent of his passes and was the one guy who wasn’t giving the ball away left, right, and center when Real were building up out of the back. The team was even worse without him on the pitch, so I will spare him from a very poor rating.
Rating: 5.5
RM Rodrygo Goes
Rodrygo Goes continues to take a step back every time it seems like he is establishing himself as a starter for Real Madrid. His defensive work was not really where it needed to be, but, more importantly, his attacking work was shocking. Rodrygo did not carry the ball forward, did not make good decisions, and was not a good outlet for his teammates. His imprint on the game was minimal, and that’s why he was subbed just after the hour mark. I can hardly remember a positive action he had.
Rating: 4.0
FW Vinicius Jr.
Dreadful performance. We all expected so much better from Vinicius Jr. who has been the second best player in LaLiga this season behind Karim Benzema. Without Benzema, Vinicius sunk back into his shell, and his most noteworthy moment was a potential dive. Even if I give him the benefit of the doubt and say he didn’t dive, why did he spend time arguing with the Barcelona players instead of playing on?
Regardless, Vinicius should not be the scapegoat here. He played very poorly, but so did the entire team. And as the main attacking outlet, he truly stood no chance with Real Madrid struggling to have any sort of anchoring or ball progression. There was no structure.
Rating: 4.0
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FW Luka Modric
Luka Modric played as a false nine. Apparently, Carlo Ancelotti thinks so little of his strikers, particularly top backup Luka Jovic, that he played Modric as a false nine. I have no idea why he thought this was even on the list of solutions, and doing this clearly confused the hell out of everyone on Real Madrid.
I don’t even want to give Modric a rating. What was he supposed to do in this situation? He tried his best to help cover defensively and move the ball forward, but it was such an unfamiliar situation. And it is not like the players behind him were doing a good job of securing the ball or moving things forward so that Modric could stay in a “striker’s” role.
Rating: 5.0