Real Madrid 0-1 Barcelona: Player Ratings as Modric, Courtois excel in narrow loss

Real Madrid played FC Barcelona in Vegas for their first pre-season friendly on Saturday, which ended in a narrow 1-0 loss for the club. Raphinha scored a beautiful goal which gave Barcelona the lead, and Los Blancos were not able to get back into the game despite incredible efforts from Luka Modric and Thibaut Courtois

Real Madrid were missing Dani Carvajal and Karim Benzema. The complexion of the game could’ve changed drastically had they been on the pitch, but who cares? It’s pre-season.

Here are the player ratings:

GK Tibaut Courtois

Courtois didn’t really have much to do in the first half. Made a good save on Lewandowski’s shot, and couldn’t have done anything to prevent Raphinha’s goal. Distribution was just OK, not the greatest, but not the worst.

In the second half, however, particularly in the last 10 minutes of the game, Courtois just showed everyone why he’s still by far the greatest goalkeeper on planet Earth. Save after save after save. What a keeper, man.

Rating: 8.5

RB Lucas Vazquez

Vazquez had an alright first half as Real Madrid right-back, in the absence of Dani Carvajal. But, he was caught out of position a lot, which caused Ansu Fati to break free on multiple occasions. Made a good chance for Asensio in the second half, and subbed off a few minutes later.

Rating: 6.0

CB Eder Militao

Militao was having a decent game until he made one really, really bad mistake, basically assisting Raphinha for his goal with a weird attempt on a cross-field switch. After that, the Brazilian centre-back looked nervous, and then started limping a little bit. Subbed off a few minutes into the second half.

Rating: 5.5

CB David Alaba

Alaba was a good presence. He’s blocked a couple of Lewandowski’s shots, and was a calming figure throughout. I wasn’t expecting him to play at CB still, but well, he did a good job. Weirdly enough, was subbed off at half-time instead of Militao.

Rating: 7.0

LB Antonio Rudiger

Weird seeing Rudiger play at LB, but I imagine it’s because of Raphinha. What’s weirder is seeing Rudiger play well at a position he doesn’t usually play at. Well, he did start on the left of a three-man defense, so maybe that’s why.  Subbed off at half-time.

Rating: 6.5

CDM Aurelien Tchouameni

Decent half from Tchouameni, was always available as an outlet whenever Real were under pressure. Read the game very well, and defended well whenever asked. Nothing fancy. But it doesn’t need to be fancy. Subbed off at half-time.

Rating: 6.5

CM Fede Valverde

Fede Valverde had a good first half. He hit the post off an incredible shot from way out, and tried his best to move the ball up the pitch.  Subbed off at half-time.

Rating: 6.0

CM Eduardo Camavinga

Camavinga started off slow, but slowly grew into the game. The Frenchman gave the ball away weirdly in his own penalty box, but after that, did defend as well as he could’ve. Made some passes, but his influence was limited.  Subbed off at half-time.

Rating: 5.5

RW/CF Rodrygo

Rodrygo tried to do a lot, but he didn’t get the ball enough in the first half. He did, however, tracked back and helped Vazquez a lot. Switched to a false nine in the second half, but didn’t do much there either. Subbed off in the 70th minute.

Rating: 5.5

CF Eden Hazard

Hazard’s supposed resurgence started off rough. He wasn’t able to make his presence known, didn’t beat players on the dribble but did have a couple decent passes. Subbed off at half-time.

Rating: 4.5

LW Vinicius Jr.

Vinicius Jr. picks up where he left off, although he did make a couple of mistakes. Had an awesome run towards the end of the first half, beating multiple Barca players before getting fouled by Jordi Alba. Did struggle vs Araujo, but who wouldn’t?

Rating: 7.0