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
Some quick notes on the second half: Real Madrid were actually better in the second half, and it was solely because of their midfield changes. Toni Kroos and Luka Modric were able to play through Barcelona’s press rather easily, which led to more chances for the team.
If there was a natural goalscorer in the XI that played the second half, maybe Real would’ve scored. Anyway, here are the ratings for our substitutes:
CB Nacho Fernandez
Nacho had an alright second half. To be fair to him, there was an instance where he was up against Dembele and did incredibly well to win the ball, but apart from that, nothing really impacted the game positively or negatively. He was just there.
Rating: 6.0
CB Jesus Vallejo
Was introduced midway into the second half. Sometimes he looked like he was a second slower than most of his teammates, but did fine otherwise. Actually grew into the game. Could’ve been better at defending in chaos, but was OK apart from that.
Rating: 6.0
RB Alvaro Odriozola
Bad game from Odriozola. Misplaced most if not all his passes, didn’t contribute to the attack or defense. Just not great.
Rating: 4.5
LB Ferland Mendy
Mendy was decent. He showed why Real Madrid need him to play when they’re up against wingers like Dembele, because except for the last 10 or so minutes, Mendy really did keep the Frenchman in check. Had a few interventions in Real’s box, and was good overall.
Rating: 6.5
DM Casemiro
Casemiro had a usual Casemiro game. He wasn’t great with the ball, but defended well without it. Although, this time, his passing was a bit worse than it usually is. But, it’s pre-season. He’ll be fine.
Rating: 5.0
CM Toni Kroos
Pretty good half from Kroos. He seemed well-rested, and the team instantly looked better after he came on. Did make a couple of uncharacteristic passes, but I think he’s allowed that in the first game of the season.
Rating: 7.0
CM Luka Modric
Best outfield player on the pitch by an absolute mile. Modric did everything right, picked up where he left off last season, and he did so well to keep Real Madrid going. He defended, tracked runners, went forward, created chances, you know, the usual. This dude’s going to be 37 in two months.
Rating: 8.0
RW Marco Asensio
Another disappointing performance from Asensio. He was more involved than I have seen him be in big games, I’ll give him that. But except for that and a chance that should’ve ended up in the back of the net, Asensio didn’t contribute a lot.
Rating: 5.5
CF Mariano
The usual Mariano game. Missed a chance to level the game after a great build-up from Real Madrid, and made some bad decisions, but you knew he was on the pitch, he made sure of that. That’s not necessarily a compliment, but you know.
Rating: 4.5
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LW Dani Ceballos
Don’t know what Ceballos was doing as a left-winger here, but I guess Ancelotti wanted to keep the experiments going. He linked up very well with the rest of the team actually, also created a beautiful chance via some one-touch passing between him, Kroos and Asensio. Apart from that, nothing noteworthy.
Rating: 6.0