Real Madrid beat Pachuca 3-1 on Sunday night, and a big part of that had to go to Fede Valverde.
Not only did he score the third goal, which essentially decided the tie for good, but he also put in a shift defensively and in the midfield, making so many crucial challenges that Real Madrid would have suffered without.
It was a hard job, but Valverde made it look so effortless with crucial interventions and neat passing, topping it off with an excellent goal to make up for the penalty he missed in the last match.
Fede Valverde reminds Xabi Alonso of his legendary midfield partner
After the match, Alonso was impressed. In fact, he was so impressed that he likened his midfield great to one that he played with - Steven Gerrard, someone who chose Karim Benzema over Luis Suarez a few days ago.
He said: “I’ve seen few like him. He reminds me a bit of Steven Gerrard. He covers a lot of ground, he has a tremendous shot, he plays anywhere, he gets to everything.
"All coaches would like to have a Fede on their team. He has washed away the bad taste of the other day with that passionate goal celebration.”
Valverde started the game playing in advanced positions to help the players facilitate the ball further up the pitch.
However, after Raul Asencio's red card - something Xabi Alonso was not happy about - Valverde had to drop back a little bit defensively to keep the balance in the team and improvise with 10 men on the field.
It was a special performance. Valverde did not have the best of games in the match against Al-Hilal, even without the penalty miss, but he made up for it in this match and then some.
I guess that is something you can always expect from Valverde. He will always make up for his mistake, should he make one, because that is the kind of player he is. It is so nice to have him as Real Madrid's vice-captain this season.