Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Player Ratings

The El Clasico was full of drama and goals: here's a look at the player ratings

                                                                                                         AUG 14, 2017

Real Madrid grabbed headlines once again in the battle between the two giants in Spain with the Galacticos winning 3-1 against arch rivals Barcelona in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup.

The game was locked at 0-0 for the whole of the first half and remained that way until a slight mistake from Gerard Pique made it 1-0 when his deflection made its way over Ander Ter Stegen in the Barcelona goal.

Then came an onslaught from Barcelona who were determined to get level. Despite a miss from six yards from Sergio Busquets, they did from the penalty spot through Lionel Messi after Luis Suarez was brought down.

But they did not stay level for long, as two minutes later Cristiano Ronaldo cut in onto his right foot and rifled a shot into the top right corner, re-establishing Madrid’s lead. He proceeded to take his shirt off after the goal and received a booking.

He would then become angry for earning that initial booking as he received a second yellow card for what the ref deemed as a dive.

Marco Asensio then sealed the victory with a fabulous strike, rounding off a crazy, eventful El Clasico.

Here we look at player ratings from the first leg:

Barcelona

Ander Ter Stegen – 6/10

Ter Stegen made a shaky start giving the ball away and nearly gifting Madrid the opening goal but he settled and made a good save to deny Bale. Made some good saves and could do very little about two fantastic strikes and an own goal.

Aleix Vidal – 6/10

Vidal got into some great positions up the pitch on the right hand side but failed to deliver any good crosses or make something out of the positions he got into. Furthermore his performance seemed to die out as the game went on.

Samuel Umtiti – 6 /10

Defended very well and playing high up the pitch often intercepted passes to deny Madrid and joy going forward. The Frenchman looks extremely comfortable with the ball at his feet. But he and Pique struggled to deal with Cristiano Ronaldo when he came on rather than defending against Benzema who looked ineffective.

Gerard Pique – 6 /10

Played out of danger comfortably on numerous occasions and defended excellently to give Madrid a shortage of chances in the first half. However, in the second half he diverted Marcelo’s cross into his own net for the opener and him and Umtiti were carved open on numerous occasions on the counter attack.

Jordi Alba – 7/10

Alba used his pace effectively getting forward and threatening Carvajal in behind, played very well linking up with Messi. A wonderful last gasp block denied Real Madrid a 2-0 lead.

Sergio Busquets - 7/10

Broke up play well and recycled the ball usefully, was booked for some cynical shirt pulling but did his job well for the most part.

Ivan Rakitic – 6/10

Rakitic used the ball well but struggled to have much of an impact on the game.

Andres Iniesta – 6/10

Often helped Messi get into good positions but was certainly not one of Iniesta’s best performances in a Barca shirt.

Gerard Deulofeu – 5/10

Played poorly on his debut as he struggled to deliver any good crosses or threaten Carvajal from the left.

Lionel Messi – 8/10

Messi was, as usual, excellent. Drew many fouls from Madrid players and grew increasingly dangerous as the game went on. Eventually scoring Barcelona’s equaliser from the penalty spot after sustained pressure.

Luis Suarez – 7/10

Suarez was trying his upmost and making some good runs but lost it at times. Did well to earn Barcelona’s penalty for the equaliser but struggled to make any good goal scoring opportunities for himself.

Substitutions:

Denis Suarez – 7/10

Suarez made a huge impact and played better than Deulofeu did for 60 minutes. His energy was crucial and helped Barcelona pile on the pressure despite their loss.

Sergi Roberto -6/10

Roberto replaced Iniesta but didn’t do much more than his fellow Spaniard as he struggled to help Barcelona break down Madrid, even with 10 men.

Paco Alcacer – N/A – Alcacer came on for just 7 minutes and all that he seemingly did was argue with Carvajal.

Real Madrid

Keylor Navas – 7/10

Little to do in terms of saves throughout the first half despite persistent Barcelona pressure. The pressure became much more purposeful in the second half and he pulled off some good saves.

Dani Carvajal – 6/10

Carvajal defended very well after lots of sustained pressure from Barcelona but got himself into many silly arguments and was arguably lucky to stay on the pitch.

Sergio Ramos – 7/10

Ramos defended very solidly and for once stayed out of the petulant arguments between players. A very good performance from the Spaniard.

Raphael Varane – 7/10

The French centre back has it all. He comfortably dealt with Suarez and used his pace to track runners well. A very solid performance all round.

Marcelo – 6/10

Not one of Marcelo’s best performances as Vidal got in behind on a number of occasions and the Brazilian failed to get forward much. However, his cross into a dangerous area caused Pique to divert into his own net for the opening goal.

Casemiro – 6/10

As usual the Brazilian’s name went into the book and he had a pretty poor game all round by his standards.

Mateo Kovacic – 5/10

Kovacic failed to bring the ball forward like he usually can, but that was more due to the dominance of Barca in possession. He really failed to make much of an impact in a poor performance.

Toni Kroos – 6/10

Kroos was not as comfortable in possession as he normally is as he was hurried and pressed by Barcelona midfielders. His game got better in the second half as the match opened up slightly but he was not as good as people would expect from him.

Isco – 7/10

Certainly Madrid’s brightest spark in attack was Isco as he used his magical feet to give Real some of their few opportunities in Barca’s half all game.

Gareth Bale – 6/10

Bale linked up well on occasions with Isco and had an effort saved but made some silly tackles when defending. An all round solid performance from the Welshman.

Karim Benzema – 5/10

Benzema had very little part of the first half as Madrid failed to get forward much at all, tried his best to link up but was replaced eventually after 63 minutes.

Substitutions:

Cristiano Ronaldo – 7/10

Simply incredible. He gets better by the day. As soon as he was substituted on Madrid became more dangerous on the counter attack and then his goal, which was to be the eventual winner, was simply outstanding. However, he then received a harsh second yellow card, spoiling his evening.

Marco Asensio – 8/10

Even with such a short time of time on the pitch, and even with his team having just 10 men, Asensio still produced his usual magic with a magnificent strike from outside the box to make it 3-1, finishing off the game.

Lucas Vazquez – N/A

With just 10 minutes to play and Barcelona putting on all the pressure, Vazquez had little time to make an impact.