Real Madrid were defeated 2-1 by Manchester City in their Champions League showdown at the Bernabeu, with goals coming from Rodrygo Goes, Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland.
Thibaut Courtois – 6.5
Made a huge error for Man City’s equaliser, but made up for it with multiple big saves to keep Real Madrid in the game.
Fede Valverde – 6
Not his best performance at right-back, as he failed to make any decisive impact on proceedings.
Raul Asencio – 5.5
Started due to injuries to Eder Militao and Dean Huijsen. He struggled up against Haaland, before being sacrificed in the second half for an additional attacker.
Antonio Rudiger – 5.5
Conceded a penalty for a foul on Haaland, and was very fortunate not to be shown a second yellow card for bringing down Savinho late in the match.
Alvaro Carreras – 7
The best of Real Madrid’s defenders by a considerable distance. He did brilliantly to win the ball back for Rodrygo’s goal.
Aurelien Tchouameni – 6
On the whole, he did not have much to do in the centre of midfield, given that Man City predominantly went down the sides.
Dani Ceballos – 5.5
Given a rare chance from the start, and he did not take it. During his 66 minutes on the pitch, he was barely noticeable.
Jude Bellingham – 6
Tried hard, but it was a performance without much quality for the Englishman. He also missed a huge chance to equalise in the second half, as he got a chipped effort all wrong.
Rodrygo – 8.5
The star of the show for Real Madrid, and by some distance. He loves playing against Man City, and he showed it again with a one-man show in attack, which was capped off by his first goal at club level in 33 matches.
Gonzalo Garcia – 6
Given the nod due to Kylian Mbappe not being at 100%, but he struggled to establish himself. As expected, he was the first to be taken off in the second half.
Vinicius Junior – 6.5
Started the match well, and almost won a penalty in the second minute. However, he gradually lost prominence, and he missed a couple of big chances to equalise.
Substitutes
Arda Guler – 6
Threatened from set pieces, but did little else.
Brahim Diaz – 6
Had little impact on the match.
Endrick – 6
Almost scored an equaliser late on, in what was a trying performance from the teenager.
Vini should be on the bench going forward and sell him in either the January or the Summer window. Plus, Jude, Fede, Rudigar, Ascenio, …etc all played pretty awful. Sacking the coach must be done in conjunction with sending players out in the Winter window. I made these points 8 games ago. I guess to have a Nostradamus mindset. Make the change or forfeit this season and focus on next. This game also showed how much RM missed Mbappe.