El Clasico Player Ratings: Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona
It was a windy day at the Bernabeu that will not be forgotten for quite some time, as a Barcelona masterclass comprehensively dismantled the home side that quite simply failed to show up. Barcelona was expected to have a tough time these couple of months, with Lionel Messi’s injury compounding their worries, and Real should have taken full advantage of it.
But Luis Suarez, Neymar and Andres Iniesta ensured the Catalan club took the spoils as they went six points clear of Real Madrid who hae now suffered back-to-back defeats. Here are the player ratings for the first Clasico of the season.
Real Madrid
Keylor Navas – 5/10
While you couldn’t really blame him for most of Barca’s goals, his presence at the back did nothing to soothe a shaky defence. He might have gone to the ground a tad too early for the fourth goal but he made a couple of decent saves, notably one off a Neymar free-kick.
Marcelo – 5.5/10
He was one of Real’s better players, bombing forward whenever he got the opportunity, although it left his flank defensively weak. A brilliant goal line headed clearance from him denied Barca a third goal just before half-time. He also made a good run forward and made it past the Barca defence soon after the restart only to skew his shot wide. Surprisingly, he was substituted near the hour mark for Carvajal.
Danilo – 4/10
He was ripped to shreds by the duo of Neymar and Jordi Alba, both of whom literally ran circles around the Madrid full-back. Danilo was also guilty of giving away the ball cheaply while on the counter and his inclusion in the XI instead of Carvajal came as a surprise.
Sergio Ramos – 4.5/10
The Madrid captain had a day to forget as he failed to lead his side’s defence at all with the back four dragged all across the pitch. He was guilty of trying to play Neymar into an offside trap and ended up stupidly playing him onside which led to the second goal.
A challenge on Luis Suarez inside the penalty area went unpunished, and he should count himself lucky to even be on the pitch after already having picked up a yellow card by that point. He redeemed himself to some extent with an improvised back-heel clearance of what would have mostly been a goal for Suarez in the second half.
Raphael Varane – 4.5/10
A rash display from the young Frenchman who was far from his usual composed self. The lack of composure seemed to make him commit a number of glaring errors. Misplaced passes were not uncommon and, more crucially, he couldn’t pick up the run of Sergi Roberto and was left waiting in the dead as he assisted Suarez for the first goal. He repeated the feat with Neymar to concede the second goal.
Luka Modric – 4.5/10
Modric was far from his best and looked bereft of any ideas or any defensive nous, giving Barca players acres of space in the middle of the park from which to operate. He failed to create any sort of impact going forward either.
Toni Kroos – 4.5/10
Invisible. One word to describe his performance in the first half at least. He barely saw any of the ball, but he had a healthy 93% pass success rate when he did. He wasn’t particularly noteworthy with his set-piece delivery either. He improved slightly in the second half but to no effect, and was very ponderous both on and off the ball.
James Rodriguez – 5.5/10
He was probably Madrid’s brightest player, and that he was nowhere near his best speaks volumes about Madrid’s day. He forced Bravo into two excellent saves, on either side of half-time. He looked mostly likely to create anything for Madrid before being surprisingly taken off at the hour mark for Isco.
Gareth Bale – 5/10
A thoroughly underwhelming performance from the world’s most expensive player. He did send in a number of great crosses, though, and cut-in from the right wing, only to skew his shot wide or for his fellow attackers to do the same.
Cristiano Ronaldo – 6/10
Ronaldo barely saw much of the ball. He was see passing the ball back to his defence or midfield as the Barca defence closed down his attacks. A one-on-one chance with Bravo that should have been in the back of the net was spectacularly blocked by Barcelona goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
Karim Benzema – 4.5/10
An unhappy return from injury for the Frenchman who was in turns, anonymous and laborious. Whenever on the ball, he took too long, and often his first touch was downright poor. The only real contribution was forcing Bravo into a flying save late on.
Substitutes
Isco – 4/10
A player of Isco’s class would walk into the starting XI of almost any other team on the planet. Sadly, Real Madrid is Real Madrid, and the player sometimes cuts a frustrated figure. He showed glimpses of his sheer class, cutting past Barcelona players with ease and purpose, before his frustration got the better of him when he brought down Neymar with a stupid and disgraceful boot to the Brazillian’s knee after he was beaten. Rightly given a direct red card and sent off.
Dani Carvajal – 4/10
Carvajal failed to offer anything new that Marcelo couldn’t but one would be justified in feeling that he should have started ahead of Danilo. He was booked late on for a stupid and needless challenge on Neymar.