A rusty Real Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabéu by a gritty Atlético Madrid on Saturday night. Los Blancos will go ten points behind league leaders Barcelona if the latter win this weekend.
REAL MADRID
Thibaut Courtois: 6 – Could do little about the goal, and completed 100% of his passes.
Dani Carvajal: 5
Éder Militão: 6 – Got forward on many occasions in the first half, even creating an opening for Benzema on one occasion.
Antonio Rüdiger: 6 – Keeps improving at the heart of defence. Another good performance with four clearances and a block. Drew Correa’s red card with perhaps a slightly exaggerated reaction.
Nacho: 6 – Not only was he assured defensively, he also looked to help out Vinícius and Ceballos on the left flank offensively on occasion, albeit with mixed results.
Toni Kroos: 6
Fede Valverde: 7 – Energetic, particularly in the first half. Covered well defensively when Carvajal went forward, and also made his fair share of runs in behind and in combination with the midfield.
Dani Ceballos: 6 – Put in a virtuoso display in his 63 minutes on the pitch. Brilliant in circulating possession forward from deep areas, and got stuck in, contesting five tackles and winning nine duels.
Marco Asensio: 3 – Lethargic in his involvement and seemed to halt a number of Madrid openings on the right flank.
Karim Benzema: 3 – Way off his sharpest physically, racking up a mere 29 touches throughout the 90.
Vinícius Jr.: 3 – While his persistence can be commended, Viní’s decision-making was subpar and he ran into traffic multiple times.
SUBSTITUTES:
Álvaro Rodríguez: 7 – The latest hotshot in the Madrid squad continues to impress, as he headed home a crucial equaliser; his first senior goal for Los Blancos.
Luka Modrić: 6 – Assisted Álvaro’s header from the corner. Picked up his fifth yellow of the league season, and will miss the game against Real Betis next weekend.
Eduardo Camavinga: 6 – Impressed off the bench.
Aurélien Tchouaméni: 5
Lucas Vázquez: n/a
ATLÉTICO MADRID
Jan Oblak: 6 – Firm shots from Viní, Asensio and Tchouaméni were dealt with expertly by the Slovenian custodian.
Nahuel Molina: 6 – Never an easy task to contain Vinícius, but Molina did a good job with the help of Savić. Overlapped well to aid Llorente and Griezmann, keeping the Madrid left side on their toes.
Stefan Savić: 7 – An impressive performance from the Montenegrin, doubling down with Molina to stop Vinícius, while not being threatened much by an off-colour Benzema.
Mario Hermoso: 6
Reinildo: n/a – Substituted early on after coming off second-best in a tussle with Valverde, with Simeone later confirming that he’ll miss around five to six months.
Koke: 6 – The Atléti captain put in a good performance. Astute in alleviating pressure and distributing possession towards the flanks, with a solid defensive performance.
Pablo Barrios: 5 – Complemented Koke well despite only playing one half.
Saúl Ñíguez: 5
Marcos Llorente: 5
Yannick Carrasco: 4 – Got in behind and threatened down the left on occasion, but could’ve done much better with his end product.
Antoine Griezmann: 7 – Excellent yet again. Atléti’s heartbeat going forward, always opening up a new arena and finding players in space. Came very close to scoring with a first-time effort from the edge of the box, before ultimately assisting the opening goal with a brilliant set-piece delivery.
SUBSTITUTES:
José María Giménez: 7 – A game-high ten clearances for the Uruguayan, which he added to with a bullet header at the other end to put Atléti in front.
Ángel Correa: 2 – Sent off less than 20 minutes after coming on in the second half, with what the referee explained as an elbow on Rüdiger. Slightly harsh decision.
Álvaro Morata: 5 – Appeared to have been pushed by Militão in the box, but no penalty was awarded.
Thomas Lemar: 5
Axel Witsel: 5
GSFN | Roddur Mookherjee
