With another El Classico wrapped up, here are match ratings and explanations on all players who participated last night.
Barcelona
Joan Garcia 7: He put up a good commanding performance in goal, he wasn’t really at fault for either goal, the first being an unlucky deflection and the second a pass back across goal to Mbappé, he made 3 saves and was overall solid for Barcelona.
Xabi Espart 6: It’s harsh to rate Xabi Espart only a 6 but he only played 30 minutes due to being subbed off with an injury.
Pau Cubarsi 6: I don’t think Cubarsi had his best game, he was okay at the back when needed apart from near the end when he was easily skipped round by Camavinga leading to Real Madrid’s winner.
Gerard Martin 5: He was responsible for Real Madrid’s first goal with a poor clearance after a low cross came in from Yan Diomande, there was only one opposition player around him and he cleared it straight into him.
Joao Cancelo 7: Overall Cancelo had a good game, he had a good battle with Arder Guler on that left hand side for Barcelona. He also created the joint most chances (4) at Left back in the entire game.
Pedri 8: Pedri was arguably Barcelona’s best and most influential player last night. He was crucial in Barcelona’s equaliser with some lovely footwork and a nice ball into captain Raphina who slotted his shot away. He also came out on top a lot against Bernardo Silva in their midfield battle.
Rodri 6: Rodri was okay. He wasn’t as influential in the game as his partner Pedri however he was still solid in the heart of Barcelona’s midfield. He helped Barcelona control possession nicely but didn’t really produce much when Barcelona were pinning Real Madrid in, the only notable moment a shot that went straight down the middle. However, he did have the most amount of touchers during the game with 105.
Lamine Yamal 6: Like mentioned previously last night wasn’t his greatest game, he struggled to get into it much with Cucurella being a big thorn in his side. He did complete the joint most dribbles in the game with 4, however this was out of 9. He also missed a very easy chance in the first half.
Fermin 6: Similar to Lamine Yamal he just didn’t find himself involved as much as he probably would have hoped, he had one blocked shot from outside the box and no other attempts on goal, he did however have a 100% dribble success rate with 2/2 dribbles complete and 1 big chance created but that lead to nothing, so he wasn’t bad at all but probably wanted to be involved more than he was.
Anthony Gordon 7: Gordon had a good game, he was showing good work rate and creativity down that left hand side for Barcelona, he had 4 recoveries, and the joint most chances created for both teams with 4.
Raphinha 7: Barcelona’s captain also wasn’t as influential as he probably had hoped to be, however he still had a very solid game, he took his goal very nicely and created 2 chances.
Substitutes
Alejandro Balde 6: He was thrown into the deep end having only played 12 minutes in one league game prior to the El Classico, however he put up a solid shift when prematurely brought on for an injured Xabi Espart. However he did commit a clumsy challenge at what looked like frustration on Kylian Mbappe in the dying seconds which potentially killed any chance of Barcelona rescuing a point.
De Jong 5: similar to Balde he hadn’t played a game all season then suddenly was deployed to break down Real Madrid, he didn’t really get into the game at all in the short feature he had, this is expected after just returning from a MCL injury in his right knee that he sustained while on his World Cup journey with the Netherlands.
Adeyemi N/A: He only played 13 minutes and had 5 touches, he did however get a yellow card for an incident with Kylian Mbappe in the 96th minute.
Gabriel Jesus N/A: He was subbed on at the same time as Adeyemi so only played 13 minutes and had 4 touches, one of them leading to the loss of possession for Barcelona that led to Real Madrid scoring their equaliser.
Hansi Flick 6: I don’t think he did anything badly, he set out a good team had them pressuring Real Madrid, however I believed he should have made more attacking substitutions earlier than he did in the 85th minute, which gave Barcelona too little time to find a new attacking rhythm.
Real Madrid
Lunin 7: He was a good shot stopper for Real Madrid last night, making some nice saves and not allowing the pressure from Barcelona’s attack phase him.
Cucurella 8: He put up a very good defensive display against Lamine Yamal, and kept him quiet for most of the game. He gave Lamine very little breathing room and stuck too him like super glue.
Dean Huijsen 8: He looked comfortable at the back for Real Madrid and had the most defensive contributions at 16.
Ibrahima Konate 7: Similar to his centre half partner Huijsen, Konate looked fairly comfortable at the back while Barcelona were piling on their pressure, the duo worked well to keep Barcelona’s deadly attack at bay.
Valverde 7: Like the rest of the backline he put up a very solid defensive performance vs Anthony Gordon. Valverde wasn’t dribbled past a single time in the game and he had 6 defensive contributions. He came off in the 62nd minute due to injury.
Tchoumeni 7: He had one of the most difficult tasks on the pitch trying to keep Barcelona’s midfield quiet, however he did this very well, he got booked for a challenge that shouldn’t have resulted in a booking, he was all over the pitch last night. Tchoumeni also registered a 96% pass accuracy and had 9 defensive contributions.
Bernardo silva 5: Unlike the rest of his team Bernardo Silva didn’t have a very good game, this could be due to lack of minutes rust but he just didn’t get into the game as much as hoped, he had the least amount of touches out of any outfield player at 34 (less than Xabi Espart who only played 30 minutes) and he resulted in hacking at the ankles of the opposition which sometimes resulted in him being on the floor and the opponent running away with the ball. He was also dribbled past the most times out of any player with 6 times, double second who was Pedri with 3.
Yan Diomande 8: Yan Diomande had a rather good game, he was exciting on the ball showing signs of lovely trickery and skill, one example was when he managed to get his way out of 3 Barcelona players surrounding him which included a nutmeg on Lamine Yamal. He completed the joint most dribbles (4) in the entire game. The only thing he could have improved on was being a little bit more braver Infront of goal, there were times he could have had a shot and stopped to see who he could find in the box to cross to, but other than that he was electric.
Jude Bellingham 7: Jude Bellingham was fantastic last night, he controlled the game nicely and had some lovely moments, especially when he showed a lovely bit of footwork to start the counterattack for the second Real Madrid goal. He had a 100% dribble success rate with 3/3 dribbles complete.
Arder Guler 7: Arder Guler produced some nice moments last night as he attempted to break down Barcelona’s defence. He had a nice shot on goal that was saved by Garcia, he also created 2 big chances for Real Madrid, the 21 year old Turkey international had a good game.
Kylian Mbappe 9 MOTM: Overall Kylian Mbappe didn’t get into the game all that much, only having 36 touches the third least out of all starting players, 25% successful dribbles, and all round didn’t have his most influential game, however he did score both Real Madrid goals to win them the game, and that is all that matters, his first goal was a stroke of luck, however he took his second goal nicely with good positioning and a tidy finish, therefore he is my MOTM from yesterdays El Classico.
Substitutes
Camavinga 8: When he came on in the 80th minute he completely changed the game, he led the charge for Real Madrid’s counter attack and showed a lovely bit of skill to tap it round Cubarsi to square it to Mbappe who calmly finished the attack off.
Dumfries 6: He came on for an injured Valverde at right back and didn’t get into the game too much, he did his job of keeping Barcelona’s attack quiet but didn’t produce much more than that, in the short feature he had he performed well.
Trent Alaxander Arnold N/A: Similar to the whole of Trent’s season so far he only played a very small amount of the El Classico coming on in the 90th minute to try and see the game out. He only played 2 minutes and had 3 touches.
Carlos Espi N/A: Similar to Trent he only came on in injury time for 2 minutes and had one touch, that one touch resulting in a pass into the final third.
Jose Mourinho 9: The Special One proved last night his park the bus, counter attacking style of play was still at it’s best. He set up his team perfectly for the classic smash and grab result, and that’s exactly what Real Madrid did and they went home with all 3 points, it was a very good tactical set up from Jose Mourinho last night.
For in depth player reviews for Kylian Mbappe, Lamine Yamal, Marc Cucurella and a manager review of Jose Mourinho from last nights game visit Pitchsidepost.com
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