La Liga Player ratings: Real Madrid 2 – Valencia CF 0 (Part 1)
Real Madrid welcomed a dangerous Valencia outfit to the Stadio Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday. Los Galacticos had just been blown into smithereens by a rampant Barcelona team and many were curious as to how Mourinho’s men will react. Needless to say, despite
winning by a 2 – 0 score line, Real were far from convincing and Jose Mourinho will definitely have something to say to his troops.
Cristiano Ronaldo stole the show with two second half goals and one must not take anything away from the Portuguese magician. Valencia for their part were highly unfortunate as Albelda was shown a wrong red card by the referee Lasa Perez. The decision turned
the game on its head as Los Merengues had not been able to break a resilient Los Che defence prior to the sending off.
Bettor.com now analyses the players on the pitch and awards a rating to each player:
Real Madrid
Iker Casillas – 6.5
Los Che forwards’ poor finishing meant Saint Iker was hardly tested. However, the Spanish International was alert whenever tested and made a good save on Mata in the first half.
Alvaro Arbeloa - 6
Arbeloa has not been a regular fixture with Sergio Ramos making the right back spot on his own. However, the experienced full back was strong in defence even though he contributed little to the attack.
Raul Albiol – 5.5
With the arrival of Ricardo Carvalho from Chelsea, Albiol has found first team football hard to come by and that showed on his performance tonight. La Furia Roja defender went missing at times as his lack of concentration was evident. Had Los Che forwards
been more lethal in front of goal, Albiol would have been an embarrassed man.
Pepe – 6.5
The Portuguese put in a dominant shift with some strong tackles and blocks. However, Pepe was overly aggressive in his tackles at times.
Marcelo – 7
This was a definite improvement over a woeful El Clasico outing. The Brazilian contributed equally to the attack and defence. Lung bursting runs and crosses coupled with occasional failure to track back made this one yet another Marcelo performance.
Lassana Diarra – 6
Lass is no playmaker as was evident by his rather poor attacking contribution on the night. However, the Frenchman dominated the midfield with his boundless energy, continuously harassing the opposition into dispossession.
Sami Khedira – 6
Khedira was steady if not spectacular on the night. Some of the passes played by Turkish International were top quality but Khedira is yet to reproduce his World Cup form at the Bernabeu.
Xabi Alonso – 5
Real Madrid number 14 is still getting over the Camp Nou humiliation as he was anonymous for most part of the game. Alonso will have much better games in this Galactico jersey.
Angel Di Maria – 5
Di Maria’s poor run of form continued last night as the Argentine wasn’t able to showcase his boundless potential. While he was guilty of missing two golden opportunities in the second half, even his intelligent runs were not to be seen on the night.
Mesut Ozil – 7.5
The Ozil who took to the pitch last night was in complete contrast to a shadow we witnessed against Barcelona. The German prodigy was full of intelligent running all night long and assisted Ronaldo’s opener with a sublime pass.
Cristiano Ronaldo – 8.5
CR7 continues to be the driving force behind Mourinho’s latest team. The winger popped up all over the pitch with his array of tricks and flicks. His efforts didn’t go unrewarded as he scored too extremely well taken goals to rescue Madrid in the second
half.
Substitutions:
Esteban Granero – 5.5
Granero was given 17 minutes by Jose Mourinho to impress but the Real Madrid youngster failed to conjure anything of note.
Mahamadou Diarra - 5
It was yet another cameo appearance from the Malian who continues to struggle for first team football.
Karim Benzema - 5
Mourinho brought on Benzema late in the second half as his men went for the three points but Benzema was a mere pedestrian.
To be continued in Part 2...
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