Real Madrid 1-0 Paris Saint Germain: Player Ratings

In football, sometimes you don’t have to play well to win. That applied to Real Madrid in their home Champions League tie against Paris St. Germain on Tuesday. Despite the French champions outplaying their Spanish opponents, it was a fortuitous goal from 1st half substitute Nacho which was enough to gift Rafa Benitez’s side all three points. The team;s performance was disappointing while the result definitely wasn’t.

PSG can be proud of the way they played, at a level above Real Madrid throughout the game. With the myriad chances created by the outfit from France, they were expected to run riot. Their defenders were more organised and their midfielders were much sharper than their Spanish counterparts. But they were unfortunately left to rue their poor finishing – especially by Edinson Cavani – which ultimately denied them from taking anything out of the game.

We take a closer look at how the 27 players involved fared at the Bernabeu on Tuesday and assign ratings accordingly.

Real Madrid

Keylor Navas (GK) – 7

Had to keep his concentration throughout the game against a high-pressing PSG side. He was largely helped, though, by some relatively poor finishing by the French side’s strikers, for all the attempts they had on goal.

Danilo (RB) – 6

More of a defensive minded full-back, Danilo offered very little going up the pitch. He failed to provide a meaningful ball into the box and was forced to do his defensive duties with the greatest diligence with Blaise Matuidi and Maxwell making those dangerous runs into this own 18-yard area.

• Raphael Varane (CB) – 8.5
• An outstanding performance from the young centre-back. Kept his focus intact throughout the 90 minutes to clear away crosses flying into the Real Madrid penalty area. His biggest positive of the night was keeping Zlatan Ibrahimovic at arms’ length. Green mark in his career-objective notebook.
• Sergio Ramos (CB) – 7.5
• Was found guilty of standing off Zlatan Ibrahimovic for majority of the first-half, allowing him to get his shots away. However, his dispay improved markedly in the second half, tracking the Swedish striker’s runs and impeding him from dominating proceedings in front of goal.
• Marcelo (LB) – 5
• Was struggling to deal with the threat and pace of Serge Aurier at the back before coming off with an injury at the half-hour mark.
• Luka Modric (CDM) – 7.5
• The cog of the Real Madrid engine, Luka Modric once again played the ideal role expected from a defensive midfielder, making some key passes to set up a number of Real Madrid attacks.

• 

  Casemiro (RCM) – 6

• Was absolutely blown away by the all-round brilliance of Blaise Matuidi in central midfield. The 23-year old Brazilian had a torrid time trying to get the ball off the Frenchman – his (Matuidi’s) strength and assuredness on the ball proving to be too much of a challenge for the young defensive midfielder. He will be relieved at Matuidi’s failure to find that killer pass to set up a clear opportunity for PSG to find the back of the net.
• Toni Kroos (LCM) – 6
• Playing in a left-central midfield role, the German was surprisingly below par, misplacing a number of passes – including one which was almost pounced upon by Zlatan Ibrahimovic midway through the first half, something which would have sent him clear on goal, only to be cleared by Rapahael Varane. The 25-year-old managed to get away with his under-whelming performance, but will have to up his passing game to assert his place in the starting XI.
• Isco (RW) – 7
• Despite splitting his head due to a clash of heads with Aurier, Isco never let that affect his performance. His quick thinking with the ball at his feet allowed him to find pockets of space in the PSG defence. He even managed to find himself clear on goal, only to find his shot fired straight at Kevin Trapp.
• Ronaldo (ST) – 6.5
• An uncharacteristically quiet display by his standards, managing to get just a single shot at goal from open play. The PSG defence was well trained to deny him any sort of opening to put his boot through the ball in convincing fashion.
• Jese (LW) – 6.5
• Was a constant threat on the left wing for Rafael Benitez’s side in the early minutes before wearing off as the game progressed. Used his seething pace and strength to outrun Serge Aurier on the right-hand side inside the first 10 minutes but struggled to stretch the full-back since.

• Substitutes:

• 

• Nacho – 7
• Made an instant impact since coming on for Marcelo, slotting home a deflected shot from Kroos thanks to a mistake by PSG goalkeeper Kevin Trapp. Was largely confined to dealing with the pacey threat of Serge Aurier on the right wing for the rest of the game.
• Lucas Vazquez – 6
• The right winger was brought for an eventually ineffective Jese to inject some pace down the right-wing for Rafa Benitez’s side, but didn’t trouble the PSG defence enough to cause havoc amongst them. Was more-or-less dealt with by Maxwell and David Luiz.
• Mateo Kovacic – 6
• Came on late in the game in place of Isco to ensure Real Madrid’s lead was kept intact. Had a few good touches, but wasn’t on the pitch long enough to make any sort of decisive impact.

• Paris St. Germain

• Kevin Trapp (GK) – 6
• Made a couple of important saves to deny Isco and Kroos but will ultimately be held responsible for conceding Real Madrid’s opener – wandering out of his goal thinking a deflected Kroos shot went out of play - only for substitute Nacho to slot home into an empty net.

• 

• Serge Aurier (RB) – 7.5
• The young full-back was simply sensational for the French champions down the right-wing. Linking up well with Angel de Maria, he managed to create a number of goal-scoring opportunities for Laurent Blanc’s side, getting himself into a number of good positions to deliver quality crosses in open play.
• Defensively too, Aurier proved his worth, making a key headed clearance to deny Isco from meeting a cross, injuring the duo in the process.
• Thiago Silva (CB) – 7
• Kept the dangerous Cristiano Ronaldo at bay through the course of the game, limiting him to just a single shot on goal in open play.
• David Luiz (CB) – 7
• Had a relatively quiet night against an injury-prone Real Madrid attack. With Ronaldo kept quiet, the commanding Brazilian centre-back ensured that the wingers were unable to outsmart him with their pacey approaches to Kevin Trapp’s goal.
• Maxwell (LB) – 7
• A fairly decent performance from the 34-year old left-back, whose wonderful cross was nearly met by Edinson Cavani and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the first half. He gave Danilo a tough evening, forcing him to revert to his defensive work rather than play a role up the pitch.
• Marco Verratti (RCM) – 5
• Made a couple of decent passes before being substituted very early on with a hamstring injury.

• 

• Thiago Motta (CDM) – 8
  • Absolutely sensational in the holding midfield role. Known for his exquisite vision of the game, he was able to read Isco’s movements in the centre of the pitch and stop any sort of Real Madrid counter-attacks to threaten the PSG goal.
• Blaise Matuidi (LCM) – 7.5
• Came up trumps in a one-on-one duel with the young Casemiro, intercepting the 23-year old’s passes on several occasions and successfully making key lay-offs to Cavani and Ibrahimovic in the attacking third.

• 

• Angel Di María (RW) – 8
• Impressive on his return to the Bernabeu, his link-up play with Serge Aurier on the right creating a number of problems for the Real Madrid defence. His ability to control the pace on the ball and make the key through pass to cut open the Real defence was very pleasing to the eye. Nearly equalised against his former club in the 89th minute with a glorious free-kick which struck the crossbar.
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic (ST) – 6.5
• Being the focal-point of PSG’s attack, the big Swedish striker was a menace to the Real Madrid defence throughout the game. Fed well by Blaise Matuidi and Adrien Rabiot behind him, he managed to get a plethora of shots at goal– giving goalkeeper Keylor Navas a run for his money, but ultimately failed to find the back of the net.
• Edinson Cavani (LW) – 5.5
• A poor performance by his standards, missing a number of golden opportunities to score for PSG. He had no grounds to complain about the service from Aurier and Maxwell from the wings. He has had better days up-front for Laurent Blanc’s side, and this game will be one he would like to erase from his memory-lane as soon as possible.

• Substitutes:

• Adrian Rabiot – 7
• Did the job of keeping Kroos at bay, dispossessing him a few times. He also displayed his quality in the attacking third, getting himself involved in most of PSG’s attacks with a number of key passes to Di Maria on his right hand side and Ibrahimovic up-front.
• Lucas Moura – 6
• Coming on as a 75th minute substitute for Blaise Matuidi, Moura took the attack to the opposition – pressing hard from the left-hand side and attempting to force his way through the Real defenders – ultimately in vain.