Real Madrid ran out 4-0 winners against Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu on the night, after an exciting game in the Spanish capital. Karim Benzema opened the scoring in the 6th minute and there was more in store for the Madrid club.
Cristiano Ronaldo fired a penalty over the bar and Sevilla’s Kevin Gameiro had a goal wrongly disallowed and also missed a penalty on the night. It was Ronaldo who made the result, one devoid of doubt as he scored midway through the second half quickly followed by a goal by Gareth Bale before substitute Jese wrapped up the game.
Here are how the players performed in the La Liga tie.
Real Madrid
Keylor Navas - 9/10
Keylor Navas was brilliant on the night with a string of saves the best of which came really late into the game denying Gameiro from point blank. He made a brilliant penalty save from Gameiro earlier when the game was delicately poised.
Danilo – 7/10
Danilo had a solid game having contributed an assist and was consistently a threat down on the right flank going forward.
Nacho – 6/10
Nacho was troubled a few times by Gameiro but generally had a decent game keeping things tight at the back.
Raphael Varane - 6/10
Raphael Varane’s otherwise decent performance was blighted by him giving away the penalty when the game was delicately poised. He was lucky to be bailed out by Navas.
Marcelo – 7/10
Marcelo chipped in with a fine offensive display on the night by providing much-needed width to the Real attack.
Luka Modric – 7/10
Luka Modric was at his best as usual for Real Madrid, dictating the game with the ball at his feet.
Toni Kroos – 7/10
Toni Kroos kept it smart and simple in the middle of the park and left the bulk of the dictating to his midfield partner Modric.
Gareth Bale – 8/10
Gareth Bale was brilliant on the night as he set up the opener and had a goal disallowed and also struck the post in the initial exchanges of the game. He would go on to score and in the process become the highest British goal scorer in La Liga of all time.
Casemiro – 7/10
Casemiro put in a very intelligent performance on the night keeping Sevilla’s midfield in check.
Karim Benzema – 8/10
A continuous threat on the night having scored the opener with a world class swing, Karim Benzema came up with a fantastic performance overall.
Cristiano Ronaldo – 7/10
Ronaldo had a quiet first half and a fantastic second half in this game. He missed a penalty crucially but scored the second to give Real the due breathing space.
Substitutes
Jese – 6/10
Jese was decent after coming on and scored the fourth with a calm finish.
James Rodriguez – NA
The Colombian didn’t do anything great during his limited time on the pitch.
Isco – NA
Isco did not have enough time to showcase his ability in the game.
Sevilla
Sergio Rico – 7/10
Sergio Rico made a string of saves to keep Sevilla in the game for the longest period. He could only watch on as Madrid put four past him on the night.
Diogo Figueiras – 4/10
Diogo was terrible on the night and was constantly skinned along with Coke by a joyous Marcelo before being substituted at the break.
Timothee Kolodziejczak – 5/10
Kolodziejczak was made to look poor by a fantastic display from Benzema. He completely failed to read the French striker at all.
Adil Rami – 6/10
Adil Rami had a decent game initially and even won his team a penalty but was completely at a loss after a point in the game with Real shifting gears.
Benoit Tremoulinas – 4/10
Benoit Tremoulinas will thank his stars the game ended at some point. He seemed totally out of his depth with Gareth Bale having an incredible night with him and Danilo giving Tremoulinas all sorts of trouble.
Sergio Escudero – 5/10
Sergio Escudero offered nothing going forward and put in a hapless display defensively hardly doing well tracking back with Danilo making merry at his expense.
Coke – 5/10
Coke arguably had a bad game with Marcelo making him look pedestrian at times but genuinely looked poor because he had little support defensively.
Vicente Iborra – 5/10
Iborra couldn’t really offer much in the game with Casemiro having shut him down completely. He was eventually substituted later in the second half.
Sebastian Cristoforo – 5/10
Sebastian Cristoforo couldn’t do much to prevent Modric and Kroos running over the Sevilla midfield with his positional play clearly not at the best.
Grzegorz Krychowiak – 6/10
The best of the midfield performers for Sevilla on the night, Krychowiak with his physicality and positional play limited some of the damage that was being caused by Madrid.
Kevin Gameiro – 6/10
Kevin Gameiro endured a largely frustrating night being constantly denied by Keylor Navas, even from the penalty spot and eventually the assistant referee joined in disallowing what was a perfectly legitimate goal.
Substitutes
Jose Antonio Reyes – 4/10
Reyes came on to replace the hapless Figueiras and did one better by conceding the penalty with a mindless tackle.
Juan Munoz – 4/10
Juan Munoz came on with the clock not suggesting enough time to have any impact of note.
Mariano – 4/10
Mariano hardly impacted the game after coming on.