Real Madrid have moved to the top of the table alongside city rivals, Atletico Madrid, following their 1-3 victory against Eibar at the Ipurua Stadium. Los Blancos have now made it five consecutive victories on the bounce following the win on Matchday 14 in Basque Country.
Zidane’s side took command of the tie after two quick goals in the first half from Karim Benzema and Luka Modric. The hosts were caught napping and could not make it across the finish line in the end as a sole strike from Kike was their only goal of the night.
Lucas Vasquez finished off the game with a goal in the closing minutes as he neatly finished off the move initiated by Karim Benzema. Here’s how Real rated from their 3-1 victory at the Ipurua Stadium.
GK: Thibaut Courtois – 7/10
The Belgian remained largely untested on the night and could have barely done anything about the Kike strike that flew over him. Courtois made a couple of decent saves in the second half.
RB: Dani Carvajal – 8/10
The Spaniard functioned down the right-hand side with a certain degree of calmness. Zidane would be pleased with Carvajal’s movement high up the pitch as well. Carvajal teamed up well with Vasquez and made life miserable for the Eibar attackers.
CB: Raphael Varane – 6/10
A sloppy and rather uncharacteristic performance from Varane who simply could not get going. The Frenchman was majorly slow to the pace of the game and made several schoolboy errors.
CB: Sergio Ramos – 8/10
Exactly the sort of performance you expect from a side’s captain. Sergio Ramos was sensational in defence apart from an odd ball he played across the backline that went straight to the Eibar attacker.
LB: Ferland Mendy – 7/10
Mendy was clinical down the left-hand side as he kept the Eibar attack at bay throughout the ninety minutes of the game. Mendy stood tall like a wall and made life difficult for the hosts while attacking.
CM: Luka Modric – 9/10
Modric was simply outstanding on the night. The Croatian simply commanded the tie from start to finish.
CM: Casemiro – 7/10
The Brazilian did seem to be a bit tired as the game began. However, Casemiro was right on top of his game soon after the opening minutes. Casemiro made some crucial interventions in the second half.
CM: Toni Kroos – 7/10
A quiet evening by Toni Kroos’ standards as he seemed to be a bit slow to the pace of the game. Nevertheless, the German was precise with the task in hand and did it with relative ease.
RW: Lucas Vasquez – 8/10
The Spaniard was industrious down the right-hand side and displayed amazing work ethics as he tracked back time and again to help out in defence. Vasquez scored Real’s third goal of the night which sealed the tie for Zidane’s team.
ST: Karim Benzema – 9/10
Opened the scoring for the night and could have had a hattrick of goals. Benzema assisted Luka Modric’s first-half goal and Lucas Vasquez’ third goal of the night. The Frenchman’s red hot run of form continues.
LW: Rodrygo – 8/10
A smooth and soothing performance by Rodrygo and deservedly earned his fourth assist of the season.
Substitutes
CM: Federico Valverde – 7/10
Valverde made a lively appearance off the substitutes bench as he came on to replace Luka Modric.
LW: Marco Asensio – 6/10
Did not have much involvement with play post his second-half introduction.
