Real Madrid Player Ratings vs. Man City as Fede Valverde, Aurelien Tchouameni, and Antonio Rudiger continue to disappoint

Real Madrid and Manchester City have quite the historic Champions League rivalry going, and in the latest iteration of their almost annual matchup in Europe’s premier footballing competition, the Premier League giants came out on top 2-1.

Although Real Madrid got off to the hotter start with the opener and were outplaying Man City, a couple of blunders gifted the Citizens a lead that they would not relinquish as Ballon d’Or hopeful Kylian Mbappe could only sit helplessly and watch from the bench.

Here are the player ratings for all the Real Madrid starters from another disappointing loss for the Merengues, which came on the heels of their 2-0 drubbing at the hands of Celta Vigo at the weekend.

GK Thibaut Courtois

What more superlatives can be uttered about Thibaut Courtois? Without him, again, Real Madrid would have lost by a margin of three. His double save at the end of the first half was a particular highlight and vintage Courtois.

Yes, he should have done better to deal with the header for Man City’s opener, but he was pretty much completely hung out to dry by his defenders. That one is on the set piece defending, not Tibo. Rating: 7.5

LB Alvaro Carreras

Savinho gave Alvaro Carreras fits when he came into the game in the second half, drawing a yellow card out of the Spanish left back, but this was honestly a great performance from the young fullback.

All of the counterattacks started because of Carreras winning the ball, as he destroyed Man City veteran Bernardo Silva. Carreras had one great cross for Endrick out of sheer effort late in the game, but, that being said, he does have to keep pushing to do a little more decisive work on the attacking end. Rating: 8.0

CB Antonio Rudiger

Awful. He is one of the most unserious players to have ever suited up in a Real Madrid kit, and it is laughable how many fans still give him a pass. His ridiculous and unnecessary grab on Erling Haaland lost Real Madrid the game, and he was inches away from surrendering another needless penalty in the second half. On the ball, Rudiger is so overrated that it boggles the mind he even had a reputation for being a good passer in the first place. Rating: 3.5

CB Raul Asencio

He actually played pretty well on the ball and was passable defensively against Erling Haaland and Manchester City, but like Gonzalo Garcia, there’s really nothing about Raul technically or athletically that stands out and makes you think he is going to be a worthwhile top level starter for Real Madrid in the future. Rating: 5.5

RB Fede Valverde

Although Fede Valverde did a nice job of pushing up to support the attack as an outlet option from right back, his defensive work against Jeremy Doku was beyond atrocious, bordering on lazy.

Valverde was once one of Real’s most dependable and hard working players. Now, he plays like an entitled brat who cannot defend anymore and seems more interested in gifting the ball to the other team by cracking horrid shots from range without any thought or consideration. Rating: 4.5

DM Aurelien Tchouameni

Passed the ball sideways and was overrun defensively. Aurelien Tchouameni is bringing the opposite of what Casemiro did to the Real Madrid midfield, and more people need to talk about how passive he is. Tchouameni is showing no growth in these big games, and Manchester City ran circles around him. Rating: 4.0

CM Jude Bellingham

Another solid and very underrated performance from Jude Bellingham, who picked out Rodrygo Goes with a smart assist and created several chances throughout the night.

Defensively, Bellingham worked harder than any of the midfielders and was, at times, doing Tchou’s job for him. He was much more inventive with his deep pass attempts than the Frenchman, too. Jude is very much not the problem in Madrid. Rating: 8.0

CM Dani Ceballos

Worked hard for the team, especially defensively, which is usual for Dani Ceballos. His passing was mostly crisp and free of mistakes, but that extra bit of progression and creativity in the final third was badly missing from his game. A bang average performance, all told. Rating: 6.0

LW Vinicius Junior

For as much as he had the ball at his feet with transition opportunities, Vinicius Junior offered a shocking lack of end product to the Real Madrid attack. He has to do better, and it is upsetting how often he continues to pick the wrong option or make the wrong decision. He is not growing enough. Rating: 5.0

ST Gonzalo Garcia

Honestly, I just don’t see it for Gonzalo Garcia. He seems like a nice kid who will have a long, solid career at a mid table team in La Liga, but he just does not have the athleticism to play as a striker at Real Madrid. Garcia is a very average footballer with insufficient speed, explosiveness, skill on the ball, or any of the other vital qualities it takes to be world class. And at 21, he does not have a whole lot of future upside like an Endrick or a Franco Mastantuono. Rating: 4.0

RW Rodrygo Goes

Created the most chances of the Real Madrid team with five and scored a brilliant goal from a tough angle. Even in his unfavored position, Rodrygo made an impact, and he very much needed this performance while Vinicius Junior struggled and Kylian Mbappe was injured. This was a big game performance. Rating: 8.5