Real Madrid vs Celta Vigo, Liga BBVA 2014-15: Player Ratings

Iker Casillas - 6 - Iker made no errors today but he was rarely tested if at all. Still, it's another clean sheet for Real Madrid and that's always a good thing.

Dani Carvajal - 7 - Dani played a pretty nice game and was always diligent in his defensive duties on the right flank. He made 4 tackles and his passing was decent. Offensively he was active too as provided 3 key passes - the 2nd most on the team - and 2 successful take-ons which is very pleasing to see.

Pepe - 6 - Pepe had another decent if unspectacular game. His passing was a bit disjointed at times but he helped corral the defence to another clean sheet.

Sergio Ramos - 6 - Sergio had a similar performance to that of Pepe. They worked well together to shut out any real danger but they weren't tested too strenuously. His passing was sloppy though today.

Marcelo - 7 - Marcelo had yet another solid performance and it will be hard for Coentrao to displace him. He was dangerous again on the left flank and made 2 key passes, one of which was the only assist of the game and he also had 2 successful take-ons. Defensively he wasn't truly tested.

Asier Illarramendi - 9 - Illarra was excellent against Celta. He played more passes than anyone else at the highest accuracy too. Not only that but he controlled the game by always being in the correct position. This was reflected in him having 4 interceptions, once again more than anybody else. A complete performance in defensive midfield made sure that Ramos and Pepe had little to contend with. He was also fouled more than anyone else which shows his level of involvement in the proceedings of the match.

Toni Kroos - 8 - The German maestro wasn't at his usual level of involvement today in terms of passing the ball but he still managed to influence the game highly and created many goalscoring opportunities. Due to Illarra playing deeper he was consequently able to play with less restraint and this converted into chances created. He made double the key passes of any other player with 6 and also completed more crosses than anyone with 5 successful crosses. His delivery was impeccable actually. Defensively he really put in a shift too making more tackles than anybody else.

James Rodríguez - 5 - In truth, James wasn't having his most prolific game before he was substituted, unfortunately due to injury. Although he did have a couple of good efforts on target. Let's hope he gets better as soon as possible as he's established himself as an important cog in Carlo's team.

Gareth Bale - 7 - I was quite content with Gareth's performance today despite not scoring or assisting. He was much more involved than we've seen recently and had some good efforts on goal. He made the most successful take-ons (4) and won the most aerial duels, also 4. The one area where he was poor was with his crossing which was frustrating for his team-mates. He attempted 7 crosses and was successful with none. Also, his passing could have been a bit better too.

Cristano Ronaldo - 9 - Record breaker. Phenomenon. Outstanding. He is all these adjectives and more at the moment as he bagged yet another hat-trick to win the game for Madrid, his record-breaking 23rd Liga hat-trick and thus he also scored his 200th Liga goal for Los Blancos. Unsurprisingly, he had the most shots on goal and tested Alvarez well. He was caught offside too often though today.

Karim Benzema - 5 - Karim played a few nice passes today but he wasn't overly involved in the game as he normally is. Only Casillas had less touches than him from the starting players. Karim had a couple of efforts at goal but other than that didn't pose too much danger.

Álvaro Arbeloa - 4 - The Spartan was substituted in early in the 2nd half but once he was on provided nothing offensively to help Bale. Defensively he was okay and he made no major mistakes - not that he was tested properly.

Chicharito and Coentrao - not enough minutes.

MOTM: Asier Illarramendi. He provided the defensively stability to allow the team not to concede and focus on scoring goals. Cristiano duly obliged.