Athletic Bilbao vs Real Madrid: Player Ratings

Keylor Navas: 8 - Navas made numerous quality saves to hold Madrid's advantage and when he was beaten it was through no fault of his own. Unfortunately for the Costa Rican he was only 5 minutes away from breaking Miguel Angel's La Liga record of starting a season without conceding a goal.

Dani Carvajal: 7 - A good game by Carvajal. He was solid on defence as he has been since coming in to the side for the injured Danilo. He made more tackles than any other player and made the second most interceptions too. Solid.

Pepe: 7 - Another impressive display by the veteran Pepe. He is really ageing well as a player and continues to provide stiff competition for fellow centre-backs Ramos and Varane. He also made more interceptions than any other player which is telling of his ability to read the game.

Raphael Varane: 8 - Monstrous display by the Frenchman tonight. He made an incredible 12 clearances most of which were from crosses in the air against the formidable Aritz Aduriz so huge props go out to him. He's really returned back to the promising player we saw a couple of seasons ago. Showed excellent pace too.

Marcelo: 7 - A decent game by Marcelo too. Defensively he still continues to worry me and he made a couple of defensive errors but going forward he was back to usual flowing self. He completed 4 successful take-ons which was more than any other player.

Matteo Kovacic: 6 - Overall it was an  impressive display by the young Croat. However, he failed to convert his chances when presented good opportunities in front of the opposition goal. Defensively his actions were sounds and he managed to distribute the ball confidently.

Luka Modric: 7 - Solid game from Luka. He controlled proceedings with his inimitable grace on the ball and was as defensively sound as ever working in tandem with Kroos. Benítez has really got him working well in the double pivot and it's something nice to see when faced with a tricky away opponent.

Toni Kroos: 7 - He performance mirrored that of Modric. Good defensively, with a typically excellent distribution rate of 97% pass accuracy having completed more passes than any other player. Lets hope he continues his form late into the season. If he does, Madrid will be likely to win silverware.

Isco: 8 - I was very impressed with Isco's ability to adapt to his new position. Tonight was his best game in this role. His delivery was impeccable as he created more chances than any other player with 4 and also completed 5 out of 8 crosses, also more than any other player. Like Varane, the club need to make sure Isco gets enough minutes to keep him satisfied as he's such a talented individual with many years of class to provide.

Cristiano Ronaldo: 5 - Not up to his usual excellent standards and was shut out for the fourth time this season but he still managed to pose some danger and grab the Bilbao defenders attention with 2 key passes and 3 successful take-ons. Just needed to be more clinical with his chances.

Karim Benzema: 9 - Big Benz has begun the season is utterly devastating form. 6 goals in 5 games speaks volumes for a player some deem not to be good enough for the Madrid striker position and yet he is the player who has won Madrid more points than any other player through his important goals this season. I'm excited to see how the rest of his progresses.

Subs:

Jesé Rodríguez: 4 - The young Spaniard came on with nothing to lose but he failed to impress in the 20 minutes that he played. In fact, he sadly only made 5 touches and was largely anonymous. He showed good pre-season form but he needs to follow it up with telling contributions in competitive matches.

Casemiro & Lucas Vázquez were given insufficient minutes to rate fairly.