Player Ratings

Starters:

Karim Benzema—7: Wasn’t on the scoresheet, but he did look good. Had great movement on the pitch, also had a great shot that narrowly missed goal. Promising looks for him going forward into the season.

Gareth Bale—9: Arguably Real’s best player in this match. Fantastic setup pass to Asensio that opened the scoring just two minutes in. Also had a great goal of his own that was finished majestically. Going to be relied on quite a bit this season, seems like he is more than up to the task.

Marco Asensio—9: Arguably Real’s other best player of the match. Had brilliant touches in his play time, one of them being his goal. He looks determined to prove himself out there and should be a frequent fixture for Real this season.

Isco—7.5: Played fairly well in the first half. Didn’t really do anything that stands out, but his passing was good and helped the flow of play. Played a different position than usual, on the left side of the midfield behind Asensio. Think Isco works best as the 10 or even in Asensio’s left wing spot like he does for Spain.

Toni Kroos—7.5: Much like Isco, didn’t really do anything that much of note. He too was very good with the passing and helped dictate play. He looked comfortable centered in the midfield and did his job.

Dani Ceballos—7.5: Played the right side of the midfield behind Bale in this match, a change from playing the 10 against Juventus. Looked really good again, arguably one of Real’s best players this preseason. He’s making his presence known and clearly has a high ceiling he can achieve, may do it with Kovacic potentially going on loan this season. Had a great chance that could’ve and should’ve been a goal.

Sergio Reguilón—8: Looked great on the left side for Real. Clearly has the potential to be Marcelo’s successor and should learn a lot this season if Theo goes on loan. Kept Roma’s attack on the left side in check and looks comfortable in a starting role.

Nacho—7.5: Did his job. Doesn’t need to do anything flashy to have a good match as a defender. Helped prevent the Roma attack from scoring up until he was taken off for injury, hopefully precautionary. Was captain when Ramos was subbed off.

Sergio Ramos—7.5: Just like Nacho, no huge standouts but pure defense. Looked good with Nacho as a pairing and will only perform better when he is paired back up with Varane. Continues to infuriate the media.

Dani Carvajal—7.5: Looked very good in the first half of play. Had that bomb of a pass that setup Bale for his goal, it was a thing of beauty. Also had a great cross pass to Asensio in front of Olsen that could’ve been handball on a Roma defender. Got sloppy in the second half a bit and didn’t look nearly as strong.

Keylor Navas—8: Solid performance from him and played the entire match. Made that great save just outside the box that cut off Kolarov’s great pass before Il Faraone could get to it. Did have one bad giveaway in the second half that the defense saved him from, but was otherwise a great night for him. Even earned himself a chant from the New Jersey crowd.

Substitutions:

Javier Sánchez—7: Came on for Ramos. Looks like he could be ready to see the first team this season. He did looks pretty good in this match and looks like he may end up being a good backup defender in the near future.

Marcos Llorente—7.5: Came on for Toni Kroos. Did his job as a defensive midfielder and it really well. Made some good passes and appears to have gotten stronger over this offseason, which bodes well going forward for him as a substitute.

Federico Valverde—7: Came on for Isco. Looked pretty good coming on as a substitute. Made some good passes and helped keep the flow of play going for Real,

Lucas Vasquez—6.5: Came on for Gareth Bale. Again not much of anything in the goals are chance department, but he did look good on the right side as a substitute. No doubt he’ll be a frequent feature for Real this season again.

Borja Mayoral—5: Came on for Benzema. Didn’t look good at all; not necessarily bad, but just mediocre. For someone who is supposed to be the backup striker this season, he just doesn’t seem to add anything to the attack. Not confident in his ability to be the choice should Benzema get injured or underperform this season.

Vinicius—7.5: Came on for Asensio. Felt he was the best substitute Real made in the match. He had some great chances, did make some turnovers though. It seemed like his teammates on the pitch were a bit reluctant to pass to him at times. He does need work on his finishing and does clearly does need time to mature his game, he is only 18 after all.

Sergi López—6.5: Came on for Carvajal. Didn’t really notice him too much. Good chance for him to get some minutes since he obviously has Odriozola ahead of him on the depth chart.

Jóse León—6: Came on for Reguilón. One of the older Castilla players, didn’t impress too much. Left Navas out to dry on the Strootman goal when he was completely unaware he was even there. Much like López, getting minutes in the preseason because he unlikely won’t see first team action this season.

Martin Ødegaard—7: Came on for Ceballos. He looked pretty good as Valverde and Llorente did. He’s had an impressive preseason and looks to be progressing well and had another strong performance as a sub in this fixture. With him reportedly going on loan again this season, it should do him wonders and he’s still only 19.

Raúl De Tómas—4.5: Looked worse than Mayoral. Hard to find positive to talk about for RDT other than that he is likely going on loan and that is probably for the best. He’s nowhere near ready to be a backup striker on this team and needs to work on his game.