Copa Del Rey Player Ratings: Leganés 1-0 Real Madrid!

The Copa Del Rey has mustered up some of the only positive takeaways from Santiago Solari’s tenure at Madrid so far. There had been at least something to look forward to every round, but this was the first game that felt quite bland. Whether that be because Madrid already had a 3-0 lead from the first leg, or the fact Solari hadn't rotated as much as he perhaps should have, I do not know. Madrid lost the game 1-0, and this proved to be one of the most difficult games to both watch and rate players on, as every player was hugging that 5 score... Check out the ratings below!

Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Keylor Navas — 7.5: Man of the match for me. With the saves he made during the game, he pretty much kept Real Madrid in the Copa Del Rey on his own. Especially late on when the hosts were piling on that pressure in search of an upset. Top quality!

Álvaro Odriozola — 5: Unlike the first leg where he was one of the better players, today Odriozola didn’t get up to much at all. Put a few challenges in here and there, but was barely noticeable going forwards.

Nacho Fernández — 5: Another quiet figure. Nacho has for sure seen better days than this. Had more to do than many others but didn’t impose himself very well as one of the senior players.

Raphaël Varane — 6: Not the best game from Varane, but he did prove to be very important towards the end of the game with his aerial presence. It was his head that met many of the incoming Leganés crosses.

Sergio Reguilón — 5: An off day for Sergio, but it wasn’t really his fault he was taken off at half time to allow Marcelo to drop back. He wasn’t performing any worse than the other players, and it could well have been Marcelo to be directly taken off and no one would have batted an eye.

Casemiro — 5: Thought Casemiro was one of the better players in the first half simply because he had plenty of opportunities to fulfil his role. He was getting challenges and interceptions in, but away from this he provided nothing.

Fede Valverde — 6: I won’t lie, I didn’t even remember that Fede was playing until my eyes stuck to his bright yellow boots early in the second half. But seemingly from that moment, he came into the game a lot more. He went on to become one of the teams best outfield players on the night, but I’m not sure that says much.

Isco — 5: A few nice touches wasn’t enough to get into Solari’s good books. Isco will be disappointed with his performance, especially as he blew a chance after being played clean though and taking too long to finish. Was taken off for Cristo with 20 minutes to go.

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Lucas Vázquez — 5: Similarly to Isco, Lucas took some nice touches here and there, but contributed very little else. Was substituted for Brahim late on.

Marcelo — 4.5: Another failed Solari experiment. It’s been done before, and didn’t particularly work then - but this time Santiago Solari was giving out the instructions! Naturally, it was even worse this time. Marcelo was lost for the entire first half, but pushed his rating up when he reverted to left back for the second period and provided some stability.

Vinícius Júnior — 6.5: Even the magic man Vinícius had a wobbly first half. He was deployed up top due to the lack of available strikers, and was unable to find as much of the ball as he is used to. In the second half he began finding the ball himself, and as the clock ticked he looked better and better. Towards the end he had so much energy it looked like he was going to create a big chance every time he picked up the ball against the tired Leganés defenders. Had quite a few shots that were all either off target or un-challenging for the goalkeeper.

Photo by Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

Substitutions:

Dani Ceballos — 6: Came on for Reguilón at half time and had a better game than most of the other players in half the time. Looked good on the ball and looked to make things happen.

Cristo González — 5.5: One of his better game for the first team I thought. I saw him get on the ball more and look to dribble. Not everything came off, though. Also looked quiet in-front of goal for someone that bags a decent amount of goals for Castilla. Happy with his involvement, though.

Brahim Díaz — 5: Still unsure why Real Madrid bought Brahim. Got a bit more than four minutes tonight, but did do well enough to get onto the ratings board! He was put in against the keeper by Vinícius, but hesitated and could only hit the post after being closed down.

A really poor performance and result, but it still did the job. Real Madrid are into the next round of the cup; a competition that they will have to take seriously this season. This game will definitely be forgotten in a few days... What were your thoughts on the game?