Player Ratings: Alavés 1 - Real Madrid 4; 2020/21 La Liga

A quality first-half performances from some of the club’s top senior players helped Real Madrid cruise past Alaves. With the three-points, they creep closer towards Atletico Madrid at the top of the table.

See player ratings below.

Thibaut Courtois—8: Standard night for the Belgian who worked well to try and keep Alaves out of the match. Joselu’s header proved too much for him though. Finished with four saves.

Lucas Vazquez — 7.5: Decent night for Vazquez who appeared in his 20th consecutive start. Began as a right-back then moved up top at the end. Finished with two dribbles, two tackles and one key pass.

Raphael Varane — 7.5: Decent night for Varane who statistically doesn’t fair well when playing without Ramos. Finished with 94% pass completion and two aerials won.

Eder Militão — 7: Replaced Ramos in the lineup. Started off strong and had a glorious header opportunity but wasn’t even close to hitting the target. Defending was good until he drew the foul leading up to Alaves’ set-piece and didn’t mark Joselu. Finished with 93% pass completion, one dribble, three aerials won and four tackles.

Ferland Mendy —7.5: A few bright spots tonight in his performance. Great bursts of speed to get past defenders and into the box. Had a great scoring opportunity but not enough confidence and tried to lay it off to Benzema which didn’t work out. Finished with 95% pass completion rate.

Casemiro —8.5: Almost had terrible blunder in the opening seconds of the match. Redeemed himself instantly, though. Scored the opening goal and was crucial in maintaining possession. Finished with one dribble, three aerials won and one tackle. Textbook Case-hero.

Toni Kroos —9: On top of his game tonight — a classic Kroos performance if you will. Managed the midfield with ease alongside Modric and was able to find ways to breakthrough Alaves’ defence. Finished with two assists (a beautiful one to Hazard at that), 96% pass completion rate, two dribbles, two tackles and four key passes.

Luka Modric —8.5: Another senior player who showed his class tonight. Finished with 94% pass completion, one assist, two shots, two dribbles, one aerial won, three tackles and two key passes. Subbed off after 77 mins.

Marco Asensio —7: Less impact than he’s had in recent matches and very quiet tonight. Couldn’t get into the attack much but had good positioning and dropped back to help in defence at times (which is a personal improvement). Subbed off after 77 mins.

Karim Benzema —9: Another great performance from the No. 9. Very alert tonight and more involved with his teammates than in recent matches. Scored two brilliant goals worthy enough to be on La Liga’s highlight reel. Finished with four shots, three dribbles and one aerial won.

Eden Hazard —8.5: Finally seems to be getting out of his shell. Linked up well with both teammates in attack as well as the midfield. Finished with a cheeky goal, one assist, two shots, one dribble, one tackle and one key pass. Subbed after 63 mins.

Substitutes:

Vini Jr. —6.5: Came on for Hazard after 63 minutes. Tried to get into in the game but the team as a whole slowed down in the second half making it more difficult. Would really like to see him make the most of the minutes he gets. Finished with 92% pass completion and four dribbles.

Isco —6.5: Came on for Modric after 77 minutes (though he was the only senior midfield substitute). Didn’t add too much to the game.

Alvaro Odriozola —6: On for Asensio after 77 minutes and pushed Vazquez up top. Finished with a very low 67% pass completion rate. Needs to get back to his top form, and quickly, with Carvajal out.