Player ratings: Real Madrid Castilla 1-2 Alcoyano

A frustrating afternoon at the Alfredo Di Stefano as Alcoyano came from behind to beat the hosts 2-1 in a brutal defensive display. It was a Segunda B clinic from Alcoyano who sat deep all game, used the “lenient” referee to go in heavy on Castilla’s key players and nicked two goals off Real Madrid mistakes. Raul’s team remain four points off the play-offs with Sunday’s evening matches still to play.

Here are the player ratings:

Toni Fuidas - 5.5: Alcoyano didn’t really throw much that scared him. He played out from the back well and then made a massive mistake that costs Castilla a point.

Sergio Santos - 6.5: Quite a mixed bag for Santos. He mixed bad giveaways and poor defending with some nice touches and contributing well to attacking buildup. By the time his assist for the first goal came around, he’d certainly been building confidence as a threat. Some consistency is lacking.

Mario Gila - 7.5: Castilla’s best defender, Gila had alot of work to do playing as the pivot of a three man backline and he was superb throughout. His one-on-one defending was really confident barring one unpunished slip up in the first half.

Pablo Ramon - 6.5: Found himself in some advanced positions, but didn’t do anything breathtaking. Really started coming into his own after Latasa’s goal which was cool to see.

Alvaro Carrillo - 6: I recall some nice passes in the first half but that’s about it.

Antonio Blanco - 7: One of the better Blanco matches I’ve seen. Mario Martin was certainly the more involved midfielder, but Blanco had enough possession to show off his superior technical skill and vision. Highlights the fact we aren’t learning anything about Blanco in this division.

Mario Martín - 8.5: Martín has been a mainstay in the midfielder for much of the year. His pedigree is well respected amongst people who watch the team closer than I do, but he’d failed to wow me until this game. He only turned 18 a month ago and I was really impressed by his strength in possession and how effectively he stretched the game with his passing.

Sergio Arribas - 7.5: Similar to Blanco in the sense there isn’t anything new to report. Arribas is an infectious, fun player to watch but his talents do look increasingly wasted at this level. Immense credit should be given to his motivation to keep impressing even if this year looks like a setback for him personally.

Oscar Aranda - 6: Quiet game for Aranda’s standards. He was well marked so perhaps the scouting report is out on him.

Peter Federico - 7.5: Raul has experimented with Peter as a wing back alongside his usual role as a winger. It’s made the teenager a little more defensively aware, though that side of his game is a real work in progress. He impressed up front today and had his marker chasing shadows before completely losing his man for the Alcoyano equalizer from a corner.

I can’t criticize him too much because it’s a role he’s being asked to learn, not what that is really required given his attacking talents. Even with that, I don’t know why he was played at the near post to begin with.

Juan Latasa - 7.5: The match needed some magic and Latasa duly provided with his goal. Alcoyano really struggled with him in the air and the physical match they were trying to play out of possession didn’t really work on a player of Latasa’s stature.

Substitutes

Alberto Retuerta - 6: Silently came on after Latasa’s goal to shore up the left hand side and played out that role quite well until those critical closing minutes.

Vinicius Tobias -N/A: Made his debut off the bench for the final 10 minutes of the game.

Theo Zidane-N/A: Played the last 10 minutes.