Player Ratings: Real Madrid 1 - 3 Barcelona; 2023 Spanish Super Cup Final

Real Madrid were destroyed by Barcelona 3-1 in the final of the Spanish Super Cup played in Saudi Arabia. The 2-goal deficit was kind to Madrid, as Thibaut Courtois made countless saves to try and keep his team in the match. In the end, Madrid failed to compete and have left a bad taste in the mouth of all Madrid supporters.

Full match player ratings below:

Thibaut Courtois—9: The saving grace of this Madrid side, without his saves how bad would the result have been? The scoreline would have been 4 or 5 in favor of Barcelona without the big Belgian.

Dani Carvajal—3: The 31-year-old was exposed by the speed of Balde and the clever positioning by Gavi. A really poor performance from the fullback.

Eder Militao—6: Over aggressive and rash in his decision to step out of the backline and try to win the ball on Barcelona’s 2nd goal. Aside from that mistake, battled well with Lewandowski.

Toni Rudiger—2: Disaster in the first half. Played a hospital pass to Camavinga that led to the first goal and nearly made the same exact mistake towards the end of the first 45. Have yet to see the progressive passing that he excelled with from that left center back position at Chelsea. Really struggled playing through Barca pressure.

Ferland Mendy—6: One of the few who played well — defended superbly 1 v1 against the electric Ousmane Dembele. Yet questions will continue to be asked of his offensive contribution and if he still remains a net-benefit on the field.

Eduardo Camavinga—4: Failed to properly cover-shadow Pedri with the Spaniard easily picking up the ball in the space behind Camavinga. Has not looked comfortable as an interior central midfielder in the last few matches.

Toni Kroos—3: The Toni Kroos lone-pivot experiment needs to end. The German defensive nous or tactical awareness to play in that role from an off-ball perspective. Failed to check his shoulder and track Pedri on the third Barcelona goal.

Luka Modric—4: Anonymous for most of the match — the De Jong, Busquets, Pedri, and Gavi midfield dominated.

Fede Valverde—4: Fede and Carvajal struggled to deal with Gavi and Balde’s positioning in the first half. Failed to bring the industry and line-breaking carries that normally accompany his performance.

Vinicius Junior—5: Just like last match, and just like the last few months, huffed and puffed and tried to make something happen, but the final pass, shot, and dribble just are not coming off. Feels like he lacks support, but also that he is failing to use the minimal support that he does have on the pitch.

Karim Benzema—6: Scored a consolation goal in the final seconds of the game. Had 5 shots total, 3 of which were on target. Nearly scored with a header in the first half after connecting with a Mendy cross. One of the lone chances of the first half.

Substitutions:

Rodrygo—6: Was a net positive and is at the point in his career, and given the current state of the team, where he should be starting.

Marco Asensio—7: Managed 2 key passes in his 18 minutes (more than any other Real Madrid player) and at least looked like he had the energy and effort to make a difference.

Dani Ceballos—5: Very poor cross-field pass that was intercepted and ultimately led to Barcelona’s third goal. After that mistake, improved in the match and finished with 2 key passes.

Nacho—4: Bombed a cross way out of bounds which summed up Madrid’s performance for the night.