Football Features

    Player Ratings for PSG 3-0 Real Madrid: The Angel of Death comes for Zidane’s Los Blancos

    By Muhammad Butt

    Published: 22:03, 18 September 2019

    In a stunning night of football, PSG eviscerated Real Madrid 3-0.

    With Neymar, Kylian Mbappé and Edinson Cavani watching on, the Parisians were the dominant side from first whistle to last in a thrillingly complete performance in the French capital. Here’s how the players rated at the Parc des Princes:

    PSG

    Keylor Navas – 6 – Got a nice bit of revenge on the club who replaced him, but didn’t have to make a single save.

    Thomas Meunier – 7 – Worked hard to handle Eden Hazard and provide a constant attacking outlet. Scored a sumptuous third goal after a brilliant counter-attack right at the death.

    Thiago Silva – 6 – A solid display at the back. Dealt with what little Madrid could muster with ease.

    Presnel Kimpembe – 6 – Rusty at first but grew into the game.

    Juan Bernat – 8 – A lovely run and cross for both the opening and closing goals. Was a constant outlet down the left.

    Marquinhos – 7 – Shut down Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez. In midfield. No, seriously.

    Idrissa Gueye – 9 – Set an absolutely relentless tempo. Tackled, dribbled, passed… covered every blade of grass from the first whistle to the last. The most dominant midfielder on the pitch.

    Marco Verratti – 8 – In a sea of space and cruised through the game at half-speed. Some delicious passes and movement.

    Pablo Sarabia – 7 – A fine evening’s work. Lacked a touch of sharpness in the final third but still performed well.

    Angel Di Maria – 9 – The best player on the park. The Argentine relished ripping his old team to pieces. A superb run and finish to give PSG the lead and a thunderous strike to double it. Incredibly energetic and should have had a hat-trick. The Angel of Death came for Zinedine Zidane and Florentino Perez tonight.

    Mauro Icardi – 7 – Delightful flick in the build-up for the opening goal. Battled well against Madrid’s defenders for an hour.

    Substitutes:

    Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting (for Icardi 60′) – 5 – Long on effort, short on quality.

    Ander Herrera (for Marquinhos 70′) – 5 – Came on and kept it tidy.

    Abdou Diallo (for Sarabia 89′) – n/a – n/a

    Subscribe to Squawka’s Youtube channel here.

    Real Madrid

    Thibaut Courtois – 4 – Twice beaten at his near-post. Looks a shadow of his former self.

    Dani Carvajal – 5 – Couldn’t do anything to impede PSG’s advancements down his flank.

    Raphael Varane – 5 – A solid enough performance as he had to be a one-man defence, ended up causing PSG’s third as a result.

    Eder Militao – 4 – Slow to close Di Maria down for both goals. Nowhere to be seen for the third.

    Ferland Mendy – 5 – Ran hard but did little with the ball.

    Casemiro – 5 – Not short on effort (is he ever?) but looked a yard short on quality.

    Toni Kroos – 4 – Looked absolutely lost. Couldn’t get his passing going. Got out-played by a centre-back. Mugged off by a full-back for PSG’s third and final goal. A horrorshow.

    James Rodriguez – 5 – Had moments of incision and quality but they were too few and far between. Couldn’t get a grip on the game.

    Gareth Bale – 6 – A superb performance. Constantly drove Madrid forward with absolutely no support and had most of their best chances. Scored a stunning goal but had it ruled out for offside. Subbed off after a second half vanishing act.

    Eden Hazard – 4 – Nothing he tried worked, and he didn’t really try all that much. Withdrawn with 20 minutes left despite Madrid trailing and Los Blancos got considerably better once he was gone.

    Karim Benzema – 5 – Completely isolated for 70 minutes. Came to life once the formation changed. One half-decent chance he got was buried; but ruled out for an offside, the second was headed just wide.

    Substitutes:

    Lucas Vázquez (for Hazard 70′) – 5 – Threw up a screen to allow Karim Benzema to score, but did so from an offside position, causing the goal to be ruled out for offside. Whoops.

    Luka Jovic (for James 70′) – 5 – Did nothing beyond structurally allowing Benzema some freedom.

    Vinicius Junior (for Bale ) – n/a – Committed a rash tackle. That’s about it.

    Previous Article

    Club Brugge 0-0 Galatasaray: Cosmopolitan Galatasaray fail to live up...

    Next Article

    Shakhtar 0-3 Manchester City: How Pep's patchwork defence passed their...

    Related Articles

    Show More