Thibaut Courtois: 8.
Made four saves and came up big late on, when Real Madrid were down to 10 men and Villarreal were pushing for an equalizer.Trent Alexander-Arnold: 7. Played some incredible passes over the top to Mbappé. Less convincing defensively, despite not being tested particularly often.
Ibrahima Konaté: 6.5. His passing was poor at times, but he did a good job clearing crosses.
Antonio Rüdiger: 7.5. A throwback Rüdiger performance. Finished with eight clearances and commanded the defensive
line impressively.
Álvaro Carreras: 5. Struggled defensively and played two particularly poor passes that could have proved costly. His best moment was a first-time cutback to Mbappé that nearly produced an assist, but he was substituted at half-time.
Fede Valverde: 8. Was fine in the double pivot, but looked most dangerous when he swapped positions with Arda Güler and attacked down the right flank. Moved to right-back in the second half, where he really came alive and provided the crucial assist for Yan Diomande’s winner.
Aurélien Tchouaméni: 7. Distributed the ball well and put in some strong challenges.
Arda Güler: 8.5. Real Madrid’s brightest performer. Was the team’s best player in the first half and continued to progress the ball vertically with conviction throughout the game. Finished with the most progressive passes of any player.
Jude Bellingham: 7. Very unlucky not to register an assist when Vinícius’s goal was disallowed. His run to create the chance was brilliant. Strong defensively as always, though perhaps quieter than usual overall.
Yan Diomande: 7.5. Made some good runs but struggled to get past Freeman. Still, he delivered the decisive moment, scoring the game’s only goal.
Kylian Mbappé: 6.5. Showed some good link-up play and dribbling, but his finishing was below the level required. Had two clear chances: one hit the post, while the other went begging after Vinícius sent him through on goal.
Substitutes
Marc Cucurella: 7.5. Probably his best performance of the season. Came on at half-time and finished with more tackles than anyone else on the team.
Vinícius Jr.: 6. A bizarre performance, and an incredibly difficult one to grade. Was outstanding as a spark off the bench, lifting the crowd and creating chances. He even scored — only for the goal to be disallowed after a VAR review identified a red-card offence for pulling Nathan Saliba’s hair. All that good work was overshadowed by a dismissal that left Real Madrid trying to protect their lead with 10 men.
Eduardo Camavinga: 6.5. Had limited influence on the ball, with most of his time on the field spent defending. Also shifted across to the left to help Cucurella.
Denzel Dumfries: N/A.
