Goals from Fede Valverde and Marco Asensio in the last 12 minutes of the match helped Madrid secure an important victory away in Pamplona.
A tough away trip to Pamplona to the El Sadar stadium awaited Real Madrid in a Saturday night La Liga match.
Full match player ratings below:
Thibaut Courtois—8: Solid return to the line-up from big Thibaut. Made four saves in the match, three of which came inside the box including a vital save off of a Budimir back-heel flick.
Nacho—6: Played at right back and was pretty conservative going forward. Did a nice job defending Abde, but his wing often got overloaded with the presence of Manuel Sanchez, Moi Gomez, and Abde all congregating to Madrid’s right flank.
Eder Militao—7.5: Another very good performance from the Brazilian. Hit a a number of long diagonal passes over Osasuna’s backline to feed Vinicius on the break.
Toni Rudiger—6: Still a little slow to find the right pass in possession, but defensively put his body on the line to make a number of shot-blocks.
David Alaba—6: Not quite as impactful at left back as he tends to be from the center back position. Still managed to win all his 50/50 ground duels (2) and tried to be an inside option to give Vinicius more freedom on the wing.
Eduardo Camavinga—8: Sustained a heavy cleats-up challenge from Torro in the opening minutes which arguably should have seen red. Was clean in possession and finished with a team high of 3 tackles.
Dani Ceballos—6: One of his quieter performances in recent weeks. Tried to combine with Vinicius and Alaba down the left, but could never find the key to unlocking the Osasuna defense.
Luka Modric—6.5: Played the full 90 minutes and roamed all across the pitch. Provided the pre-assist to Vinicius on the Fede Valverde goal. Had a team high of 4 interceptions in midfield.
Fede Valverde—7.5: Opened the scoring in the 78th minute by connecting with Vini Jr’s outside of the boot pass to the penalty spot. The finish was more difficult then it looked as the pass was bouncing as it arrived. Wasn’t heavily involved in the match, but made the difference when it mattered,
Vinicius Junior—8.5: Was hunted and hounded, as is typical in La Liga, but didn’t stop running at the Osasuna defense. Completed a game high of 7 dribbles out of 12 attempted. Lacked the final ball in certain occasions, missing two big chances by trying to dribble the keeper, but overall a solid performance. It was Vinicius’ outside the boot pass to Fede which opened the scoring. Found the back of the net himself but was disallowed for an offsides call.
Rodrygo—6.5: Isolated in the first half, but managed to create two shot opportunities in the second half through his own individual brilliance.
Substitutions:
Marco Asensio—7: Scored the 2nd goal of the game with a well-taken finish after an Alvaro pass slotted him through on goal.
Alvaro—9: What more can you ask of a Canterano with only a few minutes to play? Managed two assists, one of which was disallowed. Refused to finish the match without his just rewards. Won a 50/50 duel high up the pitch before feeding Asensio with another unselfish pass.
Dani Carvajal—N/A: Finished out the match at right back for Nacho.
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