Any match between Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano at the Vallecas has the opportunity to be a classic, and this pre-Christmas battle between the local rivals proved to be no exception.
It looked like Real Madrid would be on the embarrassing side of a blowout after falling behind 2-0 early due to some grievous defensive errors, but two goals from out of nowhere changed the game, specifically another trademark bomb from the blue from midfielder Fede Valverde.
Real Madrid then would take a 3-2 lead after Rodrygo Goes scored a deflected goal from range, as the ersatz for an injured Kylian Mbappe and a resting Vinicius Junior proved to be vital in Real avoiding a loss.
That lead was short-lived, though, and as Vini Jr. and reinforcements came in late in the game with the score at 3-3, Rayo Vallecano held on for a signature draw at home against the biggest club in the league.
In the end, it’s more dropped points for Real Madrid and more questions left for Carlo Ancelotti to answer after another poor defensive performance and an attacking display that was worse than the three goals indicated. Because, in truth, Real were lucky to have even drawn this one.
Here are the player ratings.
GK Thibaut Courtois
Didn’t make any top saves until the very end on a surprise Florian Lejeune free kick but was good on the ball against the Rayo Vallecano press and could not be faulted for any of the three goals, which were all cases of his back four hanging him out to dry.
Rating: 6.0
LB Fran Garcia
Playing against his former employers where he was, for one season, arguably the best left back in LaLiga, Fran Garcia continued to show why there are serious questions about his future in Madrid and significant interest from the Royal Whites in a top left back like Alphonso Davies or Theo Hernandez.
Fran was far too slow to recover in transitions, and he struggled in one-on-ones, biting far too hard on fakes as former Real Madrid product Jorge de Frutos thoroughly cooked him on the opener.
Although Fran almost saved face with a winning assist late on, that excellent cross was the only positive moment from the left back on the ball, as Fran played far too scared, which doesn’t bode well for his future in Madrid as even a squad player.
He can be one of the best left backs in the league for a team competing in the Europa League range, but Real Madrid has always seemed like a step above what he is capable of. Sometimes, hard work isn’t enough.
Rating: 4.0
CB Antonio Rudiger
While Antonio Rudiger made a couple of nice defensive cut-outs in transition, his marking off the ball was woeful again, as he was either caught in no man’s land marking nobody on all three goals or simply lost sight of Isi Palazon on the third, failing to track the run at all.
That’s not good enough at the Real Madrid level, and, like Fran Garcia, Real Madrid fans need to be more critical of Rudiger and whether or not he is “Villarreal good” or “Real Madrid good”, because he continues to fail in taking on a proactive, leadership role in tracking defenders when Eder Militao is unavailable.
On the ball, Rudiger nearly gifted Rayo Vallecano an early goal, too, and he was lucky the linemsan missed his trailing foot clipping the Rayo defender just outside the box.
Rating: 4.0
CB Aurelien Tchouameni
I don’t understand Carlo Ancelotti’s praise of Aurelien Tchouameni in defense, and it is troubling to see what Carlo seems to value out of center backs, since he appears to be overrating how a player looks on the ball vs. the decisions they make off the ball in marking defenders and keeping a structure.
Tchouameni isn’t a center back. He never has been and he never will be, unless if he’s playing against a subpar LaLiga side that offers no attacking threat, which, obviously, Rayo Vallecano isn’t.
It was a farcical performance from the Frenchman, who made poor decisions on the ball with cross-field passes to a crowded middle on the condensed Rayo pitch and was even worse with his decision-making off the ball. He can’t play the position at even a low-tier LaLiga level, and it’s putting a huge amount of stress on the rest of his teammates, especially Lucas Vazquez at right back.
Rating: 3.0
RB Lucas Vazquez
Although he worked hard to drive the ball forward for Real Madrid, Lucas Vazquez didn’t make the most of his crossing opportunities. Defensively, he was caught out in the box a couple of times on headed goals, but, in fairness, he wasn’t helped by his center backs at all, who were far more culpable for the defensive errors. All told, Vazquez was far from the biggest problem for Real Madrid either offensively or defensively.
Rating: 5.5
CM Luka Modric
It was a fairly average performance from the veteran midfielder. Luka Modric covered the most ground of any Real Madrid midfielder but found it difficult to actually create anything of note, as he finished the match without any key passes or dribbles completed before being subbed off at around the 70-minute mark for Eduardo Camavinga.
Rating: 6.0
CM Fede Valverde
There’s no doubt that Fede Valverde’s rocket from 35 yards out changed the game, and there are only a handful of players who can consistently score those kinds of shots without it being a fluke; he’s really perfecting that outside swerving shot as a right-footer coming in from the right.
Outside of that goal, Fede defended intelligently in transition and played an underrated role in this game not coming apart at the seems. While he should have been involved more offensively and creatively, we can’t expect Fede to do absolutely everything in every single game.
Rating: 7.0
AM Jude Bellingham
Jude Bellingham added a sixth goal to his season tally in LaLiga and is a man on fire in the box, and he had to be since Real Madrid only really had Rodrygo Goes as a forward threat, forcing the England international to make a ton of runs in the box.
His goal was a brilliant header in which he fought past two players in the box to get the shot in, and he was always winning one-on-one battles with strength in the box, which, if Brahim and Arda Guler were better on this day, would have led to more opportunities for Real Madrid as a whole.
Rating: 7.0
LW Brahim Diaz
Taken off for Vinicius Junior at around the hour mark after a subdued performance. You could see Brahim trying to work with his teammates and link up with short passes, but the impetus wasn’t there from Brhaim to get more involved on the ball.
Rating: 5.0
CF Rodrygo Goes
Simply put, Real Madrid don’t win this game without Rodrygo Goes. His cross for the equalizer to Jude Bellingham was brilliant, and while the goal he scored was almost totally down to the luck of the deflection, Rodrygo still has to be praised for taking the shot on.
With Kylian Mbappe injured and Vinicius Junior starting the game from the bench, Rodrygo had to be the one to step up and take the initiative, especially with the Spanish media, once again, unfairly targeting him for criticism.
Rodrygo was the only player capable of making things happen on the ball in this game, winning four dribbles and creating three chances for his teammates. Out of anyone, Rodrygo deserves the most praise on Real Madrid despite the disappointing nature of the 3-3 result to Rayo.
Rating: 7.5
RW Arda Guler
A classic example of how deceiving basic statistics can be. Arda Guler had two assists, but both assists were lay-offs for distance shots that anyone could have made.
Guler had a poor game overall and was, by far, the weak link in the Real Madrid attack, and it may have been out of mere courtesy to the player that Carlo Ancelotti let him stay on the pitch as long as he did.
He took a goal from Jude Bellingham by not spotting where the England international was behind him in the box, and, later, he made two more fundamental errors.
The first was a poor crossfield pass that nearly led to a goal at the other end for Rayo Vallecano, and his second error was turning away from the box instead of crossing first-time, taking away a clear shooting opportunity just to dribble it more.
If Guler wants to play more minutes for Real Madrid, he needs to do more to help the team. Guler doesn’t release the ball quickly enough, is very poor off the ball with his movement to get open, almost never presses, and goes to ground far too easily. He was lucky not to have been booked for simulation on multiple occasions and was weak in the air on Rayo’s second.
There’s no doubt that Guler has prodigious talent, but there’s a reason why Ancelotti isn’t playing him. He needs players who do all the little things to win and make good decisions; Guler is nowhere near the rest of his teammates in that regard.
I know what I am saying sounds harsh, but it’s because I believe in Guler’s talent. If he is to get on the pitch and be all he can be at Madrid, he has to do all the other things that make someone a superstar which go beyond the social media highlight clips.
Rating: 4.0
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.