Joan Garcia 7, Cubarsi 6 | Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid: Player Ratings

Joan Garcia 7, Cubarsi 6 | Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid: Player RatingsBarcelona hosted Real Madrid at the Spotify Camp Nou on Sunday night in a highly anticipated El Clasico, with Hansi Flick’s side looking to strengthen their position at the top of La Liga.The Catalans entered the encounter six points ahead of their biggest rivals, making the result particularly significant in the early stages of the title race.Hansi Flick named a starting XI along expected lines for the clash, with Pedri and Rodri returning as a pairing in midfield and Fermin Lopez replacing the injured Dani Olmo.Barcelona started the game as expected, seeing a lot of the ball, but Madrid grew into the game rather admirably.Jose Mourinho’s team kept getting better, and Madrid found the back of the net through Kylian Mbappe after an error from Gerard Martin.Kylian Mbappe and Gerard Martin were involved in a number of duels especially in the first half. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)Barcelona looked much better in the second half, slowly working their way through Madrid’s defensive block before finding the equaliser through Raphinha around the hour mark.The Catalans kept getting better and started peppering shots at Lunin’s goal. While they were not able to capitalise on their momentum, Madrid managed to score a goal against the run of play and secure the three points.Barca Universal brings you the player ratings from Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid.Joan Garcia: 7Joan Garcia continued from where he left off against PSG, looking extremely secure both in shot-stopping and while rushing off his line.He hardly put a foot wrong even in the second half and added a couple of impressive rushes off the line. Could not have done much about the first goal that he conceded, but should have held his position instead of rushing out for the second one on the night.Xavi Espart: 7Starting at right-back for the second successive game, Xavi looked very composed when defending against Yan Diomande. However, he took a heavy challenge from Aurelien Tchouameni and had to be taken off with a problem.Pau Cubarsi: 6Pau Cubarsi looked very solid from the beginning against Madrid. Early in the second half, he made an error that left his centre-back partner in a 2v1 situation.Cubarsi also got his timing all wrong in the lead-up to Madrid’s second goal and should have done better to cover Camavinga’s run.Gerard Martin: 6Gerard Martin was directly at fault for Madrid’s goal in the first half, clearing the ball straight into Kylian Mbappe’s path.Martin almost put Barcelona in the lead from a corner in the second half, only for Lunin to deny him with an acrobatic save.Joao Cancelo: 5Cancelo started the game at left-back and looked promising but had to switch over to the right after Espart’s injury. Diomande immediately caused him a lot of problems with his one-v-one ability.After moving to the right, the Portugal international could not offer much offensively or defensively and left a lot to be desired for the second game in a row.Lamine Yamal had a difficult game against Real Madrid. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)Rodri: 7Rodri did what he does best in midfield, keeping the ball moving and stepping in to cut out danger. While none of his actions on the pitch were headline-worthy, they kept Barça ticking, especially as the game wore on.Pedri: 6.5Pedri had a very poor first half by his own lofty standards. He struggled to control the game like he usually does and had quite a few uncharacteristically misplaced passes.The Canary Islander looked much better in possession in the second half, and it was his pass that led to Barça‘s equaliser around the hour mark.Fermin Lopez: 6Fermin started brightly in the first half, dropping deep and offering another midfield passing option. He could not do much to influence the game and was taken off for Frenkie de Jong in the second half.Lamine Yamal: 6.5Lamine Yamal had arguably Barcelona’s best chance of the first half but could not find the back of the net.He became much more involved in the second half and had a couple of impressive moments, notably a trivela pass that just evaded Raphinha and a long-range effort that just skimmed past the post.A very subdued game by his own lofty standards.Anthony Gordon: 5.5Gordon tried a lot of different things in the first half, some of which came off and some of which did not.An industrious performance from the Englishman, but yet another game in which he could have and should have done more to test Madrid’s goalkeeper. Got an undeserved yellow card late on before being taken off.Captain Raphinha scored an important equalizing goal for Barca. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)Raphinha: 7Raphinha had a couple of speculative efforts from distance in the first half but failed to test Lunin effectively.He kept drifting into pockets in the second half, trying to find room past a resolute Madrid back line. On one such occasion, Pedri found him expertly from a short corner and Raphinha found the back of the net to make it 1-1 for Barça.Not his greatest game in a Barça jersey, but he got an important goal.Alejandro Balde: 7.5Having not played much at all this season, Alejandro Balde was thrown in at the deep end in El Clasico after Espart got injured in the first half.The Spaniard grew into the game in the second half, making driving runs through the middle of the pitch and linking up well with Raphinha. He was one of Barça‘s better players on the pitch tonight.