:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/31726711/485124273.0.jpg)
Iker Casillas: A On Barça's best chances, he wasn't able to do a thing and wasn't required to pull one of his fantastic saves. Did his job the best he could.
Dani Carvajal: B Shaky in coverage and easily distracted, it wasn't a great first half for him. Fortunately for him, the second half was a lot better, as he was able to attack a lot more.
Pepe: B- He was perfect until that goal by Bartra. He got lost for a second and left Barcelona's defender enough space to comfortably head the ball. Like Carvajal, he could've been better on that play where Neymar hit the post.
Sergio Ramos: A Ramos has rarely been better than Pepe this year, but tonight, he was simply brilliant. Very clean game for him, constantly limiting Barcelona (and their horrendous acting) and clearing the ball on time.
Fábio Coentrao: A Really solid covering that left side. In the second half, he advanced a few meters and started recovering on Barcelona's territory. The only play where Barcelona got past him was on a two-on-one chance.
Xabi Alonso: A He was mostly focused on limiting Barça's chances at the edge of their own box, constantly following Messi and Fábregas and converting them into non-factors tonight. As usual, his recovering skills were extremely helpful.
Luka Modric: A Like Alonso, he held Barcelona's creative players and never gave them any freedom to do anything. In the second half he touched the ball a lot more and started setting up some good counters. He drove a disgraceful Dani Alves crazy in the end, showing his true colours, which is always a plus.
Isco: A+ Fantastic game for #23. Recovered the ball and started the counter that ended in the 1-0 and never dropped that intensity. Spectacular job by him, constantly stealing the ball in pretty much every part of the field. As usual, when he had the ball, he offered great ideas and clarity to his teammates. One of Real's best players tonight.
Ángel Di María: A+ El Fideo delivered yet another marvelous performance. Scored the first goal of the night on a fantastic counter and was, by far, the best player on the pitch in the first half. He was everywhere all night long and set up lots of fantastic chances for his teammates. What a night for the Argentine.
Gareth Bale: A++ Looked really dangerous all night long, with several good shots and even scored a goal that was disallowed by the ref (the replay doesn't show a foul or an offside). In the end he scored a goal for the ages, with a fantastic gallop that broke Marc Bartra. The guy that has struggling with a hernia (LOL) just did more than Messi and Neymar combined. Gareth has been criticised to death, including idiotic comments from 'Tata' Martino and the Barcelona media, but he has finally silenced his critics giving Madrid the Copa del Rey with one epic goal. Man of the match.
Karim Benzema: A His assist on the 1-0 was absolutely ridiculous and he showed his signature class over and over. He covered a lot of ground tonight and also helped on recovery tasks. His passing is nothing short of terrific but sadly he couldn't score. He came close though, and even hit the post.
Carlo Ancelotti: A He decided to go with a 4-4-2 formation that worked wonders for him. His men had a lot of chances to easily make it 3-0 but they just couldn't capitalize. The system worked, as Barcelona's top players could barely generate any danger. The lineup was also the right one. The eyebrow finally gets a break.
Asier Illarramendi (86' - Di María): B+ Like the rest of the subs, he mainly helped ice the game and helped clear a couple dangerous passes in the end.
Casemiro (88' - Isco): - He didn't have enough time to make an impact but did make it even harder for Barcelona to find open spaces.
Raphael Varane (89' - Karim Benzema): - Like Casemiro, he didn't have a lot of time to prove his worth.