Ronaldo sees red, Fekir on fire: the player ratings you wanted to see from Wednesday’s Champions League action

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This evening’s Champions League fixtures featured some of the best players in European football. 

Both Manchester sides were in action tonight, with City facing Olympique Lyonnais and United travelling to Swiss side Young Boys.

With both sides considered favourites in their respective matches, things didn’t go to plan for the blue half of Manchester.

City lost 2-1 at home to Lyon and really didn’t provide a performance worthy of their talent. For United, two first-half goals from Paul Pogba helped secure a 3-0 victory to take back home to England.

These two matches weren’t the only two games to be played out tonight. The highlights include Real Madrid’s 3-0 win at home to AS Roma, a 2-0 10-man away victory for Juventus against Valencia and Bayern walking away from Portugal with three points, defeating Benfica 2-0.

Here are some player ratings from this evening, including the good, the bad and the simply supreme from this evening’s Uefa Champions League fixtures.

Manchester City

Bernardo Silva: 7/10 

Pushed into centre-midfield in the second half, Bernardo finally managed to contribute to City’s evening in the 67th minute. A run into the box by substitute Leroy Sane, the German picked out the midfielder who placed his shot into the back of the next, giving the hosts a lifeline.

Gabriel Jesus: 3/10

All in all, Jesus was ineffective, lacking in attacking threat and generally kept quiet all evening. He currently looks half the player we know him to be.

Olympique Lyonnais

Nabil Fekir: 8/10

It took 26 minutes for the forward to have an impact. Fekir whipped in a cross across the City box which made it’s way to Maxwel Cornet, who fired the ball past Ederson to put the visitors 1-o up. If that was good, what happened next was far better. Just outside the penalty area, he fired his shot into the bottom right corner of the goal, putting the French side 2-0 up. In a match that lacked a lot of true quality or star moments, Fekir stole the show.

Memphis Depay: 6/10

Played through one on one in the second half, it looked as though Memphis would come back to haunt his former rival. However, with pressure from Kyle Walker, his shot was touched onto the post by Ederson, keeping the scores at 2-0. A decent performance but he did nothing to steal the show from his classy teammate.

Maxwel Cornet: 7/10

Took his goal well after a Fabian Delph mistake. Looked lively all night and was a menace to the Manchester City defence. At just 21-years-old, Cornet is going to be some player.

Manchester United

Anthony Martial: 7/10

Not the most convincing display from the beloved forward. Often struggled to impose himself on the Young Boys defence and was mostly wasteful with the ball. Managed to (just about) seal the victory with a sloppy finish to cap off a superb counter-attack in the second half.

Diogo Dalot: 8/10

An absolute freight train of a display. Who knows if adrenaline and excitement lifted him, but whatever it was the Portuguese right-back was incredible on his United debut. He (mostly) defended with solidity and was powerful and precise in attack, full of intent and invention; Antonio Valencia better watch out!

Ajax

Frenkie de Jong: 8/10

There’s just no way a 21-year-old willowy midfielder should be able to play with this much assurance and quality at centre-back. De Jong was splendid against Athens, delivering a near-flawless display (and he made up for his major flaw anyway). Frenkie de Jong is the truth.

Real Madrid

Gareth Bale: 7/10

Gareth Bale had a solid but limited game; in a match that was largely dominated by Real Madrid more would have been expected from the Welshman. However saying that he took his goal well, created 2 solid chances and showed glimpses of danger when on the ball.

Karim Benzema: 6/10

The Frenchman joined in with Bale in a few nice pieces of link-up play, with it evident that the pair have benefitted from playing together more regularly. Benzema struggled to find any space behind a really strong and resolute Roma defence and was subbed in the 62nd minute.

Luka Modric: 9/10

All eyes were on Luka Modric after one of his competitors for the Balon d’Or was sent off and the other failed to score in their opening Champions League fixtures. The Croatian did not disappoint after an emphatic display. Modric controlled the midfield with class, dictating play, creating chances and even registering an assist for himself.

Juventus

Cristiano Ronaldo: 4/10

Cristiano Ronaldo’s night could not have gone much worse. Two poorly-struck efforts seemed to build a level of anxiety before an inch-perfect cross was somehow not converted by his teammates. His frustrations culminated in his first ever Champions League red card as a result of a bizarre altercation with Murillo, bringing him to tears.

Joao Cancelo: 8/10

With Ronaldo being sent off and Douglas Costa and Paulo Dybala on the bench, the burden of driving Juventus forward was left to their summer arrival, Joao Cancelo. Playing against his former club, the right-back provided the Old Lady with the attacking thrust they needed whilst leading his teammates in both tackles and interceptions.

The post Ronaldo sees red, Fekir on fire: the player ratings you wanted to see from Wednesday’s Champions League action appeared first on Squawka News.



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