Pepe
With Raphael Varane back to full fitness, Pepe needed to deliver a good performance in order to keep his place in the starting lineup intact but unfortunately, the Portuguese star did just the opposite against Valencia.
Looking very shaky as well as clumsy, Pepe made a host of poor decisions throughout the game and was at fault for allowing Paco Alcacer to grab the equalizer late into the game.
While the 33-year old did look impressive with deliveries into the box, he simply did not exude confidence from the back and it would not be a surprise if the veteran is replaced by Varane in the upcoming game against Deportivo.
Danilo
Much like Pepe, even Danilo needed to perform well in order to keep his place in the starting lineup as Dani Carvajal is close to returning to full fitness but the Brazilian instead delivered a poor display on the night.
Caught out on far too many occasions defensively, Danilo did not offer much going forward as well and it was certainly a performance which the 24-year old would want to forget about as soon as possible.
Mateo Kovacic
A surprise inclusion in the starting lineup ahead of James Rodriguez, Mateo Kovacic was arguably selected by Rafael Benitez to provide more solidity to the Madrid midfield line in order to deal with the likes of Dani Parejo and André Gomes.
While Kovacic did put in a decent performance during his 68 minutes on the pitch, the Croatian youngster’s over exuberance led to a reckless challenge on Cancelo – which deservedly earned him a red card.
The sending off meant that Madrid were put under the back foot when they were on top and arguably cost Los Blancos a chance of claiming all three points on the night.
