LaLiga 2018-19, Real Madrid 2-0 Valencia: 5 Hits and Flops

A night of under-par football eventually turned out to be a contest of fortunes, with Real Madrid prevailing over Valencia at the Bernabeu yesterday night.

The home side secured a 2-0 win over Valencia, thanks to an early own goal by Daniel Wass and a late strike by Lucas Vazquez.

The defending European Champions had lost their way in the ongoing LaLiga season big time.

Los Blancos finally had something going their way as Valencia defender Wass connected with a cross from Dani Carvajal, only for the ball to be fished out of his own team's goal net moments later.

Valencia then tried to stage a comeback, and at one point it even looked as if they may score one or two goals back.

But Santi Mina and Gabriel Paulista failed to capitalize on their glorious chances, while Gameiro's shot was too tame to create headaches for Thibaut Courtois. At the other end, Madrid failed to create impactful chances as well.

Late in the game, the hosts had a scare by Michy Batshuayi, but the Belgian's attempt was negotiated well by his national teammate Courtois.

Moments later, a fresh wave of counterattacking smartness by the hosts resulted in the ball finding the feet of Lucas Vazquez, who then prodded it into Valencia's goal to double the lead and ensure the win.

They are now placed fifth in the table, as Sevilla continues to lead the way in the No.1 spot.

Barring these moments mentioned above, there literally was a minimal amount of action in the contest. Madrid led in terms of numbers (goals, shots on target, possession, pass success, total shots, set pieces, etc.) but don't let those help them get away with the fact they won on Valencia's demerit more than any merit of their own.

Their defenders got complacent as the clock ticked on after half-time, and it was through some good luck that they did not concede.

Anyways, it's time to take a look at the best and worst performers from the night that was. Here we go then.

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#5 Hit: Lucas Vazquez (Real Madrid)

Vazquez had a great day on the field, playing for the full 90 minutes

After a flop show against Eibar, Santiago Solari may have been desperate to turn his fortunes around.

But that did not let him stay away from tweaking his starting lineup a bit, as Gareth Bale found himself at left wing, with the right wing now being occupied by Vazquez. And it paid off, with the latter scoring the goal that assured the Real Madrid win.

Vazquez had a great day on the field, playing for the full 90 minutes. While he made two shots out of which one went in, he also participated in the few scoring opportunities that were created by the hosts.

He finished the game with a pass success rate of 81%, including two key passes and four long balls.

Late in the first half, he skied a cross to Gareth Bale, who launched a powerful volley after collecting the ball and jinking to his left, but Valencia goalkeeper Neto got a hand in the way to save what would have been a fantastic goal for Bale and an assist for Vazquez.

#4 Flop: Daniel Wass (Valencia)

Wass had a game to forget

The man who gave away an early lead for the hosts with an own-goal. Even if that was considered as unwitting or unintentional, Wass had a poor run elsewhere in the game.

Just a lone tackle and another clearance complete his defense numbers, while he also had only 22 successful passes in his name.

Wass was eventually substituted for Geoffrey Kondogbia in the 68th minute, thus ending his disappointing performance in the game.

#3 Hit: Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid)

Carvajal was a constant threat Valencia

If Lucas Vazquez was Madrid's main man up front, it was Carvajal who coordinated most of their attacks and counterattacks, either from the flanks or right from their own box respectively.

In many situations, he was almost like a second right-winger to Vazquez. In fact, he was right there on both of Madrid's successfully converted goal opportunities.

If the first was a cross into Valencia's penalty box which found Daniel Wass' head and subsequently the top-corner of the net for an own goal, the second was in the 82nd minute, when Madrid's only successful counter-attack move of the day.

This began with Carvajal swiping a pass to Llorente, received it back and sped forward, eventually firing a cross to Benzema who shuffled with the ball for a while before putting it in Vazquez' way for him to score.

Overall, Carvajal played the whole game and even had a shot off target to his own name. His pass success was at a good 88%, making 69 passes in total - including 2 key passes and 2 long balls.

He was also successful in his primary role of defender, making 3 tackles, 1 interception in his own box and also blocking a shot.

#2 Flop: Santi Mina (Valencia)

Santi Mina wasn't able to get the job done for Valencia

Santi Mina was one of the visitors' men in charge of finishing attacks, and to be honest he did not fulfill the purpose well.

He did play on for 90 minutes, but he failed to impact the game - all he could muster was a lone shot all along. It was a terrific chance, but it wasn't converted well by the Spanish player.

In addition, he was also dispossessed thrice, caught offside once and lost control twice.

His pass success rate of 74% with 35 passes, and two successful dribbles speak well enough, but that cannot keep him away from comments on how he did not execute his main duty fair enough.

With Michy Batshuayi and Kevin Gameiro also a part of the side's attacking set up, Mina needs to step up his game to keep his place in the starting eleven.

#1 Flop: Kevin Gameiro (Valencia)

In the 72 minutes that the former Sevilla and Atletico man featured on the pitch, he managed just two shots, both off-target

Gameiro failed to meet any level of expectations that manager Marcelino Garcia may have had him. The Frenchman was fielded in the first XI while benching the "Batman" Batshuayi who was in glowing form in the latter half of the previous season with Borussia Dortmund.

In the 72 minutes that the former Sevilla and Atletico man featured on the pitch, he managed just two shots, both off-target.

He was dispossessed once and caught off-control three other times. He also found it hard to find other teammates and exchange the ball, as evident by his below-par pass success rate of 69% composed of a measly 13 completed passes.

He was substituted off in the 72nd minute for Michy Batshuayi, who announced his presence soon enough with a real chance that had the Madrid defence kneeling on all fours before Thibaut Courtois parried it wide.

It is evident that the Belgian striker will replace either Gameiro or Mina in the upcoming fixtures for Valencia.