Player ratings are one thing, but Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola will be grateful that manager ratings aren’t a regular feature on sites likes ours after his performance in City’s 3-0 loss to Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in a UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg on Wednesday.
Facing an undermanned Real side who were not able to feature Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham, Eder Militao or Rodrygo, City found the game all but done at halftime as Federico Valverde dialed up a first-half hat trick.
**MORE —** [Real Madrid v Man City recap, video highlights](https://www.nbcsports.com/soccer/news/real-madrid-vs-manchester-city-champions-league-live-updates-score-highlights-stats-watch)
Valverde’s success in large part came at the expense of Nico O’Reilly, who had been thriving in the midfield but was overwhelmed when dropped into left back ahead of Rayan Ait-Nouri.
Starting further up the field was Savinho, who was also quiet as Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki waited on the bench and O’Reilly labored behind him.
Credit to Real Madrid, for sure, but if City cannot deliver an historic second leg in Manchester, their legendary manager will again be accused of being too cute in a big game.
Real Madrid vs Manchester City player ratings
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**Thibaut Courtois: 9 —** Recorded an assist, was excellent with the ball at his feet, and made an important second-half save to keep the advantage at three goals.
**Ferland Mendy: 7 —** A solid half on the flank.
**Dean Huijsen: 6.5 —** Didn’t do much wrong.
**Antonio Rudiger: 8 —** A commanding performance at center back including a first-half block and a magnificent intervention to deny Erling Haaland a second-half tap-in. Tied with Valverde for the game-high in defensive contributions with eight.
**Trent Alexander-Arnold: 6.5 —** A familiar day of looking excellent with the ball and a bit dicey when targeted by the attack.
**Federico Valverde: 9.5 —** A sensational first half and near-perfect game with three goals. His eight defensive contributions were crucial yet somehow an afterthought as he delivered a Mo Salah-like performance driving the right side.
.**Thiago Pitarch: 6.5 —** The teen was very good with the ball, although he looked like a teen in a few 50/50 situations.
**Aurelien Tchouameni: 7 —** Hardly put a foot wrong with the ball and fouled when necessary against City’s attackers.
**Arda Guler: 7.5 —** The Turkish star just keeps getting better, as his maturity level keeps growing toward his intensity level.
**Brahim Diaz: 6.5 —** Good assist on an otherwise quiet day.
**Vinicius Junior: 6.5 —** Won a penalty with a clever dive and saw the effort karmically captured by Donnarumma. Worked himself into a few dangerous shooting positions but never found his cutting edge with the proceeds.
**Subs**
**Fran Garcia** (on for Mendy at HT)**: 7.5 —** A feather in the cap of Arbeloa was his halftime introduction of Garcia for Mendy.
**Eduardo Camavinga** (on for Guler 70')**: 7**
**Manuel Angel** (on for Pitarch 76')**: N/A**
**Franco Mastantuono** (on for Pitarch 76'**: N/A**
**Daniel Carvajal** (on for Alexander-Arnold 83')**: N/A**
Manchester City player ratings at Real Madrid
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**Gianluigi Donnarumma: 6 —** Faced 4.05 xG and came up with four saves as City did him few favors. The penalty concession to Vini Jr was poor — even if won with acting — but saving said penalty keeps City barely in the tie.
**Nico O’Reilly: 4 —** Roasted by Valverde to again remind everyone (except perhaps Guardiola) that he’s not capable of playing left back against a team that knows how to attack.
**Marc Guehi: 5 —** Good with the ball but struggled to deal with the challenges that came from O’Reilly at fullback.
**Ruben Dias: 6.5 —** Made a few exceptional interventions but hard to deliver too high of a grade to a team that falls 3-0.
**Abdukodir Khusanov: 7 —** Very good with the ball and his energy level helped City reestablish its footing a few times. His start instead of Matheus Nunes was a risk that didn’t hurt City.
**Rodri: 7 —** Certainly wasn’t the reason City lost, as he again broke up a number of Real chances in the middle of the park.
**Savinho: 6 —** Lifted at halftime following an ineffective half.
**Bernardo Silva: 7 —** Ran his shorts off to help Rodri in the midfield and created a few chances.
**Jeremy Doku: 7.5 —** Can’t give him too high of a figure given the zero on City’s scoreboard but Doku did his job in forcing Real to defend loads of 1v1 challenges and winning most of them.
**Antoine Semenyo: 6 —** Put a few shots on goal but could not find the space needed to dial up a real dangerous effort.
**Erling Haaland: 4.5 —** Had 10 touches in the 67th minute and... still had 10 when Guardiola hooked him in the 80th minute. Denied a second-half tap-in goal by Rudiger’s sliding deflection.
**Subs**
**Tijjani Reijnders** (on for Mendy at HT)**: 6**
**Rayan Ait-Nouri** (on for Guler 70')**: 6**
**Rayan Cherki** (on for Pitarch 76')**: 6.5**
**Omar Marmoush** (on for Haaland 82)’**: N/A**