2 goals, 5 key passes: Arda Guler puts in another MOTM performance for Real Madrid in Copa del Rey opener | OneFootball

Real Madrid opened their Copa del Rey campaign with a win over the Segunda Federacion side Deportivo Minera. With this victory, the Merengues have secured their qualification to the Round of 16 of the competition.

As would have been expected by most of the followers of these two teams, Los Blancos utterly dominated this game, even though Carlo Ancelotti had fielded only 2 of his regular starters, Federico Valverde and Eduardo Camavinga, in the starting lineup. The rest of the starting eleven was made up of substitutes or players called up from the youth teams.

Still, Real Madrid kept 66% possession of the ball, created 16 big chances, and took a whopping 33 shots in total, of which 21 were on target. 27 of these shots came from inside the box, while 6 came from the outside.

On the other hand, Minera were able to keep only 34% possession of the ball, and took 4 shots, of which only 1 was on target.

Several Merengue players stood out in this game, but the player who took the most advantage of this opportunity to play in a Copa del Rey game against a weak opposition was Arda Guler.

The Turk played the full 90 minutes in this game, and put in a Man of the Match performance by scoring 2 goals, one in each half. His first goal came in the 27th minute and was the third for his team after Valverde and Camavinga had already scored. Then he again scored the fifth and last goal for his side in the 88th minute.

Although he was unable to get an assist to his name in this game, he still was key in the buildup phase for Real Madrid, as he recorded an 86% passing success rate, completing 61 of his 71 passes, according to Sofascore statistics.

He also put in 5 key passes and created 3 big chances. His crossing was not as good, as he completed only 1 of his 3 attempted crosses, but successfully completed all of his 3 attempted long balls.

Similarly, he was also quite good with the ball at his feet, as he completed 3 of his 4 attempted dribbles. Guler won 7 of his 11 ground duels in this game, and also contributed well defensively with his 1 interception and 2 tackles.

However, he was still not at his best level, as he lost the ball 15 times in this game and missed 2 big chances.

But despite these weaknesses, this was a very good performance from the young forward, and Carlo Ancelotti will certainly be looking forward to seeing more of these performances from him in this second half of the season.