Real Madrid captain Fede Valverde had a fantastic Clasico on Sunday night - as did most players, as he was able to pull off a masterclass at right-back, completely locking down both Alejandro Balde and Anthony Gordon.

He was insanely good in that position because he is a player who is extremely difficult to get past. In one vs one situations, Valverde is one of the best players in the world, and people need to realise that. One of the characteristics of playing as a full-back is the fact that you go up against one player most of the time.

There are more one-vs-one situations there than on any other area of the pitch. Combine that with Fede Valverde's pace, strength and defensive IQ, and you get yourself a perfect right-back.

Fede Valverde's future is at right-back, and he needs to realise this

Obviously, Valverde has always been a midfielder first. He was the engine of this Real Madrid team at one point, but fans have to realise that he will no longer be able to achieve that unless he has the right profiles around him.

When he last played incredibly well in midfield, he had a destroyer in Tchouameni and a brilliant controller in Toni Kroos around him. Now, with more responsibilities of things he is simply not capable of producing at a high level consistently, it was obvious that he would struggle.

However, because of the heirarchy, partly the player's ego, and the manager's reluctance to put Valverde where he'd be best for the team came in the way. It was a similar situation to Tchouameni, who also struggles to play good football unless he is alongside a player who can keep the ball for long stretches.

Valverde has to realise that this is the position where he shines the brightest. He is a duel-winning machine who just has such an obvious full-back build about him, that it makes no sense not to have him on that position. Real Madrid have a quality full-back in Trent Alexander-Arnold already, but if they have to make use of Valverde at any cost, they would have to put them on at right-back than play in midfield, because that is how he is able to provide the most value to this team.

A midfield of Valverde without a controller simply would not work, which is exactly why he needs to be playing in defense. Even if he is on the wing just in front of Trent, even that would be fine because of the quality he can provide on that side. However, in this midfield, it just does not work.