Please also see my All-Time World Cup Team Index
Real Madrid is the most successful club in soccer's history. They have won more titles in Europe than any other clubs. Of course, their players were among the greatest of all-time. This post is about my Top 10 ranking of greatest centerbacks in Real Madrid's history. But every fan has their favourites and opinions. The ranking is extremely subjective. Some player played in multi-positions. Sometimes, people would even argue about the position of each player considered.
1st: Sergio Ramos (Spain)
Sergio Ramos is a part of the all-conquering Spanish team that won the 2010 World Cup and two European Championships in 2008 and 2012. He is the youngest player ever to receive his 100th caps. He joined Real Madrid as a teenager from Sevilla. He scored the tying goal as Real Madrid won their 10th European Cup in 2014. He also won his second Champions' League title by scoring a goal in the 2016 Final. In 2018, he won his fourth Champions League Cup with Real Madrid..
2nd: Jose Santamaria (Uruguay)
Jose Santamaria was a member of Real Madrid's all-conquering team of the late 1950's. He spent his 18-year career with Nacional and Real Madrid, winning 17 major titles the two teams combined, including four European Cups with the latter. He was considered one of the best ever center-backs. He played for Uruguay at the 1954 World Cup Finals, but played for Spain 4 years later in 1958.
Sergio Ramos is a part of the all-conquering Spanish team that won the 2010 World Cup and two European Championships in 2008 and 2012. He is the youngest player ever to receive his 100th caps. He joined Real Madrid as a teenager from Sevilla. He scored the tying goal as Real Madrid won their 10th European Cup in 2014. He also won his second Champions' League title by scoring a goal in the 2016 Final. In 2018, he won his fourth Champions League Cup with Real Madrid..
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| Sergio Ramos |
Jose Santamaria was a member of Real Madrid's all-conquering team of the late 1950's. He spent his 18-year career with Nacional and Real Madrid, winning 17 major titles the two teams combined, including four European Cups with the latter. He was considered one of the best ever center-backs. He played for Uruguay at the 1954 World Cup Finals, but played for Spain 4 years later in 1958.
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| Jose Santamaria |
Fernando Hierro is considered to be Spain's greatest defenders. At one point, he was Spain's all-time leading scorer even through he played as a defensive player. He was capped 90 times for Spain, whilst appearing in four World Cups: 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002 and two European Championships: 1996 and 2000. For Real Madrid, he won three Champions' League titles and 5 La Liga titles. He also played for Real Valladolid, Bolton Wanderers and Al-Rayyan SC.
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| Fernando Hierro |
Manuel Sanchis Hontiyuelo is the son of Manuel Sanchez Martinez, another all-time great with Real Madrid. He was was a member of the legendary Quinta del Buitre of Real Madrid. He spent his entire career with Real Madrid and played over 700 matches. He won back-to-back UEFA in the mid-1980's, and then, two Champions' league title at the end of his career. For Spain, he was capped 48 times.
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| Manuel Sanchis Hontiyuelo |
Born in 1905, Jacinto Quincoces was one of the greatest defenders of the pre-war era. He played for Deportivo Alavés from 1920 to 1931. From 1931 to 1942, he played for Real Madrid, where he won the first ever title for Real Madrid in 1930. He was widely considered one of the first soccer idols in Spain. He played 25 times for Spain and went to the World Cup Finals in 1934 playing with goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora.
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| Jacinto Quincoces |
Felix Quesada spent his entire career from 1922 to 1936 with Real Madrid. he made his first team debut before he turned 20. He became captain in the period between 1928 and 1935. Together with Ricardo Zamora, Ciriaco Errasti and Jacinto Quincoces among others, he was key players of the team that won the club's first two league championships in 1932 and 1933. He played 9 times for Spain.
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| Felix Quesada |
Born in Brazil, Pepe moved to Portugal playing for Maritimo. In 2004, he moved to Porto while he established himself as one of the best defender in Portugal. In 2007, he earned a dream move to Real Madrid. At the time of writing, he won two Champions' league with them. Although born in Brazil, he chose to represent Portugal. At Euro 2016, he emerged as one of Portugal's best player as Portugal won their first ever international trophy. He earned the Man of the Match in the Final against France.
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| Pepe |
8th Pedro de Felipe (Spain)
Pedro de Felipe arrived at Real Madrid in 1964 at the age of 20, from Rayo Vallecano. He left the club in 1972 and playing a further six top-level seasons with RCD Español. He was a member of the 1966 European Cup winning team. He also won 5 La Liga titles. He was considered to be a member of the Ye-Ye team. In 1973, he earned his only cap for Spain in a 0–0 friendly draw to Turkey.
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| Pedro de Felipe |
Goyo Benito signed for Real Madrid in 1963, aged nearly 17. After two years on loan to neighbouring Rayo Vallecano, in Segunda División. He returned to his main club, remaining there for the following 14 seasons and winning six leagues and five Spanish Cups. He belonged to the generation of players that succeeded the Real Madrid yeyé team. Benito earned 22 caps for Spain between 1971 and 1978.
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| Goyo Benito |
Varane started with Lens. After one season with the French club, as a professional footballer, Varane joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2011. With Real Madrid, he won 3 Champions League in 4 years. In 2012, he made his international debut. He went to the World Cup Finals in 2014, where he was nominated as the Young Player of the Tournament. He missed the 2016 European Championship through an injury.
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| Raphaël Varane |
Ciriaco Errasti, Joaquín Oliva, Iván Helguera, Ivan Campo, Maceda, Fabio Cannavaro, Nacho, Ricardo Carvalho, Oscar Ruggeri.
Ranking Explanation
-- Sergio Ramos as number one is controversial. He is a connection between the Galacticos and the 2014 to 2018 team that won four Champions' League titles. In 2014, he saved Real Madrid at the brink of defeat against Atletico Madrid by scoring a last minute goal. Then, he captained the team to win three straight titles.
-- Real Madrid bought Sergio Ramos from Sevilla to play as a centerback. He spent roughy two seasons as a centerback before switching to rightback in 2007. His first spell as a centerback was alarming. During the 2010-2011 season, he moved back to the centerback position, where he became a legend with the club. I probably placed him as the 5th on Real Madrid's greatest rightback blog if I considered him, but I decided not to rank him there. He also won a World Cup with Spain as a rightback.
-- Jose Santamaria (Uruguay) had been the usual selection as the greatest central defender for Real Madrid. His legendary status came from playing with Alfredo Di Stefano's team.-- Fernando Hierro scored over 100 goals for the club, but he often played as a midfielder. He was also the regular penalty kicker.
-- After the departure of Hierro in 2003, Real Madrid went through a dark age of central defenders. Many players failed over here. Francisco Pavón was considered to be his first replacement. Walter Samuel did not play well. His style did not fit La Liga. He left only after a single season. Christoph Metzelder and Jonathan Woodgate had lengthy injury records.
-- Woodgate spent a season out injured before he made his debut in September, 2005 in a league match against Athletic Bilbao. The game did not go well for him, as he scored an own goal and was later sent off for a second bookable offence. It was one of the worst debut of professional footballer in Real Madrid.
-- In his first tenure in the early 2000s, Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez practiced a policy that was redubbed as "Zidanes y Pavones", with the name deriving from Zidane and Francisco Pavón. The idea was to sign one major superstar per year, and promote youth players sporadically. Pavon played well in the 2002-2003 season while Hierro was injured, but he failed to live up to expectations after Hierro left in the summer of 2003.
-- Pepe joined the club in 2009. He was probably the most underrated defender in Europe. At one point, he was benched by Jose Mourinho because of the emerge of Raphaël Varane, but he quickly regained his position under Carlo Ancelotti.
-- Manuel Sanchis Hontiyuelo spent his entire career with Real Madrid and played over 700 matches. I ranked 5th his father Real Madrid's greatest leftbacks.
-- Felix Quesada's position was probably central defence. The tactics and formation back were different.
-- Pedro De Felipe belonged to the ‘Yeyé’ team, a generation of footballers who helped Real Madrid to dominate the Spanish football and won the 1966 European Cup. He also had the difficult task of replacing Jose Santamaria (Uruguay).
-- Goyo Benito also belonged to yeyé team.
-- Raphaël Varane spent 10 seasons with Real Madrid. He won many titles with the club. He was somehow underrated by many Madridistas. He started his career strongly. As a teenager, he outpaced Lionel Messi in a game that made him the talk of European football. However, he later fell behind Pepe in the pecking order. Nevertheless, he was very decorated over here. He was a member of the UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2017–18. The other candidates cannot match his accomplishments, and the length of his career here is also long enough.
-- I could not decide between Joaquín Oliva and Raphaël Varane.
-- Iván Helguera played in an era when Real Madrid was infamous for their central defenders. He was mistake prone. Raul Bravo also played around the same time.
-- Maceda's career was cut short because of injuries. He never settled down.
-- Nacho served mainly as a backup to Sergio Ramos, Pepe and Raphaël Varane. Raúl Albiol also had similar roles. They were great servants to the club.
-- Fabio Cannavaro won Ballon d'or while he was a member of the team, but he won the award because of his performance with Italy in the 2006 World Cup Finals. His first two seasons in Madrid were solid, but he struggled in his last. I seriously considered giving him the 10th spot over Raphaël Varane.
-- Aitor Karanka's career here was cut short due to pericarditis (heart ailment). He was better known as Jose Mourinho's assistant coach between 2010 and 2013.
-- People forgot that Oscar Ruggeri actually played for Real Madrid. With Logroñés, he won the best foreign player in La Liga for the season 1988-1989 before he joined Real Madrid in the summer of 1989. He spent only a season here. The newly appointed manager John Toshack sold him when he joined the club.
-- Ricardo Carvalho spent three seasons here, but he did not play much in his last two seasons. He was mainly out injured.
My personal top-10
ReplyDelete1. Ramos
2. Hierro
3. Santamaría
4. Sanchís
5. Pepe
6, Varane
7. Quincoces
8. Maceda
9. Benito
10. De Felipe
Can't ever compare Ramos to Hierro, that's preposterous.
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