2. Thibaut Courtois
Thibaut Courtois shook off the early-season criticisms and the concerns he was a doomed signing, winning over every single Madridistas with a tremendous 2019-2020 season. No keeper in La Liga allowed fewer goals per 90 minutes than Courtois, who tied for the league lead in clean sheets and was second in save percentage.
The raw numbers don’t fully do justice to Courtois, who made so many massive saves on counterattacks, memorably denying multiple wondergoals from Getafe in a 3-0 win that could have ended up being a 3-0 loss without his first-half heroics.
Courtois is back to being in the argument as the best keeper in the world, and it’s incredible to think he posted five clean sheets in all five games against Jan Oblak‘s Atletico Madrid and Marc Andre ter Stegen’s FC Barcelona.
1. Casemiro
Thibaut Courtois, Raphael Varane, and so many others had tremendous 2019-2020 seasons, but nobody can touch what Casemiro has done this year. From start to finish, Case was world-class, providing tireless defending and intervention after intervention.
A technically prolific player in defense who rarely gives up cheap fouls, Casemiro sees things develop before they actually happen and can mark top players, such as Lionel Messi, completely out of games.
Casemiro scored three goals with two assists, had more tackles than anyone in La Liga, and averaged 2.1 interceptions per game.
The best defensive midfielder in the game, Casemiro also did plenty to support attacks with his deep passing and runs near the top of the box. He is a wonderful player, and Real Madrid are lucky to have someone of his quality shielding the back four.