Real Madrid: 4 ways the defense can improve for the rest of the season

Raphael Varane playing at his best

Raphael Varane turned in a strong performance in his first game for France during the November international break, showing more composure than we’ve seen from the center back in any of his recent matches for Real Madrid.

Sergio Ramos’ partner started the season well enough, playing shutdown defense in clean sheets over Real Sociedad and Real Valladolid. Varane was good in El Clasico, too, intercepting two passes and registering seven clean sheets. On the topic of interceptions, he is Real Madrid’s leader in interceptions per game, according to WhoScored.com.

The problem is that Varane hasn’t been as consistent as Los Blancos need him to be. Varane needs to be playing to his standard as one of the world’s top three center backs, because Real lean on him and Ramos to lead the way defensively, especially since the offense simply doesn’t have the talent to play at the level a Real Madrid side is expected to. So, as we saw last season, the defense must step up that much more in order for Real to compete for titles.

Varane is still a great player, and there are a lot of fans who get way too critical of center backs. If a center back makes a mistake, he is not forgiven as easily as a striker missing a clear-cut chance.

But by the same token, a player of Varane’s caliber isn’t supposed to look as lost as he did against Shakhtar Donetsk without Ramos by his side. And a player of Varane’s caliber isn’t supposed to be as sloppy as he was at the Mestalla.

An in-form Varane, though, cures a lot of Real’s issues. He does not cure a lot of them, but he makes up for another player not being at his best or a key starter being out injured.