Real Madrid: 3 things we have learned about the defense

Real Madrid have La Liga’s third-best defense, just barely ahead of Barcelona and Real Sociedad, who have both allowed 20 goals to Real’s 19. Atletico Madrid and Sevilla lead the pack, one year after Los Blancos allowed the fewest goals in all of Europe’s top five leagues.

What have we learned about the defense in the 2020-2021 season thus far?

Let’s take a look.

Raphael Varane is as good as we thought

Although Raphael Varane came under fire earlier this season for a couple of shaky performances and had serious issues with his passing accuracy playing out of the back, the French center back has since rebounded strongly.

Varane’s best performance came over the weekend at Huesca, in which he scored both goals in a 2-1 win. The man also cleaned up everything in sight defensively without Sergio Ramos by his side, and with the exception of one loss to Shakhtar Donetsk, Varane has responded well to the claims that he cannot lead from the back without Ramos starting.

For years, Madridistas have talked up Varane as one of the three best center backs in the world – if not the absolute best purely in terms of his defending ability. Varane has shown this season that he is worthy of that praise, especially in a season in which some of the traditionally-praised defenders have been either injured or less effective than expected.

There are games when Varane is the one man holding it all together. He has earned his due.