Real Madrid: Ranking the five best No. 9’s in club history
4. Santillana
The fourth name on this list is occupied by the legendary Carlos Santillana. He belongs to a category of players who retired at Real Madrid, a list that doesn’t contain many names. He was signed by the club in 1971 after the legendary Paco Gento had left the club. His signing wasn’t planned, as the club president Santiago Bernabeu had to go to watch a match of Racing Santander to scout a defender. But instead, he chose to sign the striker of Racing, who was none other than Santillana.
What happened in Santillana’s life after signing for Real Madrid is simply history, as he went on to become one of the greatest strikers in the history of Real Madrid. He has spent seventeen years with Real Madrid while wearing theNo. 9 jersey, before retiring in 1988. And he retired as a club legend, as the 2nd highest goalscorer of the club then, just behind Alfredo Di Stefano.
In those 17 years, Santillana accumulated 645 caps for Real Madrid and scored 290 goals. he was popularly known for his attacking partnership with the then-No. 7, Juanito, and both of them won many matches together. In his senior career which he entirely spent at Real Madrid, Santillana won 9 LaLiga titles, 2 UEFA Cups, and 4 Spanish Cups.
He was known to be the man of comebacks, as he had played a crucial role in many comebacks of Real Madrid in the 1970s and 80s in Europe. At the end of his career, he couldn’t be a starter anymore with Hugo Sanchez’s signing, but he happily accepted the role of a second-choice player and asserted that a transition is very important for a club.
Santillana was a prolific goalscorer and considered to be one of the best in his position back then. He had the ability to finish with both his feet. But if there is one trait of his that separates him from the rest, it has to be his heading skills. He had the ability to jump high and get his head onto the end of a cross in perfect fashion. Whenever he made a leap, it looked like the man was making the jump in slow motion, and scoring headers like a Hollywood hero. He was such a good header of the ball.
It would’ve always been difficult to forget such a legend while making the list of best strikers in the history of Real Madrid.