Real Madrid: Grading every center back from the 2020-2021 season

CB Raphael Varane

If this is the final year we get to see the legendary pairing of Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane together at Real Madrid, then Madridistas were totally robbed of seeing this duo at its best because of injuries and COVID-19.

Varane featured in 31 league games for Los Blancos, all told, but he also missed significant time down the stretch of the 2020-2021 season. Eder Militao’s breakout kind of made fans forget about Varane, and, in all honesty, I think his contributions were taken for granted this season.

Sometimes Varane gets blamed for issues that aren’t even his fault. When the midfield gets exposed on a counter or someone else makes a mistake defensively, Varane has the intelligence and recovery speed to be in the vicinity to make a play. Often, he’ll come to the rescue, but if he can’t quite make the block in time, he gets scapegoated by reactionary fans who do not examine how the full play developed.

In that sense, Varane is almost a victim of his own greatness, because he’s always there to be in position to make a play, even if he should, in theory, be nowhere near the action.

Varane didn’t have a perfect season, given a patch of play in which he had some really nervy moments on the ball. A 2-0 win over Granada comes to mind here.

But Varane had a very good season. Real Madrid fans will miss him, even if they don’t quite realize that fact just yet.

Rating: 7.0