Real Madrid: 5 burning questions from a 2-1 win over Elche

Did Real Madrid get better at center back?

I am going to take the cowardly stance and not directly answer this question, but there’s a hot take for someone who wants to claim that Eder Militao and David Alaba is a better center back duo than Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane in the year 2021.

It would be a reach to try and compare Militao and Alaba to peak Ramos and Varane, who won Champions League after Champions League together and made defending elite forwards look like child’s play. They were great on an all-time scale.

But right now, Ramos is having trouble getting healthy. Varane is playing well for a poorly-managed Manchester United, but I have a hard time stating that he’s having a better season than either Alaba or Militao as individuals.

Together, they are better still. Like Ramos and Varane before them, Militao and Alaba complement each other perfectly. As individuals, they are arguably the best two center backs in LaLiga. As a tandem, they are somehow greater than the sum of their parts, unequivocally standing out as the best duo in the league. They might even be the best duo in Europe, but, again, that’s a hot take for either another time or another person.

Alaba read the game so well, especially off the ball. He got himself in a position to make several decisive blocks of shots and crosses, saving goals in the process. Alaba also did brilliantly to close down Elche’s passing options on the counterattack.

Meanwhile, Militao was just as accurate with his passing as Alaba on this day, and he was the more active of the two in terms of winning the ball. Elche could not get past him one-on-one, and his decision-making when gambling to intercept was picture-perfect. It had to be, given how much space Elche had and how well they were playing in front of an energized crowd.