Where does Real Madrid’s midfield rank among the best in the world in 2022?

4. Chelsea

Making their case at number four are the current Champions League winners, Chelsea FC. The London-based football club has assembled a great-looking midfield contingent with N’golo Kante and Jorginho leading the star cast. This season, however, the better story has been the effective nature of former Madrid-man, Mateo Kovacic who has five assists and two goals for the Blues this season. A great record for a defensive midfielder!

Chelsea has the luxury of an extensive squad list which is why there isn’t a definite shape that Thomas Tuchel would operate with. At times it’s three main midfielders and wingbacks while at other times, it’s a conventional 3-4-3. The latter can be called their seasonal shape with a few tweaks here and there.

Another major reason for the same is the sort of versatility that Chelsea players have. For instance, a player like Hakim Ziyech is capable of both playing in midfield or moving far up ahead and playing almost as an attacker. There are a lot of such players at Tuchel’s disposal and the tactical chameleon has done his best to surprise oppositions while accommodating his player’s interests.

Chelsea comes up as a balanced midfield side and unlike the conventional central midfielders along with a defensive pairing or a single defensive midfielder providing the cover, Chelsea has the liberty to experiment with their extensive list of attacking midfielders which is where the London side excels. While that is not the sort of midfield play that I personally favor, it has surely been effective for the Blues.

While their attacking midfielders are very direct and deadly, where Chelsea really gets their points for a position on this list is the creativity and ball-carrying that the likes of Kovacic, Kante, and Jorginho are experts at. They also link up the play very well and would be any manager’s choice for progressive players to have in their squad.