Real Madrid will play their 15th UEFA Champions League final this Saturday, aiming to win their 14th Champions League title. This statement itself is enough to speak about how Real Madrid is the most successful team in the history of football, and how they are way ahead of other clubs across Europe.
A lot of players have contributed to Real Madrid’s numerous successful campaigns in Europe, becoming the legends of this historic club in the process. In this big week, let us remind ourselves of some of the best players to have played for the club, by making an all-time XI in this competition.
Since we have a long history filled with many legends, let us narrow down the period to that of the Champions League era, and exclude the European Cup era. Let us get started, by looking at the goalkeeper, which might look like an obvious choice for most of you.
GK Iker Casillas
Iker Casillas is the greatest keeper to have ever played for Real Madrid, and who else, apart from him, can make it to Real Madrid’s greatest XI in the Champions League. In his 16-year stint with the first team, San Iker has won the coveted trophy thrice and holds the record for most appearances in the Champions League for Real Madrid, with 152 appearances to his name.
It would be difficult to pick the best game from such a long career, but the most memorable game of Casillas’ Champions League career has to be the 2002 Final vs. Bayer Leverkusen. He came on as a substitute for the injured Cesar Sanchez in the second half and pulled off 3 huge saves late in the game, ensuring that the scoreline remained 2-1 and Real secured their 9th title. It was the game that made Casillas a sure-fire starter for Real Madrid in the years to come.
LB Marcelo
It was a very difficult decision to choose between Marcelo and Roberto Carlos – two of the greatest left-backs of all time. Roberto Carlos might have a slight edge over Marcelo when we look at their overall career, but Marcelo has the edge over Carlos in the Champions League, winning one title more. And there is a chance of Marcelo, who is already Real Madrid’s most decorated player, leading his team to victory this weekend, taking his tally to 5 Champions League titles.
Being an attack-minded full-back, Marcelo has registered 9 goals and 24 assists for Real Madrid in the Champions League, with a lot of them coming in the knockout stages. His contributions were so important and frequent that he scored a goal each in the round of 16, quarter-finals, and semi-finals of the 2017/18 season, with each goal being a decisive one in deciding the winner of the tie. His most memorable goal must be the one scored in the La Decima final and his best performance should be the one against Bayern Munich in the second leg of the 2016/17 quarter-finals, with the Brazilian proving himself at both ends of the pitch.
CB Sergio Ramos
We’re talking about Real Madrid’s greatest XI of the Champions League, was there ever any chance of Sergio Ramos missing out from this list? A player who has won four Champions League titles with Real Madrid, winning three of them as a captain, and has led by example, by scoring a lot of memorable goals for the team in the competition, including two match-winning goals in two finals, was always going to make the list.
He’s a player who has re-written the definition of leadership with his achievements at Real Madrid, as a captain. A charismatic leader and one of the greatest centre-backs of all time, his best moment in the Champions League must be his equalizing header in the La Decima final of 2014 when the clock read 92:48(+5). There just can’t be a moment better than that in the whole history of the Champions League.
CB Fernando Hierro
With time, we might be forgetting Fernando Hierro, but the legendary defender was one of a kind, and his name won’t be wiped off the history books. He was a highly versatile footballer, who could play both as a centre-back and a central midfielder. He also could score some amazing goals, being a perfect blend of technical finesse and athleticism, and scored 7 goals in the Champions League.
He won the ‘trophy with big ears’ thrice in his fourteen-year career with Real Madrid, and played a crucial role in the 1998 Champions League final, a game that Real Madrid won 1-0, with his defensive partnership with Manolo Sanchis being an important reason for a clean-sheet against a dangerous Juve side.
RB Dani Carvajal
Real Madrid has had a lot of great right-backs play for them in the Champions League era, but the best one has to be the team’s current right-back, Dani Carvajal. The Spaniard has been one of the team’s most hardworking players in the competition, playing a key role in Real’s last four Champions League titles.
He had won his first Champions League title in his first season as a first-team player, after returning from Bayer Leverkusen, and there is a chance that he might make it five titles this weekend. He still has a long career in front of him, and I see him making his legacy bigger and bigger with time.
CM Luka Modric
It was always going to be an obvious choice. Luka Modric, a Ballon d’Or is a legend of the game and he is someone who can also make it to the overall greatest Champions League XI. Being the assister of the historic 92:48 goal, and a four-time Champions League winner, the Croatian isn’t done yet and is hungry to win some more titles. His 2021/22 Champions League campaign is enough to talk about his legacy.
Three of my favourite Luka Modric moments in the Champions League are his stunning long-range goal against Manchester United in 2013, his assist to Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2017 final, and his assist to Karim Benzema against PSG in 2022. A goal that changed his Real Madrid career, and two assists that show everything about Luka Modric’s two most important traits, skill, and determination.
CM Toni Kroos
One of the most successful German footballers of all time, Toni Kroos makes it to this list with ease. The German has won a total of four Champions League titles, winning three of them with Real Madrid during the three-peat era, and winning another one with Bayern Munich.
We can’t pinpoint a single game to talk about Toni Kroos’ brilliance in the Champions League. Every performance from him in the Champions League is a masterclass of its own, and it is his unmatchable consistency that makes him one of the greatest midfielders of all time. If you ask me to pick my favourite Kroos moment in the Champions League, it has to be his assist to Vinicius Jr against Liverpool last season. A moment that has “elegance in simplicity” written all over it.
CAM Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane, one of the greatest midfielders of all time if not the greatest, had played just five seasons and 45 Champions League games for Real Madrid in his career. But he has done enough to make it to the top bracket of the list of Real Madrid’s biggest legends. He has 9 goals and 13 assists for Real Madrid in the Champions League, and out of them, his unbelievable left-footed volley in the 2002 Champions League final against Bayer Leverkusen has to be the best moment. It is also a moment that defines Zidane’s legacy at Real Madrid as a winner.
And if we are going to choose a manager for this team, the obvious choice for that role has to be Zidane himself. There is no other manager that won the Champions League back to back in the Champions League era, forget winning it back to back to back, like Zidane. This feat just took Zidane’s legacy at Real Madrid to a different level.
FW Raul
Real Madrid’s third-highest goalscorer in the Champions League with 66 goals, and the player with the second-most appearances for the club in the Champions League with 132 appearances, Raul Gonzalez is an automatic selection for this team. He is one of the biggest legends in the history of Real Madrid, and his legacy isn’t just something that can be explained by numbers. He was never a player that showed a lot of interest in registering unbelievable numbers, goals just came naturally to him.
He has won three Champions League titles at Real Madrid, scoring in two finals. Raul also holds the record for being the youngest player in the history of the Champions League to score a hat-trick in the competition.
FW Karim Benzema
Next up on the team is Karim Benzema, the talisman of the current Real Madrid team. He is simply a sensation in the Champions League, a competition that he has won four times, and in which he is currently the joint-third top goalscorer of all time and the second top goalscorer for Real Madrid.
This season takes Karim Benzema’s Champions League legacy to a whole new level, with the Frenchman having 15 goals to his name, including two hat-tricks in back-to-back games against Paris-Saint Germain and Chelsea, and a brace vs Manchester City. The 34-year-old’s Real Madrid career and it is safe to say that some more records will be broken by him in the near future.
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FW Cristiano Ronaldo
The acronym for the UEFA Champions League is UCL. But I wouldn’t blame anyone if they think that UCL stands for UEFA Cristiano League, because the competition is his own. Check all the goalscoring records in the Champions League, and the name Cristiano Ronaldo is written everywhere. He also holds the record for the most assists in the Champions League.
The Portuguese, who’s the highest goalscorer in the Champions League, is also Real Madrid’s highest scorer in the competition, having scored 105 goals in just 101 appearances. He has won four CL titles with Real Madrid, being the top scorer with more than ten goals in each of the seasons. A page isn’t enough to talk about this man’s records in the Champions League, and I think the statement that “Cristiano Ronaldo is Mr. Champions League” is enough to talk about his reputation and records in Europe’s biggest club competition.