Grading every young Real Madrid player from the 2021/22 season
CB Eder Militao
While Eder Miltiao drew the ire of Madridistas, who are a crowd of VERY high standards, later in the season during a rough patch, he answered the critics with a world-class defensive performance in the Champions League Final. Not only was that performance against Liverpool more indicative of his overall quality and the brilliant season he had as a first-year starter, but it was also a reminder of the Madridismo within Militao.
A stalwart one-on-one defender with great physical attributes and an ability to diagnose trouble quickly, Militao was the perfect partner for David Alaba. More active defensively in his role to make interventions, Militao was also just as willing to go for risky passes, serving up Vinicius Jr. with dangerous diagonal balls to spring immediate counters.
There are always things for a young center back to work on, but the 24-year-old Brazilian is already one of the world’s best and an important player to the Merengue side. Real Madrid banked on him as a starter, selling Raphael Varane after watching Militao outplay the Frenchman by the end of the 2020/21 season.
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Militao built on those performances, producing some truly spectacular defensive displays in the first half of the season, such as his colossal match against Real Sociedad’s star-studded attack. If Militao can be more patient when pursuing one-on-ones and find assertiveness when on the ball in sticky situations, the man has what it takes to be the very best center back on the planet.
Rating: 9.0