2 Real Madrid players who deserved to be in UEFA Team of the Season

2. Dani Carvajal

Dani Carvajal is another Real Madrid player who should have been included in the Team of the Season but wasn’t, but it is not surprising. The Spaniard has been mostly forgotten throughout his career, let alone last season.

Carvajal’s fifth Champions League triumph came after one of his finest personal comebacks, which began with the second leg of the round of 16 when he completely dominated Kylian Mbappe and did not let the Frenchman do anything, after being embarrassed by him in the first leg.

His role in the Champions League triumph was enormous. Who can forget the cross Rodrygo scored from in the last seconds of the match against Manchester City to tie the score? Not only that, but Carvajal was combative defensively as well, with wingers finding it difficult to get past the 30-year-old.

Despite this, Trent Alexander Arnold was chosen for the right back position. He made the terrible error of leaving Vinicius Jr unmarked, which cost his club the Champions League. That does not, however, imply that he played poorly during the entire tournament; he was not, however, better than Carvajal.

Alexander-Arnold – a defender – was chosen mostly for his attacking ability, which, no matter how great, is not a fair comparison when selecting a defender whose primary responsibility is to safeguard the ball, a characteristic which the Liverpool star is not great at.

In terms of defensive numbers according to FBref, Carvajal leads in tackles made and tackles won per 90 minutes with 2.17 and 1.42, respectively, compared to TAA’s 1.59 and 1.02. With 2.08 clearances to TAA’s 1.25, the Real Madrid full back continues to dominate the defensive statistics battle.