Football can be a cruel game. While goal-scorers are celebrated in and out, the effort that goes into orchestrating a move is often overlooked. At the heart of engineering a goal-scoring move is an underappreciated breed of players called midfielders. Playing in the midfield is not always about producing the killer pass for a forward to tuck home. Midfielders function more like a connective tissue to link the whole team up.
Midfielders and Madrid are a match made in heaven. Following the footsteps of Real Madrid legends like Jose Pirri, Ignacio Zoco, and Raymond Kopa, many newer faces have lived up to the billing, come the turn of the century. Here is an attempt to highlight the five best players to have graced the Bernabeu’s midfield this century.
5. Xabi Alonso
Thanks to Rafa Benitez’s admiration for Gareth Barry, Xabi Alonso was labeled beyond requirement at Liverpool. He arrived at the Spanish Capital at a time when Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona dominated LaLiga despite Los Blancos developing into a competent footballing unit. Madrid reached a club-record 96 points in Alonso’s first season in the Royal White. However, they fell short of Barca’s ridiculous 99-point tally.
He continued running the show as a holding midfielder for Real Madrid for four more seasons. In them, he was named LaLiga’s best midfielder in the 2011-12 season. He followed it up with a UCL team of the season mention in the very next season. A LaLiga title and a UCL winner’s medal make for a decorated time at the Bernabeu for the Spaniard.
Alonso remained a fan-favorite at the White House for his unwavering support for Real Madrid during and after his playing years. Currently, he is tasting success in his managerial career with Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga and continues to be among the frontrunners to replace Carlo Ancelotti at the Bernabeu.