If Real wins this Liga, it will mainly owe it to its back lines. You just have to look at the most significant statistical essential. With only 21 goals conceded in 31 matches, the Merengue team has the best defense in Spain. And it owes it largely to its star hinge composed of Sergio Ramos (34), the captain, and Raphaël Varane (27), the third vice-captain.
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Already very fit since the start of the season, the Spaniard and the French have combined their football to almost perfect since the resumption of the Championship. Concentrated, efficient, full of legs, they reassure everyone, starting with Thibaut Courtois, with whom they now understand each other much better after a few hiccups during last season, that of the return of the Belgian to the Spanish capital (it has evolved at Atlético from 2011 to 2014).
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“Perhaps the best doublet of central defenders that Real have had”
Zinedine Zidane, their trainer
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And, above all, they display more than ever their excellent complementarity. In the duo, Ramos plays the role of the villain. The one who is always very hard on the opponent, who never makes lace, who seeks to impress the opponent. No coincidence that he has accumulated 27 red cards in his career and that he is the most expelled player in the history of La Liga (20) and the Champions League (4). While Varane is the one who relies on anticipation and speed. And who knows how to cover his partner when the latter is forced to attack to seek a goal in the last minutes of a complicated match
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. No more comments from two or three years ago, in the press and among supporters, who tended to present the former Lensois (2010-2011) as dependent on Ramos. They are now on an equal footing. Varane has indeed proven since that he could be the boss of the defense in the absence of the Spanish international (170 caps, 21 goals). What cheers Zinédine Zidane. “I sincerely think that this is perhaps the best pair of central defenders that Real have had. What they do is absolutely exceptional,explained the French coach yesterday
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. I do not like to speak of players in particular because, for me, it is always the collective that takes the upper hand but, there, it must be recognized that they have an exceptional trajectory with this club. It is only happiness for me, the coach, and for the whole team because they are really two very reliable defenders. “
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Frédéric Hermel
Provenance L
