The situation
In recent years, Real Madrid has had times in which its additions to the defensive zone of the field have been successful and others in which they have not . Obviously, the club signed practically the best that was on the market for that part of the field, but either due to the lack of adaptation or the lack of confidence of the coaches, they did not always turn out well. The situation has changed, and in the last two seasons three signings have been made (Alaba, Militao and Mendy) who have had such high performances that they have even made historical players like Sergio Ramos forget. If you review the list of signings for the defense in recent years, you can clearly see how Madrid had a period from the 2014-2015 season to the 2019-2020 season without bringing in any player who had fit into the team’s system . Since that year 2014 (with the playoff of Dani Carvajal from Bayern Leverkusen for 6.5 million), the truth is that Madrid has spent money to improve its defense. Álvaro Odriozola (32 million, from Real Sociedad), Theo Hernández (24 million, from Atlético de Madrid), and Danilo (31.5 million, from Porto) have been the players who came with an interesting poster but who they failed to succeed.The luck that Madrid had was that Sergio Ramos (who came from Sevilla in 2005 for 27 million), Pepe (who came from Porto in 2007 for 30 million) and Marcelo (who came from Fluminense in 2006 for 6.5 million) maintained a pretty high defensive level during those years. However, from the board they knew they had to incorporate players, since the goals conceded in recent seasons were too many . If you look back, in the 2017-2018 season the team from the capital conceded 44 goals. The following year, they received 46.
The details
It was at the end of that league that Mendy and Militao arrived at the club, something that was noted. Although Military’s first season as a Madridista was not excellent, the two players helped make Madrid the team with the fewest goals in the league with only 25 goals against. It is clear that this merit belonged to the entire team, but his additions were key. For his part, Alaba arrived last season, and the truth is that he has played at a high level acting in two positions, as a central defender and as a left back.This year, the line of four made up of Carvajal, Militao, Alaba and Mendy has been key to winning the league and the Champions League.