When it comes to me, these players are what have kept Real Madrid at the top of the table. Are those five guys the best on the team? Not all the time. Are those five players the only ones who have done well? No, of course not. The way Andriy Lunin looks is great. Antonio Rudiger has been almost perfect with his feet. Before he got hurt, Vinicius Jr. was getting into his groove. One of the best defensive midfielders in the world, Aurelien Tchouameni, is back to being the best. On the list of honorable mentions are all of them and a few others.
The Federico Valvede
Fede Valverde is in the best shape of his life going into the 2023–2024 season. He has once again proven himself to be one of the best two-way center midfielders in the world. When he’s 25, not many players can move the ball up the field as well as he can. He also helps аttаck and bullies people on defense.
Every time Fede faces a 50/50 challenge, he acts like a gu𝚗 is pointed at his head, ready to fire if he doesn’t win. It’s scary to go up against him. What we see every time we watch him win the ball in middle should be valued more. When his opponents see him take full swing at the ball, they know what they’re up against: a freight train with endless fuel rushing at them.
MR. JUDE BELLINGHAM
When Real Madrid came to give him a contract, Jude Bellingham knew it wasn’t just a normal midfield role. It was Real Madrid’s goal to give him more freedom and responsibility and make him the center of the offense.
For sure, Bellingham didn’t just come to Real Madrid because of its size; it’s also because of what the team wants to do. He said this on the day of his initial presentation. “The ideas they gave me were good, and I thought it was a chance I couldn’t pass up.”
Real Madrid needed something from him that a center midfielder wouldn’t be able to do. They have a lot of those already. There had to be someone who could link the middle and аttаck, score goals, and get the ball into the box for other players. They needed his legs, speed, and quickness to press and track him without taking away from the jabs and uppercuts he hits opponents with.
They asked a lot of the young player who hasn’t even played for the biggest club in the world yet. Some might sаy it was unfair. It seemed like a chance to Bellingham.
Bellingham said, “I see it as a great responsibility rather than pressure.” “Okay, I’ll take that. To be more mature, I think that when you play professionally with grown me𝚗 from the age of 15 or 16, you learn to grow up quickly and take on more responsibility more quickly. From year to year at Dortmund, I’ve been given bigger roles, and I’ve done well with them thanks to my family, my friends, and the coaches. They tell me what I need to do to be able to do this job, and I hope to continue that here.
Bellingham shouldn’t be doing what he’s doing at Real Madrid. It might only seem normal after a while because great players who are consistent in this way make us less aware of how great they are.
“If Bellingham keeps playing like this, he could become the best English football player of all time,” said Gary Neville, a former right back for Manchester United. “He is incredibly talented and has a great personality.” “He always knows what’s going to happen next.”
Being ready is very important. That Bellingham gets goals is sometimes taken in a too simple way. He has scored a lot of goals because he knows where to be and when to be there. Once his instincts and football knowledge get him to the right spot, his skills and calmness take care of the rest.
Bellingham talked about how he plays: “I feel like I’m a midfielder that can do a little bit of everything.” “I’ll do what the coach tells me to do.” One of my best qualities is that I can offer a wide range of skills. I hope I can show that in a Real Madrid shirt wherever the coach chooses for me to play.
This season, Bellingham has done a lot of important work on defense that fans and the media have mostly missed because the news is all about his goals. He does, however, lead La Liga in both goals and saves. Even more amazing is the fact that he has more blocks than anyone else in the Big Five. He is coming back to defend himself. He does many things that a scorer shouldn’t be able to do.
Their game doesn’t have any real flaws. For players in his position, he gets a 9 or 10 for scoring, creating, carrying the ball, passing the ball forward, dribbling, moving without the ball, defense work rate, and football IQ. There is no question about what he can or cannot do right now. The question is how long he can keep up his armageddon.
To Carlo Ancelotti, the most important thing is to keep this up. This was said in early November. “Great players always do well. At the moment, he is showing that, and his body type lets him do that.
In 2019, Fede Valverde talked about how he plays: “I always sаy that when you leave everything on the field and sacrifice yourself for the good of the team, people notice it.” “I figҺt at football and in my personal life as well.” On the field, I try to give it my all, and the fans like it.
It changes everything for Real Madrid when Fede Valverde is as good as he has been. Before the World Cup, he was destroying defenses with all of his goals last season. But I think he’s even better now, even though he doesn’t score as many goals.
He drives through and breaks down the other team’s lines, making Valverde second in La Liga in terms of advanced carrying distance. There are only three players with more key passes and only two with more crosses into the penalty area. It’s the fifth best record in the league that he has stopped dribblers 78.6% of the time.
Fede plays the same way on defense and offense: he puts his foot on the gas and speeds up to 100 miles per hour. If he’s on defense and near a player carrying the ball, he will go after them full speed. On offense, he’ll run with the ball straight into the heart of the other team’s defense through any narrow spot.
This season, Fede has made 50 shots possible, which is the fourth most in the league. On defense, he has a good sense of the game and consistently picks off passes out of the back. This has given Real Madrid many great chances to score the other way. There are only nine players in the league with more catches.
In the 2019 interview, Valverde said, “They started calling me El Pajaro because when I was a kid it looked like I was flying around when I ran.” “It stuck, even though my parents didn’t like it,”
Valverde didn’t do anything particularly impressive in that stretch, but it shows what the Uruguayan is all about. Eduardo Camavinga grabs the Braga pass and sends it in Valverde’s direction. El Pajaro doesn’t even think before running like The Flash. He moves out of Braga’s counter-press and gets the ball to Vinicius on the left in Braga’s half in about seven seconds. Those small moves can make the difference between being stuck in your own box and launching a dangerous аttаck.
A lot of the time, drives with the ball can also break down low stops. In October, Valverde’s runs with the ball through Barcelona’s lines were key to breаking down Xavi Hernandez’s low block in the second half of El Clasico.
Valverde is playing the best football he has ever played. Because he is good at so many things, he is one of the most rounded football players in Europe.
JOSE CAMAVINGA
In early November, Eduardo Camavinga got a huge new deal that keeps him at Real Madrid until 2029. He has been an important player for Carlo Ancelotti’s team this season.
It’s been that way for a long time. As I wrote every week last season, no player got more praise than this one. He had to be in the showcase. He did everything that was asked of him and did it very well.
As a left back, central midfielder, or defensive midfielder, Camavinga has been great in almost every role he has played. Sergio Vilari̱o, author of “México 70, 50 A̱os de Fú�bol en color” and a friend of Managing Madrid, says that Camavinga is like a mix of Fernando Redondo and Clarence Seedorf. Both were beautiful, technically skilled, and versatile players who knew how to play the game at the highest level.
But neither of them should have been used as a wing-back because they were so good at it that they turned into the team’s best left back.
Camavinga has played there with his head down, taking charge, even though he doesn’t like it as much as playing in center.
Camavinga said, “I’m someone who plays for the team when and where they need me.” “There was a time when I didn’t know how to play left back, but now I do, whether I’m with the French national team or Real Madrid.” I don’t like that position very much, though. But if I have to play there, I will, even if I don’t really enjoy it. I think everyone knows that. It’s still me, the playmaker.
DANIEL CARVAJAL
Real Madrid is a totally different team when they have this form of Dani Carvajal. Their ceiling goes up and their efficiency goes through the roof. A lot of Real Madrid’s scoring comes from the left side. Vinicius and Rodrygo both love playing there, Bellingham hedges to that side, and Kroos sets the pace from the left. The ball is given to Carvajal on the diagonal changes. Real Madrid can use the weak side to their advantage based on how good he is. Carvajal has done a great job of getting those changes and punishing defenses that leave him open.
Rondy Goes
Rodrygo was always going to be Real Madrid’s wild card. He could make or break the team’s chances of going far. How well Real Madrid does on offense will depend on how well he does as a backup star. As a false nine, could he jump? If Karim Benzema leaves, will he score enough goals as a moving attacker to make up for it? Does he have what it takes to be great all the time?
Rodrygo has picked up the pace after a slow start to the season. He is now charging the defense and going on an attacking surge. He now has the most successful take-ons in La Liga and the fifth most in the Big Five Leagues. There are only two players in Spain who have scored more goals and set up more others this season. Also, no one else in the league has more progressive runs and carries into the penalty area. Rodrygo is the best at getting advancing passes, so no one else can show better between the lines.
Rodrygo tried to do the right things at the start of the season, but nothing worked out. This was true even when he played on the left side when Vinicius got hurt for the first time this season. He could have made some better decisions, and there were games, like the one they played away at Napoli, when he wasn’t involved at all because Real Madrid only played on the left side, where Vinicius had the ball most of the time.