Real Madrid Best All-Time XI
Tyler Snipes
4 Yrs Ago
One trip to the Bernabeu’s stadium tour, complete with a look at its jaw-dropping collection of trophies, is all you need to see to understand the unmatched history Real Madrid can boast.
With 33 La Liga titles and 13 Champions League titles, Real Madrid is the sport’s standard-bearer for excellence, and has been for the better part of a century.
With 118 years of championship-winning history, Real Madrid features a long list of legendary players who have donned the famous white kit. So many, in fact, that settling on an All-Time Best XI for the Spanish giants is the toughest task you can have when choosing a single team’s All-Time XI.
You could put together two or three impressive All-Time XIs with the many greats who have played at the Bernabeu, but these are our picks as Real Madrid’s All-Time Best XI:
Iker Casillas
In the goalkeeper department, Real Madrid had the luxury of Casillas’ services for 16 seasons, and he earned his first start at the ripe old age of 16 as an academy product.
The call-up paid dividends though, and Casillas went on to decorate his resume with five La Liga titles, two Copa del Reys, and four Supercopa de Españas domestically. He was part of three UEFA Champions League titles, and his 57 clean sheets in the competition still tops the all-time list.
The World Cup champion finished his Real Madrid career with 510 appearances before moving on to Portuguese side FC Porto, where he spent five seasons before retiring at the start of the current year.
Roberto Carlos
One of the best fullbacks in the history of the game, Roberto Carlos revolutionized his position and helped anchor one of the best defenses in Real Madrid history for more than a decade.
Real Madrid won four La Liga titles and three Champions League titles during Carlos’ 11-year stint at the Bernabeu, and the Brazilian’s surging runs down the left flank, coupled with his ability to his dangerous crosses and free kicks, made him dynamic attacking weapon who attacking left backs like Marcelo and Jordi Alba have been emulating ever since.
Sergio Ramos
Real Madrid’s history is headlined by the achievements of its many star attacking players, but Ramos’ accomplishments as captain and lead defender make him as deserving of a spot in the club’s history books as any goal scorer.
The Spanish defender arrived from Sevilla in 2005 and has developed into one of the best defenders of the era, earning FIFPro Best XI honors a whopping 10 times in 12 years, helping Real Madrid to four La Liga titles and four Champions League triumphs. The long-time Real Madrid captain also enjoyed considerable success with Spain, serving as a starter in La Roja’s 2010 World Cup run, and both the 2008 and 2012 European Championship victories.
Fernando Hierro
Before there was a Sergio Ramos patrolling the heart of the Real Madrid defense, it was Hierro who served as the standard by which all Spanish defenders were measured.
Renowned for his brilliant passing and unwavering presence as an imposing 6-foot-2 defender, Hierro spent 14 seasons at Real Madrid, amassing five La Liga titles and three Champions League triumphs during that time.
Chendo
A one-team lifer with his 17-year tenure in Madrid, Chendo held down the right back position for some of the club’s most important years.
Real Madrid won seven league titles during Chendo’s tenure, as well as the 1998 Champions League and a pair of UEFA Cup triumphs in 1985 and 1986. Chendo played a whopping 497 matches for Real Madrid before he retired in 1998.
Zinedine Zidane
Already a World Cup hero with France before arriving in Spain in 2001, Zidane gave Real Madrid a memorable five-year stint as one of the figureheads on the star-studded Galacticos squads.
Zidane helped Real Madrid win La Liga in 2003, but his crowning achievement was his role in Madrid’s 2002 Champions League triumph, including his stunning game-winning goal in the 2002 final, which remains one of the best goals in history.
Alfredo Di Stéfano
The only player to score in five European Cup finals, Di Stéfano is credited with being one of the most complete footballers of all time, and is arguably the greatest to have never featured in a World Cup.
His contributions in Madrid from 1953-1964 saw him take part in eight La Liga titles along with a Copa del Rey victory to go with the five consecutive European Cups Real Madrid win from 1955 to 1960. On an individual note, the Argentine was the two-time recipient of the Ballon d’Or honor for his 1957 and 1959 seasons and was honored in retrospect with a Super Ballon d’Or in 1989.
Francisco Gento
The speedy Spanish winger known as ‘Paco’, Gento captained Real Madrid through one of the most successful periods in the club’s history, serving as captain in the 50s and 60s.
Gento has the distinction of being the first player to win six Champions League titles, and he also added 12 La Liga titles to Real Madrid’s collection. By the time he retired in 1971, Gento had scored 128 goals and played 428 matches.
Raul
Few strikers in the history of the sport ever made scoring goals look as easy as Raul, who became a Real Madrid legend because of the seemingly never-ending supply of goals he delivered.
Raul finished his Real Madrid career with a stunning 323 goals in a team record 741 appearances. During his 16 seasons at the Bernabeu, he helped Real Madrid secure six La Liga titles and three Champions League trophies.
Cristiano Ronaldo
The Portuguese sensation was already a three-time Premier League champion and Ballon d’Or winner when he arrived at the Bernabeu from Manchester United in 2009, but when he did for the next decade in Spain cemented his status as one of the game’s all-time greats.
Ronaldo amassed 311 goals in 292 La Liga appearances in his nine seasons with Real Madrid, leading the club to a pair of La Liga titles and four Champions League triumphs while also adding four more Ballon d’Or honors to his resume before leaving Madrid for Juventus.
Ferenc Puskas
To most present-day soccer fans, the name Puskas is synonymous with the award named in his honor for the best goal scored in the world each year. What shouldn’t be forgotten is the player behind the name, one of the greatest players of the 20th century.
Puskas arrived at Real Madrid at the age of 31, fresh off a two-year ban by UEFA for refusing to return to play in his native Hungary after the Hungarian Revolution. While some teams questioned whether the striker still had goals left in him, Real Madrid believed and Puskas rewarded the Spanish giants with an incredible nine-year run that saw him score 156 goals and help Real Madrid win three European Cups and five Spanish league titles.