Top Three Defenders in La Liga: Barcelona’s Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique, Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos
Although La Liga is known for its quality of attacking players, matches cannot be won without a solid defence. As the forwards strike goals to take a lead, it is the duty of defenders to keep the opponents away from their goal. Therefore, for a team’s success, defenders are as important as the strikers and midfielders.
However, defenders get less credit than other players as they are involved in an uglier version of the game. Defenders are not generally associated with the beautiful side of football, as it is their duty to keep the ball away, which is done by both fair means and foul. Most of the time, they are not even given enough credit, as only one defender has won the prestigious FIFA Player of the Year award in the last decade: Fabio Cannavaro. However, many other defenders might have made the list, including the greatest ever Paolo Maldini and Jaap Stam. Although they were the best defenders of their time, they were never officially acknowledged as such.
The defenders’ abilities are actually easy to measure: while the forwards are associated with the numbers of goals that they score, the defenders are judged by the clean sheets that they give. Apart from that, defenders are also judged on the basis of the number of fouls that they commit and their ability to position themselves well for defending set-pieces. Therefore, intelligence is the key to any great defender.
Based on these attributes, Carles Puyol is the best defender in La Liga right now. With Barcelona, Puyol gave 20 clean sheets, highest by any club last season. Puyol is an intelligent player who positions himself well against his opponents. Also, during the games, Puyol has shown his ability to score as well, on the set-pieces. His work rate is remarkable while his tackling is superb as well. Last season, Puyol was awarded with only 7 yellow cards, in 32 La Liga games, which is a great achievement for any defender.
Apart from all these abilities, Puyol is also a versatile player, as he often stars in right back position for Barcelona. Therefore, Puyol also shows a tendency to do well in attack, as most of the full-backs are supposed to do. Also, Puyol is an ambitious player who enjoys a lot of influence in Barcelona, due to which he has been named as the squad’s captain. Being a senior player among a lot of youngsters, Puyol controls the team well from his centre-back position.
On the other hand, Barcelona’s rivals Real Madrid have had their problems at the back. However, the Madrid giants have a star defender in their team: Sergio Ramos. Ramos plays at the right back position, and he is among the best in his particular position. Ramos, like Puyol, has a lot of heart and spirit, which is apparent from his passion shown during Madrid’s matches. He is great in attacking, as he scores and assists in many goals, while also being exceptional in defending. He also exhibits a great work rate as he is often found running on the flank, from one end to another. There is no doubt that Madrid’s defence relies heavily on this exceptional youngster.
Another defender who can be called one of the best is Gerard Pique, Puyol’s partner in Barcelona and Spain. Pique got his chance to shine after an unexpected injury to Diego Milito. However, at the age of 23, he has proven himself to be better than anyone in the world. Some might consider him better than Puyol as well, as he commits less fouls and gets booked less than him. Also, he is better than Puyol in defending or attacking the set-pieces. However, he is still developing his important skills like positioning and he enjoys lesser influence than Puyol. However, there is no doubt that Pique has the potential to even surpass his mentor, as he still has a lot of time to develop into a better player than he is today.
La Liga is packed with some attacking talent, as more and more players are making their way into Spain. Therefore, the job of a defender is getting harder and harder. Thus, maybe this is the time when the defenders start to get acknowledged more for their valuable contribution to their teams.
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