Real Madrid’s best player of the last decade?

Pogue Mahone

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Interesting discussion about this on a podcast I’m listening to.

There’s the most obvious candidate… then there’s Luka Modric. A player who has consistently got his country to punch miles above its weight, as well as keep Madrid winning major trophies after that certain other player had left.

Discuss.
 
Cristiano > Modric > Benzema?

Probably good shouts for the likes of Ramos, Marcelo and Kroos.
 
I was going to say Raul, but checked and found out he left Madrid over 12 years ago, Christ I feel old all of a sudden!
 
  1. Ronaldo
  2. Modric
  3. Ramos
  4. Benzema
  5. Marcelo
  6. Casemiro
  7. Varane
  8. Kroos
  9. All others
For me, the ranking for them this past decade or so. 1-3 is a tier, 4-6 is a tier, Kroos and Varane the tier below, and then whoever else like Bale and Courtois is well behind.
 
Is this a joke? It’s clearly Ronaldo with Modric a very very close second.
 
Modric for me. Amazing midfielder. Benzema & Ramos are close. There was one player (became a rat later) but I prefer not to mention him here.
 
Giggsy13 said:
Is this a joke? It’s clearly Ronaldo with Modric a very very close second.
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Football is a team game. Great players make team mates appear better than they are. Does Ronaldo improve teams? Manchester United showed no visible decline after he left, that’s for sure. His team mates seem to improve more when he leaves a club than when he joins.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Football is a team game. Great players make team mates appear better than they are. Does Ronaldo improve teams? Manchester United showed no visible decline after he left, that’s for sure. His team mates seem to improve more when he leaves a club than when he joins.
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There is a common theme these days to shift the narrative on Ronaldo and it’s quite frankly insane and incredibly stupid on many fronts. To suggest United showed no visible decline is one of them. We were not the same force without Ronaldo and it likely prevented Sir Alex from winning another champions league title possibly two. We also likely have a Juve or Bayern like run in the league when we were clearly the preeminent force. Ronaldo likely delivers us league titles in 2010 and 2012 when we lost out on the finest of margins. Arguing we were the same and didn’t miss a beat is just ignorant.

Ronaldo as a focal point in his later years was possibly detrimental to Juventus, but in his prime, there is arguably no one better other than Messi. His goal scoring record will likely go unmatched at Madrid. This debate is worth having only to confirm how truly great he was in his prime despite the brilliance and longevity of Modric, Ramos and Benzema.
 
Obviously Ronaldo, he played there nearly for the decade.

Then on a similar level Modric, Kroos, Benzema and Ramos.
 
Messi, he really toyed with them.
 
Benzema, Modric, Ramos.

Thank you and goodnight.
 
Oh cmon, how is this even a debate. As much of a dickhead he is, he became RM's top scorer of all time in what? 6 years. Only player in their history with better than a goal a game. Next player is something like 100 goals behind. There is probably a good case to make him the best RM player of all time.
 
I know he is hated, might even get jail time, but it has to be Bartomeu by far
 
Difficult to separate Benzema, Modric, Kroos, Ramos, they all did a wonderful job propping up the wax figure from Madeira.
 
Ronaldo but he did leave over 4.5 years ago so in terms of the last decade at madrid he has missed nearly half of it.
 
Counting since 2010, we should highlight Ozil, who played three wonderful years, and Di Maria.
What would Mesut have been like playing seriously, winning la décima and playing in the three in a row?
Counting from la décima (2014) I would say that Cristiano, Ramos and Modric were the leaders (I could include Karim for his resurgence), after them Marcelo, Casemiro, Kroos, Bale and Benzema.
The best obviously Cristiano.
 
Ronaldo of course. That being said, I wonder why Marcelo and Carvajal get so little credit, they were fundamental for Real Madrid.
 
If by "of the last decade" you mean "of the past 10 years" then it can't really be Ronaldo since he's been gone for almost half that time.
 
I have absolutely 0 sympathy for Real Madrid, but you have to admit they are an absolute competitive behemoth, and they managed to counter Barça's most succesful period ever with one of their most successful periods ever. It was no miracle though, as they have had one of the best squads ever, brimming with world class players in basically every position, to the point that they managed to lose one of the best footballers ever and go on winning trophies, including the UCL. The clash between them and Barça would have been even more epic if it hadn't been for Rossell/Bartomeu destroying Barça from the inside.

Having said all that, there's really only one player I envied them: Modrić. If Rakitic had gone to Madrid in 2012 and Modrić to Barça in 2014 the trophy cabinets of both clubs would look very different today I reckon.
 
Tebas.


Seriously though you gotta be kidding me.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Football is a team game. Great players make team mates appear better than they are. Does Ronaldo improve teams? Manchester United showed no visible decline after he left, that’s for sure. His team mates seem to improve more when he leaves a club than when he joins.
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Early contender for the worst post of 2023. As much as I dislike him now, I can’t agree with such garbage.
 
cafecillos said:
I have absolutely 0 sympathy for Real Madrid, but you have to admit they are an absolute competitive behemoth, and they managed to counter Barça's most succesful period ever with one of their most successful periods ever. It was no miracle though, as they have had one of the best squads ever, brimming with world class players in basically every position, to the point that they managed to lose one of the best footballers ever and go on winning trophies, including the UCL. The clash between them and Barça would have been even more epic if it hadn't been for Rossell/Bartomeu destroying Barça from the inside.

Having said all that, there's really only one player I envied them: Modrić. If Rakitic had gone to Madrid in 2012 and Modrić to Barça in 2014 the trophy cabinets of both clubs would look very different today I reckon.
Click to expand...

Huh?

I'm positive Barcelona won a lot in that era. More La Ligas for one.
 
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