Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, David Beckham
Ryan Smart
Topics: Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, David Beckham
FourFourTwo ranked the 50 best Real Madrid players of all-time - and Cristiano Ronaldo was pipped to the number one spot.
Real Madrid have had some of the most iconic players in football history wear the famous white shirt throughout the club's existence.
From 1955, Los Blancos won the first five iterations of the European Cup, with Alfredo Di Stefano and Ferenc Puskas among those playing a key role.
Around the turn of the century, president Florentino Perez put into action his 'Galactico' policy, which saw world superstars such as Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham and Roberto Carlos all signed to the club.
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Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale are among the other huge names to move to Spain, but in recent years, Real have focused more on youth along with their marquee signings, with the likes of Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo brought in from Brazilian clubs and developed into top stars.
Last month, FourFourTwo ranked the top 50 players to play for Real Madrid in their iconic history.
Jude Bellingham just made it into the list in 49th place, with Beckham in 40th and Vinicius in 37th.
Bale, meanwhile, made it into 32nd place, with Iker Casillas, Karim Benzema and Marcelo all placing within the 20th to 25th positions.
Ronaldo Nazario was in 16th, while Sergio Ramos and Luka Modric narrowly missed out on the top 10.
The top five is made up of attacking players, with the exception of Zidane, who is in third place on the all-time list.
Behind him is Puskas and Raul, with Cristiano Ronaldo only in second place despite his incredible contribution in the club's success between 2009 and 2018.
It is instead Di Stefano who wins out, with FourFourTwo describing him as a 'total footballer: strong, lean and skilful with stamina that few had seen in that era', who 'managed to set the direction of an entire institution'.
The striker, who was born in Argentina but earned Spanish citizenship and would go on to score 23 goals in 31 games for Spain, was one of Real's greatest ever goalscorers.
He won the Ballon d'Or on two separate occasions, and became the only player in history to be awarded the Super Ballon d'Or in 1989 for his contribution to football.
Here is the top 20 list - you can see the full list here:
