Hala Madrid: 5 best Real Madrid players of all time

Real Madrid are one of the world's best-ever football teams, one of the most recognizable sides across the globe. Real are, alongside fierce rivals Barcelona, juggernauts of the Spanish league, having won a record 36 La Liga titles and 20 Copa del Reys.

Similar to their rivals, Madrid's dominance is not limited to just Spanish confines. They have won 33 continental trophies in their 122-year history, including a record 15 Champions Leagues which, staggeringly, is eight more than AC Milan, who have the second-most triumphs in that competition.

With such high standards, it can hardly be considered surprising that Madrid have had some stellar players represent them over the years, but with that being considered, which five players have been the best?

5. Iker Casillas

Iker Casillas spent most of the 1990s rising through the ranks within the Real Madrid youth academy, being called up to the senior team in 1999 and breaking through properly in the early 2000s. He spent 16 years at the Bernabeu, winning five La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues alongside two Copa del Rey’s in the 2010s.

Casillas’ acrobatic, reflex saves were a point of envy for supporters and fellow professionals alike, with many of his peers having noted just how good the Spaniard was. Despite playing in an era where footwork for goalkeepers was far less important than it is in the modern game, Casillas had a brilliant ability with the ball at his feet.

The shot-stopper departed Madrid in 2015, joining Porto where he would spend several years before calling time on his illustrious career in 2020, having established himself as one of the game’s, and indeed Real Madrid’s, greatest-ever goalkeepers and greatest-ever players all together.

4. Raul

Similarly to Iker Casillas, Raul also spent 16 years as a senior player for Real Madrid, making his debut in the mid-90s after two years in their youth academy, which he joined from city rivals Atletico Madrid in 1992. He would go on to make over 700 appearances for Real, becoming the club’s record appearance maker.

Raul was known as a center-forward, a great one at that, but was also capable of playing just behind the frontman as a number 10 if it was necessary. As such, he received praise for both his playmaking and finishing, with his intelligence also being something that was given credit by many of his peers.

The attacker would depart Madrid in 2010, moving to Schalke 04 in Germany having made himself synonymous with the number 7 shirt that was taken up by a certain Cristiano Ronaldo after his departure. Raul won three Champions Leagues and six league titles in his time with Real, an exceptional return for an exceptional player.

3. Zinedine Zidane

A man who made his mark at Madrid as both a player and a manager, Zidane first arrived in the Spanish capital in 2001 from Juventus, joining for a then-world record transfer fee as part of Madrid’s Galactico policy. The Frenchman would spend five years with Real, which was the remainder of his playing career.

Zidane had already established himself as one of the world’s finest players by the time he moved to Madrid, having been in his late 20s at the time of the transfer. He was capable of making all around him better solely through his own ability, being exceptional at retaining, passing and striking the ball.

The midfielder could utilize both feet and was a naturally silky player, utilizing a wide array of tricks and flicks to dazzle his defenders before retiring in 2006, having won a La Liga and Champions League title with the club.

Zidane returned to Madrid, this time as a manager, in 2016, spending two years in that role before being sacked in 2018 and returning the following year, serving a further two years as Madrid manager. In this capacity, he became the first manager to ever win three back-to-back Champions League titles for the same club, a feat that only bolstered an already incredible legacy.

2. Alfredo Di Stefano

After making a name for himself in his native continent of South America, representing both the Argentinian and Colombian national teams, striker Alfredo Di Stefano moved from Millonarios to Madrid in 1953, where the Blond Arrow, as he was known, would establish himself as one of the club’s best-ever players across his 11-year stint.

Forming a fearsome partnership with Ferenc Puskas, Di Stefano was an integral part of a Madrid team that many consider to be one of the best to have ever existed. He won eight La Liga titles with the club in a period of dominance that he more than contributed to, while also adding five successive European Cups to his honors list between 1955 and 1960, scoring in all five of those finals.

The two-time Ballon d’Or winner, who would spend four years playing for the Spanish national team between 1957 and 1961, departed Madrid in 1964, playing two further years with Espanyol before retiring at the age of 40, having ensured that his name would be remembered at the Bernabeu.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

Real Madrid's all-time top scorer, a five-time Ballon d'Or winner who earned four of those at the Bernabeu and a four-time Champions League winner, Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best to ever play the game and with such a standard, is the best-ever player to wear the white of Real Madrid.

After establishing himself on the world stage with Manchester United, Ronaldo joined Madrid in 2009 for what was then a world record transfer fee, hitting the ground running with immediate effect. Ronaldo went on to rack up 450 goals for Madrid in just 438 appearances, almost 100 goals more than former teammate Karim Benzema, who sits second in the club's all-time top scorers list.

Ronaldo and Benzema, alongside Gareth Bale after his arrival from Tottenham Hotspur, formed a fearsome attacking trio that fired Madrid to three Champions League victories which were all won back-to-back, becoming the first team to achieve such a feat being managed by a former, aforementioned Frenchman that used to play in the club's midfield.

By the time of his departure from Juventus in 2018, Ronaldo had spent nine years with Real Madrid. He had established himself as one of the best in the world and had left an unquestionable legacy at one of the globe’s biggest clubs.