Sergio Ramos, Fernando Hierro, Thomas Gravesen - all in Real Madrid kit with Real Madrid logo background
Real Madrid is arguably the biggest and greatest club in the world. Steeped in rich history, they won the first five European Cup tournaments, putting them in the bracket of one of the greatest ever sports sides.
This level of success and glory has seen some of the best players of all time ply their trade at their peak at the Bernabeu. Although to have the level of success they've had there has to be a great deal of resolve and determination. Yet few talk about Real Madrid and hardness in the same sentence.
So, to acknowledge the need for toughness in all great teams, here ranked are the 10 hardest Real Madrid players in football history.
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10 Thomas Gravesen
2005 to 2006
Thomas Gravesen
Thomas Gravesen
Thomas Gravesen was certainly one of Everton’s hardest ever players. He’s one of Real Madrid’s, too. Even if one former legendary Real Madrid player Ronaldo Nazario described Gravesen as his worst teammate at the Bernabeu. The tough-tackling defensive midfielder played 49 games for Madrid.
He played alongside David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane when Michael Owen was among the goals in a 4-2 win over Barcelona. Unfortunately for the Dane, the Spanish giants failed to win silverware while he was at the club. The Copa Del Rey looked on until a disastrous 6-1 away defeat in the semi-finals to Real Zaragoza.
9 Ricardo Carvalho
2010 to 2013
Ricardo Carvalho
Ricardo Carvalho
Ricardo Carvalho was an incredibly effective defender at Porto, where he won the Champions League. He is considered one of the best ever Premier League centre-backs – at Chelsea, he lifted the Premier League three times. He also won La Liga with Real Madrid in 2012. He was very much known for his physicality and the pride he took in defending.
He was particularly talented when it came to last-ditch tackles. He saw red twice for Madrid. Both times for a second yellow card. This shows his hardness did sometimes come at a price. But by and large, he was a very much trusted player for Jose Mourinho across three clubs.
8 Goyo Benito
1966 to 1982
Spanish central defender was at Madrid for 16 years. During this time, he won six La Liga titles with the club. This was a player who never gave up. He played during an era when the Madrid derby was a keenly contested match, with both clubs winning the title.
Jose Eulogio Garate scored more than 100 goals for Atletico Madrid in the sixties and seventies. He was full of praise for Benito:
"If I ever got past him, he fouled me. He was very tough and brave. Of all the markers I had, he was the worst. With others, I played well, badly or average, but with him I barely touched the ball."
7 Sergio Ramos
2005 to 2021
Sergio-Ramos
Sergio Ramos is one of the greatest villains in football history. He is also a serial winner. With Real Madrid alone, Ramos won La Liga five times and the Champions League four times also. He wracked up an incredible number of cards too. For Real Madrid alone he was shown 218 yellows and 26 reds.
Overall, he’s up there with the players with the most red cards in football history. Ramos had a hugely aggressive style, not just in defence, but in an attacking sense too. Incredibly, the defender scored 101 goals in 671 Real Madrid appearances. To sum him up, Ramos was a powerhouse for Madrid.
6 Alfredo Di Stefano
1953 to 1964
Alfredo Di Stefano balancing a ball on his finger
Alfredo Di Stefano balancing a ball on his finger
It is well known that Alfredo Di Stefano was a supreme player. A star of the Real Madrid sides that won the first five consecutive European Cups, Di Stefano was an incredibly versatile player that made the side tick.
He was made of tough stuff too. He could take the ball from his full-backs, encouraging a nasty challenge from the opposition midfield. Yet he would shrug off such challenges en route to the opponent’s goal. This was a time when tackling could be practically medieval. Even all these years later, Di Stefano’s shadow looms large over Madrid and always will.
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5 Pepe
2007 to 2017
Pepe
Pepe is up there with the hardest players in football history. Although he was sometimes guilty of a very particular blend of petulance and violence, Pepe was a great defender. He won the Champions League three times with Real Madrid.
At the club, he showed every ounce of his dogged determination. He’d never give up, going to great lengths to win the ball for his side. Not always one to dish out praise, Cristiano Ronaldo made an exception for his fellow Portuguese international:
“We won everything there was to win on the pitch, but the biggest triumph is the friendship and the respect I have for you. You're unique, my brother. Thank you for so much."
4 Jose Antonio Camacho
1974 to 1989
Jose Antonio Camacho was a player who enjoyed a tackle, as well as a physical contest. He later became a manager, where he took a similar no nonsense approach to coaching. As a player, he was a left-back with an iron will to win. More often than not, he did.
He won La Liga for Real Madrid an impressive nine times, which included a run of four times in a row in the late 1980s. The Spaniard made nearly 600 appearances for Real Madrid, never giving anything less than his best in the famous white shirt of the capital city.
3 Michel Salgado
1999 to 2009
Michel Salgado
Michel Salgado
Michel Salgado was a real competitor, winning the Champions League twice while at Real Madrid. The right-back was a muscular presence in the Madrid team in the first decade of the 2000s.
A no-nonsense player amid a team of Galacticos, fans could probably relate more to Salgado than every other player. Former teammate Steve McManaman once described him in no uncertain terms:
“A genuine psychopath, even in training.”
It was this drive to continue to maintain a place in the Real Madrid side that Salgado kept with. Pity the attacker who was careless with possession in his presence. They would certainly feel the force of Salgado.
2 Manolo Sanchis
1983 to 2001
Manuel Sanchis
Manuel Sanchis
Manolo Sanchis was a titan for Real Madrid over the course of 18 years with Real Madrid. Able to play as a sweeper or centre-back, he was a hard, but fair player. It was Sanchis who lifted the Champions League for Madrid in 1998, an astonishing 32 years since the club had last won it.
The Spaniard skippered Real Madrid for more than a decade, showing the toughness required to perform week in week out for arguably the world’s biggest club. Remaining at the club for his entire career, he amassed 709 appearances for Los Blancos. In that time, he won eight La Liga titles
1 Fernando Hierro
1989 to 2003
Fernando Hierro
Fernando Hierro
Fernando Hierro was a large and powerful athlete and leader for Real Madrid. Predominantly a centre-back, Hierro was more than capable of playing further up the field. He also knew where the goal was. With 127 goals in 601 Real Madrid games, he is one of the highest scoring defenders in football history.
There was something of the gladiator about Hierro. It wasn’t just his physique or excellent technique, but the way he was so composed and flustered. He didn’t need to put in petty fouls and challenges, he was above all that, displaying a leadership that was resilient and tough during his time with the Spanish giants.