Top 5 Centre-Back Pairings in Recent History

Over the years, football fans across the globe have been blessed with some wonderful centre-backs. Some of these defenders have gone on to form great partnerships while excelling for certain teams. Let’s look at the Top 5 Centre-Back Pairings in Recent History. 

Paolo Maldini & Alessandro Nesta

Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta were two of the best defenders of their generation and arguably the best defenders of all time. They formed an outstanding partnership for both AC Milan and the Italian national team. Maldini was a complete defender who could play anywhere across the backline, while Nesta was a tough-tackling centre-back with excellent positional sense. Together, they won numerous trophies for AC Milan, including five Serie A titles and two Champions League titles.

John Terry & Ricardo Carvalho

Chelsea’s dominance in the English Premier League began in the early 2000s and at the back, they had John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho. The two Centerback pairing was instrumental in the early years of Jose Mourinho’s success at the club. Carvalho was more of a smart defender capitalising on using space and good in the aerial balls. Meanwhile, Terry was a rough and no-nonsense defender and good at making tough tackles.

Sergio Ramos & Raphael Varane

Sergio Ramos and Varane were instrumental in recent Real Madrid success, especially on the European stage which saw them win four UEFA Champions League trophies in a space of five years. Varane was thrown into the first eleven taking a place of Pepe even though not many tipped him to do a good job but he proved critics wrong. By the time Varane left Madrid for Manchester United, he had already cemented his status as the club legend. Meanwhile, Ramos started as the right back before switching to the centre back position and managed to adapt to the new position with ease.

Nemanja Vidic & Rio Ferdinand

One of the greatest centre-back partnerships in English Premier League history, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were beasts at the back and were exceptional in doing the job. Both were built strong, but they had different qualities which contributed to them making it hard for strikers to go past them.

Vidic was too strong both in the air and gave strikers a hard time as he was a hard tackler. He also scored some cracking goals in the United shirt. Meanwhile, Ferdinand was a good reader of the match, good at making quick decisions and full of great leadership. Both defenders contributed largely to Sir Alex Ferguson’s glory days at Old Trafford.

Gerard Pique & Carles Puyol

The time when Barcelona were unstoppable in European football was between 2009 and 2011. At the back, they had Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique. It was a strong partnership which dominated even in the Spanish national team.

Puyol, arguably one of the very disciplined players the game will ever see had good leadership skills and was a good conductor at the back. Meanwhile, Pique had the quality of playing good football which is something Barcelona was good at. In the modern game, Pique showed many defenders that they must be good at playing the ball too.