Madrid's baby-faced backline: The 21-year-old wall that stood tall at Mestalla
Arbeloa's youthful defensive quartet with an average age of just 21 showed maturity beyond their years as Real Madrid secured a clean sheet victory at Valencia.
Four young lads stepped up to the plate for Real Madrid in Valencia, showing there’s more to defending than just having a few miles on the clock.
The kids are alright
Álvaro Arbeloa fielded a backline at Mestalla with an average age of just 21 years - a defensive unit that wouldn’t look out of place in Real Madrid Castilla:
- David Jiménez (21)
- Raúl Asencio (22)
- Dean Huijsen (20)
- Álvaro Carreras (22)
What makes this even more remarkable is that three of the four are homegrown talent, with only Huijsen not coming through La Fabrica. Jiménez’s surprise inclusion was the cherry on top of a defensive selection rarely seen in a La Liga match of this magnitude.
Necessity breeds innovation
This wasn’t just Arbeloa having a laugh - injuries and partially fit players forced his hand. With no Rüdiger, Alaba, Carvajal, Mendy, Militão or Fran García available from the start, Madrid’s defensive average age plummeted below 22.
The achievement becomes even more impressive when you consider the clean sheet. Thibaut Courtois enjoyed one of his quietest evenings between the sticks - proper cushty for the Belgian shot-stopper!
Unprecedented combination
This wasn’t just a young defence - it was an entirely untested one. These four had never played together before the Valencia match, marking the 23rd different defensive combination Madrid have deployed in just 35 matches this season. Talk about having to use your loaf with selection headaches!
The injury crisis has forced constant defensive reshuffling, with only two backline combinations used more than once. Both featured the trio of Valverde, Huijsen and Carreras, with either Militão or Asencio completing the quartet.
For all the concerns about inexperience, these youngsters showed that sometimes you don’t need to be long in the tooth to stand firm when it matters. If this is the future of Madrid’s defence, the future’s looking bright.