Real Madrid field unique Squad with No Spaniard against Villarreal; break 121-year old record
Real Madrid XI has broken a 4,435 matches long record as they named a starting eleven line-up without a single Spanish footballer for the first time ever in the history of the club in their La Liga loss at Villarreal this Saturday.
After this defeat, Ancelotti’s front now remains second in standings behind their archrivals Barcelona due to goal difference. However, as Barca are set to face Atletico Madrid later today, unless they beat them by two or more goals, Real Madrid would be finishing above their nemesis owing to their head-to-head record.
Real Madrid, the Spanish giants, were beaten deservedly according to many fans at the Ceramica Stadium after Setien’s squad as now moved up in the standings to the fifth position in the La Liga table with their fifth consecutive win across all competitions.
What made the game even more notable for the European champions’ point of view is because they had not selected a single Spaniard in their starting eleven line-up for the first time in the history of the club. In all the 4,435 matches played by the club in its history, they had at least one Spanish player playing on the pitch in their starting XI.
Despite having a handful of Spaniards on the bench ready to play for Ancelotti, which included stars like Marco Asensio, Lucas Vazquez, Nacho Fernandez, Dani Ceballos, and Luis Lopez, none of the above got the chance to be included in the starting XI against Villarreal.
Instead, the line-up of the Bernabeu front were the three French players (Aurelien Tchouameni, Ferland Mendy and Karim Benzema), the two Germans (Antonio Rudiger and Toni Kroos), alongside two Brazilians (Vinicius Junior and Eder Militao), an Austrian (David Alaba), a Uruguayan (Federico Valverde), and a Belgian (Thibaut Courtois).
