The best La Liga players of the 21st century

Defence

The choices for the back-four were not as straight forward as the goalkeeper, but I have gone with Roberto Carlos at left-back, his Brazilian counterpart Dani Alves at right-back with a defensive partnership at centre-back of Barcelona’s Carles Puyol and Real’s Fernando Hierro.

Fernando Hierro lifting the 2000 Champions League trophy

The two lynchpins for this operation are arguably two of the greatest centre-backs the league has ever seen. First up – Fernando Hierro – once also of Bolton Wanderers and Al Rayyan, makes the grade. True, his notion of not going out at the top and chasing one more pay check may still rattle some of the old school football fans out there, but there was no doubting his passion and ability when it came to his time in La Liga for both Valladolid and most famously, Real Madrid.

A fierce competitor on the pitch, and a gentlemen and ambassador off of it, Fernando was a leader and example to all his teammates, and in my opinion, one of two reasons Real Madrid were so successful in the Los Galacticos period (the other reason coming up shortly).

He survived the purchase of world class talent and remained a cornerstone of the team for 14 years, playing 439 times and scoring an incredible 102 goals, not bad for a centre back! Effortless with the ball at his feet and dominant in the air, the five-time league winner and three-time Champions League winner is a must for this team.

Partnering him is a similar centre-back who happens to wear red and blue and bleeds Catalonian blood – Carles Puyol – the epitome of Catalonia and FC Barcelona. He is another player who has rode out the constant change of personnel at his team and is again, captain and leader of the greatest club side to grace a football pitch. Where he may lack the technical ability of your Gerard Pique’s or other more favoured ball playing centre-backs, there is not another player you would want on your team when you have to dig in and at times, survive a football match.

He is a player who would lay his life on the line for his club if you asked him and go to war for not only Barcelona, but the Catalonian region itself tomorrow if that was required.

Extremely brave and with excellent passing skills, he is the old school tough tackling, no nonsense, war-horse of a centre-back, a very rare commodity these days. There are plenty of players who kick players all over the park (most ply their trade in Stoke), but not many can boast a trophy cabinet like his which contains 100 caps for Spain, one World Cup and one European Championship, six league titles, two Copa Del Reys and three Champions League wins – all playing for the greatest team of all time is extremely impressive.