World Cup 2018: Top 20 centre-backs in the tournament

6. Mats Hummels

Mats Hummels

Mats Hummels is generally considered an excellent centre-back yet one cannot the feeling that his great performances often remain unacknowledged. Perhaps this is due to Hummels playing for a dominant Bayern Munich side whose only real challenge tends to occur in the latter stages of the Champions League. The Bayern defender has been one of the most consistent centre-backs in the world over the last nine years as the German’s lowest player rating in the Bundesliga over that spell was 7.25- a number that would be a career-high for almost all defenders. Last season, the German averaged an incredible 2.4 tackles (winning an amazing 80% of his tackles) and 2.1 interceptions per game. While the German’s pass success percentage was an average 87.3%, this was partially due to the defender playing a large number of long balls (5.8 successful ones per game). Hummels does not look like the most aerially dominant defender, yet still won 62.2% of his aerial duels. Perhaps the best way to understand Hummels’ excellence is by looking at his performances in the 2014 World Cup. The Bayern Munich defender had a spectacularly good player rating of 7.85 which ranked 12th in the tournament and 2nd for the champions (also 2nd among centre-backs). Nonetheless, what prevents Hummels from breaking into the top 5 of these rankings (along with his average passing numbers) is his failure to help Bayern reach the Champions League final since 2013. During that spell the Germans have struggled defensively in key moments- having conceded 16 goals in eight Champions league semi-final ties.

5. Gerard Pique

Gerard Pique

Alex Ferguson did not make many mistakes in his 27 year stint at Manchester United, yet selling Gerard Pique (albeit at the request of the defender) back to Barcelona may have been one of them. Since then Pique hasn’t looked back as he has become one of the best central defenders in the world. Despite being 31 years old, Pique had the highest player rating (7.16) of any centre-back in La Liga last season. While his raw defensive statistics are rather mediocre as he averaged exactly 1 tackle and 1 interception per game, this is mainly due to Barcelona’s attacking dominance in La Liga last season. The Spaniard won 59% of his tackles indicating the defender’s ability to stop dribbling moves by opposing players. The Barcelona defender also won 71% of his aerial duels, vital for a Spanish side which will be targeted on set-pieces by technically inferior teams. Pique may also provide an unique dimension to La Roja’s usual tiki-taka style of play by being an aerial threat on set-pieces. Nonetheless, Pique also has the ability to support ‘tiki-taka’ as his pass success percentage was a rather excellent 89.4%. Looking at these statistics along with Pique’s history of success at international tournaments with Spain, one must be wondering why Pique is only ranked 5th. The main reason for this is his occasional tendency to make major errors (especially in the Champions League over the past couple of seasons). Despite this, if Pique can continue his excellent league performances while playing for Spain, La Roja may still be one of the favorites.