Zidane, Di Stefano and both Ronaldos were fairly obvious choices, Raphael Varane is a little bit of a surprise and unfortunately there was no room for Jonathan Woodgate.
Throughout their history, Los Blancos have attracted some of the world’s greatest footballing imports to Madrid and ahead of the Champions League semi-final draw this afternoon, Spanish paper Marca published the club’s all-time greatest foreign XI as selected by their readers.
Marca ran the poll on their website after only one Spanish player, goalkeeper Diego Lopez, was selected for their Champions League victory over Galatasaray on Tuesday night.
The first XI voted for by the fans is a pretty impressive looking one in a 3-4-3 formation, with Bodo Illgner (who commanded 72.4 per cent of votes) in goal behind Fabio Cannavaro and Roberto Carlos in defence, with Fernando Redondo, Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Michael Laudrup forming a very formidable foursome in midfield.
Up front, Cristiano Ronaldo featured alongside his namesake (fat, original, now quite normal-looking, call him what you want) Ronaldo, with the great Alfredo di Stefano earning his place in the front three after being voted for by 26 per cent of Marca readers.
English fans of Madrid might be a little disappointed by the omissions of the likes of Steve McManaman, David Beckham, Michael Owen and eh, Jonathan Woodgate, but if that collection of players were put onto a pitch when they were all in their prime, you’d fancy them to have at least as good a chance as the current crop of becoming the kings of Europe.
Hat-tip: 101 Great Goals
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