DBasia.news – Some of the best goalkeepers in history have spent career time in Spanish football and this season’s No. 1 players are poised to follow his senior success.
The following are the 20 players who have used the number 1 in the 2020-2021 LaLiga season as well as the ten legends who have used that number before them.
LaLiga is filled with talented players in every position, but Spain’s top caste is full of the best goalkeepers at a time when some of them hit the top while playing in Spain.
Thibaut Courtois belongs to that section. He first used the No.1 on the back for a new Real Madrid this season. Previously, the Belgian player always wore the number 13, but he proved his worth and was entitled to wear the iconic jersey number where his performance helped Real Madrid win the title in the 2019-2020 season.
At Barcelona, the player who wore No.1 was also at his best, namely Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The German player not only displayed his defensive skills during his six years in LaLiga, but also demonstrated his ability to pass.
In the 2019-2020 season, Ter Stegen even listed two assistants in LaLiga by providing feedback for Luis Suarez’s goals against Getafe and Antoine Griezmann against Mallorca.
Not only the big LaLiga Santander clubs have talent with the number 1. Sergio Asenjo in Villarreal and Rui Silva in Granada have recorded 100 saves in the 2019-2020 season.
Meanwhile, Unai Simon has played well for Athletic Bilbao until being called up by Luis Enrique in the last two matches of the Spanish national team.
Meanwhile, in the past, there were some elite goalkeepers who also wore the jersey number 1.
Almost all of the best goalkeepers in LaLiga history wore the Number 1 on their back at some point in their career. Some players prefer alternatives such as Number 13 and Ricardo Zamora, who is perhaps the best LaLiga goalkeeper of all time – whose name is used for the Zamora Trophy – finishing his career before the number jersey was introduced by LaLiga in 1947. However, the majority of the best goalkeepers in Spanish football has worn number 1.
Real Madrid’s No.1 jersey is one of the most prestigious in the league and has been worn by legends such as Paco Buyo and Iker Casillas. The two Spanish goalkeepers have played more than 1,000 games in the top flight, with Buyo finishing fifth on LaLiga’s all-time appearances list with 542 appearances. Meanwhile, Casillas is in seventh position with 510 matches.
The leader in the list of league appearances is Andoni Zubizarreta, who has played 622 top-tier matches during his career with Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona and Valencia.
Zubizarreta is remembered for every club he defended, especially Athletic Club where he was a goalkeeper in successive league championships in the 1980s and at Barcelona when he was goalkeeper for Johan Cruyff’s Dream Team when he won the inaugural European Cup in 1992.
As mentioned earlier, the Zamora Trophy is an award given to the goalkeeper who has conceded the fewest goals in a season and some of the 10 legends have won the award several times.
Victor Valdes has won five awards while with Barcelona. Meanwhile, Santiago Canizares earned him four times for his appearances with Celta Vigo and Valencia. Other notable icons who have worn the No. 1 during his career in LaLiga are Miguel Reina, father of Pepe Reina and a great goalkeeper, Thomas N’Kono, who was nominated as one of the 10 best goalkeepers of all time by France Football, and Monchi, who spent his entire career as a player at Sevilla before becoming a club legend as sporting director.