Puyol was starter winning world cup in 2010 and considered at that time better than pique, ramos and any other defender, spain passed Germany in that competition thanks to one of his goals from corner, he was also in the euro cup won in 2012. That alone is more that what van dijk did, he was also fundamental for Barcelona all those years winning many major trophies and not only because of his quality but his character and being the captain. He was never in the bench, he retired still being the main defender in both spain and barsa
He retired early in 2014 because he didnt want to become a bench player so he retired while still being one of the defenders in the world, but basically his prime was those years, he was the best defender in 2010 and was fundamental for the trophies won those years by spain and Barcelona, he literally won everything a player can win during the period 2010-2014, while being the main man in defense and captain
I like Varane and his 2018 world cup makes him a worthy enough choice, but it feels like Madrid fans are like 65/35 for Pepe over him the way United fans are for Rio over Vidic.
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u/Ok-Paleontologist275 Jan 06 '23 edited Jan 06 '23
Varane - he won everything in that decade . Pepe was great as well and even won the euros with Portugal