Ramos and Varane are enjoying their best moment under Zidane Real Madrid Impressive in defence

Real Madrid's defensive record this season has seen them mount challenges on all fronts.

Zinedine Zidane's side are top of LaLiga Santander, into the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey and preparing for their Champions League last 16 tie with Manchester City.

Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane are on their best form defensively since Jose Mourinho departed in 2013.

Reconstruction

Ramos and Varane are yet to lose this campaign while playing together at the back.

Eder Militao split the pair up during Real Madrid's only two defeats of the season, playing alongside Varane at Paris Saint-Germain and alongside Ramos at Real Mallorca.

That means Ramos and Varane have gone 23 matches unbeaten together in all competitions this season.

Elsewhere in Europe, Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez have gone 20 unbeaten with Liverpool and Thiago Silva and Pascal Kimpembe have gone 17 without losing with PSG.

The consistency at the back has also been key.

The pair kept 11 clean sheets in 33 matches last season while they worst campaign together was when they kept just five clean sheets in 25 matches in 2014/15.

Goalscoring prowess

While Ramos and Varane have been lauded for their defensive work, they're quite handy in the opposition penalty area too.

Between them, they have nine goals this season. Varane has already scored four goals this season - his joint best tally for a season at Real Madrid along with 2016/17.

Ferland Mendy and Dani Carvajal have also been an integral part of this new-found security in defence with their displays from full-back.