Casemiro is Real Madrid's destroyer, the fighter that must be overcome as opposition attacks make their way towards Los Blancos' goal. To reach Thibaut Courtois, you must first get past the obstacles that is the Brazilian midfielder, and he is proving to be the leader across LaLiga on a number of defensive statistics.

Real Madrid's defensive leader plus

According to Opta's LaLiga data, Casemiro is the player to have recovered the most balls (187), has intercepted the most passes (44), has made the most tackles (74), the most successful tackles (49), and fouled the most by tackling opponents (35). In the opposition's half he has also recovered the most (68) (equalled with Mikel Merino) and intercepted 17 passes.

Casemiro's tackling performance is especially prominent. In the 23 matchdays this season (of which he has played 21 games), he has 74 attempts, 20 more than the next player in the list. An impressive 66.2% (49) of these have been completed successfully.

In addition to these statistics, Real Madrid's results show his importance. The number 14 has missed four games and in those Los Blancos only managed one win, against second division Zaragoza in the Copa del Rey. He was missing for Zidane's first managerial game to concede four goals (against Real Sociedad, also in the cup) and for the two draws against Valencia (1-1) and Athletic (0-0).

For all his sacrifices made to aid the defensive side of his team, Casemiro is also contributing in attack. He has four goals and as many assists in all competitions (three and two in the League). Only Benzema (18 and 9), Kroos (4 and 7), Rodrygo (7 and 2) and Modric (5 and 4) have participated in more goals.

Real Madrid goals and assists 2019-20 Player Goals Assists Benzema 18 9 Rodrygo 7 2 Ramos 6 0 Modric 5 4 Kroos 4 7 Casemiro 4 4 Bale 3 2 Vinicius 3 2 Lucas V. 3 1 Varane 3 1 Valverde 2 4 Jovic 2 2 Nacho 2 0 Isco 2 0 Carvajal 1 6 Marcelo 1 4 James 1 2 Hazard 1 2 Brahim 1 1 Odriozola 0 1 Mendy 0 1 Fuente: Opta In all competitions.

There is no doubt that he is a key cog in Zidane's strongest XI.