As Sergio Ramos calls time on his 16-year career at Real Madrid, his captaincy will be passed on to another club icon – Marcelo.
As a result, Marcelo will become the first foreign captain of the club since 1904, with each club captain in between being from Spain, back to when Federico Revuelto of Guatemala was captain 117 years ago.
At Real Madrid, the captaincy is given to the player who has been in the first team for the longest, meaning that the Brazilian, who has been at the club for 15 years, will be given the armband.
This tradition has attracted criticism in the past, such as from Jose Mourinho, who was reluctant to give the captaincy to Iker Casillas as he wanted an outfielder to wear the armband instead, but it has still remained.
As for Marcelo, given that he is once again set to face limited time on the pitch next season, the armband will primarily be worn in his absence by Karim Benzema, who is just behind Marcelo in terms of years spent at the club and has become arguably the side’s most important player.
Since taking over as club captain from Iker Casillas in 2015, Sergio Ramos has led the team to a remarkable period of success as he lifted 12 trophies, including the three consecutive Champions League titles from 2016 to 2018.
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