Dean Huijsen: Real Madrid's New Defensive Pillar

On a night when Real Madrid finally tripped, Dean Huijsen walked off La Cartuja looking like the only player who had passed his exam.

While the team toiled, ran into a green-and-white wall and kept finding goalkeeper Vieites in the way, the young centre-back from Málaga imposed order and authority. In a first defeat of the season short on positives, the new owner of the number 4 shirt offered one of the very few.

Number 4, and the weight of history

That shirt matters. Huijsen took it from David Alaba, but the number pulls him back to his idols: Sergio Ramos and Fernando Hierro. It is not just a digit on his back; it is a standard to live up to.

Spanish daily Marca reports a clear shift in his mentality since the start of the campaign. The change shows. He plays with harder edges now, with a competitive edge and a fierceness that belies his age. It fits the promise he made when he took the shirt.

“What I know for certain is that I will give everything I have every day, whether that is in training or in matches,” he said. At La Cartuja, he lived that line. The result betrayed Madrid; his performance did not.

Locking down Cucho, standing up to Antony

His mission was clear: keep Juan “Cucho” Hernández quiet. He did it with a maturity that will not have gone unnoticed.

The Colombian barely had room to breathe, let alone receive the ball in the box. Every time Betis tried to find their striker between the lines, Huijsen read it, stepped in, and cut out the supply. When the space opened up, he backed his pace and won those races too.

Then came the duel with Antony. Tense, edgy, exactly the sort of confrontation that exposes any hint of doubt. Huijsen did not flinch. He matched one of Betis’ most explosive players stride for stride and refused to be pushed back.

This was not just a night of clearances and last-ditch tackles. It was control.

Calm on the ball, bold going forward

What truly separated him from the rest of Madrid’s outfielders, alongside Arda Güler, was what happened when the ball reached his feet.

He played out from the back with calm hands and a cold head. First touch under pressure. Right decision, quickly made. No panic, no cheap giveaways that feed a hostile stadium.

And then he went further. Literally.

Huijsen stepped into the opposition box and almost rewrote the story of the night. In the 11th minute, he surged up for a corner, stayed alive to the second phase and forced Vieites into a sharp save from close range. Moments later, his header crashed off the crossbar. Millimetres from turning a difficult night into his own.

After the break, he snapped into a high press, won the ball back and immediately spotted Kylian Mbappé’s run. The pass that followed was close to perfection, inches from becoming the decisive ball of the match. Convert either of those chances and the entire narrative flips.

A partnership still under construction

Next to him, Ibrahima Konaté did his job without ever quite matching Huijsen’s authority.

The Frenchman completed his defensive tasks, but he looked less sure in both phases, especially when Madrid tried to build from the back. The contrast was clear: Huijsen looks fully plugged in; Konaté is still searching for rhythm in a new environment.

The partnership, for now, is uneven. One defender already plays like he has lived in this back line for years. The other needs minutes, mistakes, and continuity to grow into his role in white.

Madrid’s new defensive pillar

For a club that has spent recent seasons worrying about its own penalty area, nights like this matter. The result stings, but the emergence of Dean Huijsen as a genuine defensive gain changes the mood around the back line.

He is not just filling a gap. He is starting to lead.

Performances that echo the legends whose number he wears keep stacking up, and with them grows his influence inside the team. Behind it all sits a personal mission: to fight his way back into Luis de la Fuente’s Spain after missing out on the World Cup squad that lifted the trophy.

Every tackle, every duel, every surge up the pitch now carries the same message: he is not waiting for that chance. He is demanding it.