Real Madrid and FC Barcelona will be competing at least until the winter break with squads in which one special shirt number has not been allocated. This has never happened before with the royals.
The number 9. The centre forward. Whoever wears this number on their back provides a goal threat, which is how the 9 is usually perceived from the royal league to the district league. At Real Madrid, Alfredo di Stefano once wore it, later Santillana or Hugo Sanchez. They were followed by Fernando Morientes, Ronaldo or – most recently – Karim Benzema, since back numbers have been permanently assigned to players since the 1990s.
The number 10, the playmaker. Often the best player in a team. Perhaps the most special number. At least that’s how most football players and fans think – many years ago, even today. At FC Barcelona it was worn by Ladislao Kubala or Luis Suarez Miramontes, later it adorned Diego Maradona’s back. Or those of Romario, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and, of course, Lionel Messi. His successor, a great honour, was homegrown Ansu Fati in 2021.
Potential successors decided differently
With the departures of Benzema at Real (permanently to Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia) and Fati at Barça (on loan to Brighton in the Premier League), it has now actually come to pass that the Royals are without a number 9 and the Blaugrana without a number 10. The last time this happened at FCB was briefly after Romario’s sudden departure in the winter of the 1994/95 season; there has never been a time in Madrid’s club history without a number 9 – until the 1990s, numbers 1 to 11 were simply assigned before most matches.
Potential successors would certainly have existed: Real signed centre-forward Joselu as a back-up, but not as a clear Benzema replacement. Another striker was not to come. On Deadline Day, Barça still had the creative attacker Joao Felix on loan. Both Joselu and Joao Felix would have been suited to the numbers left vacant at the back. Both opted for 14.
