How good was Ivan Helguera? The forgotten man of football?

[tentan]

World class or just a good player at best?

He was a mainstay in the team during Madrids galactic era but seems to be overshadowed and somehow forgotten about. He started in CL finals too.

There's barely anything about online - wikipedia page is quite short and no real youtube clips of him.

Was he Madrids equivalent of a O'shea/Wes Brown type or was he better than that?

 

[foolsgold]

O'Shea and Brown both had really successful careers and are a high benchmark. Wes won 5 league titles and 2 champions league medals.

They're solid comparisons

 

[mav_9me]

I remember him as their oshea, he was alright. Lot of credit though for moving from a regular starter CM to a regular starter CB.

 

[ti vu]

He's around Thiago Motta level. Just slightly below world class level, but a very good player, and versatile. Play seamlessly with top players but not exactly stood out most of the time. Not having him around then expose the team.

You don't just man mark Scholes out of the game, or survive at Real Madrid that long during Galaticos project by utility role.

 

[tentan]

O'Shea and Brown both had really successful careers and are a high benchmark. Wes won 5 league titles and 2 champions league medals.

They're solid comparisons

 

[I’m loving my life]

Didn’t he go to Bolton wanderers?

 

[RedTiger]

Didn’t he go to Bolton wanderers?

That was Ivan campo

 

[Hoof the ball]

That was Ivan campo

You mean the leader of The Orphans gang from The Warriors movie?

 

[No Love]

That was Ivan campo

Could also be thinking of Fernando Hierro.

@I’m loving my life

 

[Gio]

He's around Thiago Motta level. Just slightly below world class level, but a very good player, and versatile. Play seamlessly with top players but not exactly stood out most of the time. Not having him around then expose the team.

You don't just man mark Scholes out of the game, or survive at Real Madrid that long during Galaticos project by utility role.

Agreed. He was exposed by Real’s Zidanes and Pavons strategy which left him with poor teammates at the back and a lack of protection in front. But he was a solid all-rounder who was well sought after at Espanyol before joining Real. He was best next to the experienced Hierro, yet not quite good enough to single-handedly lead the defence after Hierro had gone.

 

[Bondi77]

Never heard of him!

 

[tomaldinho1]

Could also be thinking of Fernando Hierro.

@I’m loving my life

I also thought that was him. Hierro was class, obviously went to Bolton when he was in his twilight years after a stint in the Middle East so we saw the old man version.

Helguera is a great shout for a forgotten man, I remember his face and knew he played for Real but I couldn’t tell you anything about him.

 

[demetre]

Fun fact: he has more Champions League goals than Brazilian Ronaldo and David Villa.

Helguera - 15
Ronaldo, Villa - 14

 

[GlasgowCeltic]

Better than Albiol and Nacho

 

[OverratedOpinion]

I feel Wes Brown was a dramatically better player than O'Shea and so it is not fair to lump them together as people often do.

 

[Rozay]

Was a very good player. Played centre half and CDM. Was graceful, and also a key man for Spain. Fell somewhere in between the Zidane’s and Pavon’s in terms of standing.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Spanish John O'Shea? What about him?

 

[Tallis]

I wouldn’t say he was close to World Class. Good solid player who tried hard and looked classy. Much better than Maguire

 

[Baneofthegame]

Fun fact: he has more Champions League goals than Brazilian Ronaldo and David Villa.

Helguera - 15
Ronaldo, Villa - 14

That’s literally mental.

 

[Chipper]

You mean the leader of The Orphans gang from The Warriors movie?

Great shout! I'll never unsee that now, amazed I never noticed before.

 

[tentan]

Was a very good player. Played centre half and CDM. Was graceful, and also a key man for Spain. Fell somewhere in between the Zidane’s and Pavon’s in terms of standing.

 

[DatIrishFella]

Rozays post

Theres a grand canyon size difference between Zizou and Pavon so that doesnt really help

 

[NoPace]

He's around Thiago Motta level. Just slightly below world class level, but a very good player, and versatile. Play seamlessly with top players but not exactly stood out most of the time. Not having him around then expose the team.

You don't just man mark Scholes out of the game, or survive at Real Madrid that long during Galaticos project by utility role.

I think Thiago Motta was world class, just for a short period of time. Fantastic technically for a #6. Chose Italy over Brazil and he wasn't as great as Pirlo, but if he'd stayed with Brazil he would presumably have started over Melo and I think they'd have edged past the Dutch and at least made the semis.

 

[Longlivekeano]

He falls into the upper half European, CL class of players but nowhere near the elite, world class.

somewhere with the ranks of Salgado, Hierro, Guti, Morientes

 

[ilrm]

World class or just a good player at best?

He was excellent until the 2003-04 season. Clean tackler, excellent passer, his lack of pace did not hinder him as he was good at reading the game. His aerial game was decent. He even played as DM in a few important games.
After the 2003-04 season, his level just collapsed. He made tons of errors every game. I wish he could have been moved to DM permanently but by that time his mobility was severely compromised.
At his peak he’d be a solid 3rd choice defender for any of the top teams today.

 

[tenpoless]

Very good. Won the Master League 3 times in a row with my team in Winning Eleven playing besides Roberto Carlos as a left wing and Shevchenko as CM.

 

[Bondi77]

I can't remember.

 

[GatoLoco]

He falls into the upper half European, CL class of players but nowhere near the elite, world class.

somewhere with the ranks of Salgado, Hierro, Guti, Morientes

Hierro was world class. The other three belong to a different tier (although Guti was world class when he wanted to be).

 

[horsechoker]

Very good. Won the Master League 3 times in a row with my team in Winning Eleven playing besides Roberto Carlos as a left wing and Shevchenko as CM.

This is the most hipster thing I've ever read

 

[Oldyella]

I feel Wes Brown was a dramatically better player than O'Shea and so it is not fair to lump them together as people often do.

Definitely.

 

[B20]

He falls into the upper half European, CL class of players but nowhere near the elite, world class.

somewhere with the ranks of Salgado, Hierro, Guti, Morientes

Hierro is at least one tier above the others in that group.

 

[Oranges038]

Very good. Won the Master League 3 times in a row with my team in Winning Eleven playing besides Roberto Carlos as a left wing and Shevchenko as CM.

Wasn't it just R. Larcos back then?

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

Ivan Helguera, he had a fun defensive partnership with Cannavaro, in 06/07, some days they were soo good, some days, shocking, but it was fun season where Madrid sealed the league in the last match against Mallaroca with goals from Reyes (RIP) and M.Diarra, Becks assisted 1 or 2 goals in that game too IIRC, it was the last season at RM for R.Carlos, Helguera, Becks, and Capello left and replaced by Bernd Schuster, Pepe, Heinze, Sneijder and Robben, won the league again.

 

[Red the Bear]

Pretty good i say, good enough to make the UEFA team of the year or whatever that is in his hey day.

You won't get that far without being at least Pretty good at what you do.

 

[Rozay]

Theres a grand canyon size difference between Zizou and Pavon so that doesnt really help

Well there was also a defined personnel strategy at Real called ‘Zidanes y Pavons’ which meant they had either galacticos or academy/young squad players. Helguera fell i to neither of those categories, he was better than the ‘Pavones’ and closer to a key player than a squad player.

 

[tentan]

Pretty good i say, good enough to make the UEFA team of the year or whatever that is in his hey day.

You won't get that far without being at least Pretty good at what you do.

 

[GeneralKenobi]

Hierro was world class. The other three belong to a different tier (although Guti was world class when he wanted to be).

Yeah, it was a really weird, comparison. Hierro had the best career but Guti was truly something else.

Both Ronaldo and Zidane said that Guti was one of the, if not the most talented, player of that team. He never was as focused as the rest but you can't compare him to Salgado or Helguera.

Helguera did well in his role and didn't look out of tune surrounded by legendary players. He spent many years in Madrid and wore the captain's armband several times which is not an easy task.