Raphael Varane

Raphael Varane is a French professional footballer

Raphaël Xavier Varane (born 25 April 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Spanish club Real Madrid and the France national team.

He previously played for French club Lens and, ahead of the 2010–11 season, began training with the senior team and appeared on the bench in several league matches. On 7 November 2010, Varane made his professional debut in a league match against Montpellier. After one season with the French club, as a professional footballer, Varane joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2011. Since joining the Spanish giants he has made over 200 appearances for the club and has won 15 major honours including: two La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions League titles.At only 24 years of age, Varane won his third UEFA Champions League trophy making him the youngest defender ever to have won three Champions League trophies since Paolo Maldini who was 26 when he won his third Champions League title.

Varane was a France youth international, having earned caps at under-18, under-20 and under-21 level. He made his full international debut in March 2013 and represented the country at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. After an admirable performance during the 2014 FIFA World Cup he was nominated for the Best Young Player award. He won the 2018 FIFA World Cup in which he played every minute of every game.

His contract was extended until 2022 on 27 September 2017. During the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League, he made eleven appearances, when Madrid won their third consecutive and 13th overall Champions League title.

On 17 May 2018, Varane was called up to the 23-man French squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He would go on to start in all seven of France's games and play every minute. In the quarterfinal against Uruguay, Varane exorcised the memories of the 2014 quarterfinal nightmare as he headed the opening goal in France's 2–0 victory. France later went on to win the competition for the second time in history, and Varane became only the fourth player to be a World Cup champion and Champions League winner in the same year, after Christian Karembeu (in 1998), Roberto Carlos (in 2002), and Sami Khedira (in 2014). All the players, like Varane, were playing for Real Madrid at the time they won the World Cup.