Dean Huijsen Shines Amidst Real Madrid's Struggles
On a night when Real Madrid finally slipped, Dean Huijsen stood tall.
While his teammates ran aground against a green-and-white wall and a defiant Vieites, the young centre-back turned a difficult evening at La Cartuja into his own personal statement. In a game short on Madridista joy, the number 4 in white offered the one clear shaft of light.
A Number, a Promise, a Different Player
Huijsen didn’t just wear the number 4. He carried it.
Since taking over the shirt from David Alaba, with Sergio Ramos and Fernando Hierro as the ghosts behind that number, the defender has visibly hardened his edge. Spanish daily Marca highlighted how his mentality has shifted since the start of the season: more competitive, more ruthless, more grown-up.
He had promised one thing: “What I know for certain is that I will give everything I have every day, whether that is in training or in matches.” At La Cartuja, in Madrid’s first defeat of the campaign, he lived that sentence.
Locking Down Cucho
His main task was simple on paper and brutal in practice: silence Juan “Cucho” Hernández.
He did it with authority. Huijsen shadowed the Colombian relentlessly, refusing him space in the box, refusing him clean touches, refusing him any sense of comfort. Every time Betis tried to find their striker between the lines, the young defender read the pass, stepped in, and cut it out with the timing of a veteran.
When the game opened up, he matched Cucho stride for stride in the open field. When the tension rose, he didn’t blink. He even went head-to-head with Antony in one of the night’s most charged duels, standing up to one of Betis’s most dangerous dribblers and refusing to retreat.
This was not a kid surviving. This was a centre-back taking ownership.
More Than a Stopper
What truly set Huijsen apart was that his influence didn’t end with tackles and interceptions.
Alongside Arda Güler, he was Real Madrid’s standout performer because of what he did with the ball. He received under pressure and stayed calm. He picked passes with clarity. He played forward when others chose the safe option.
And he nearly changed the story of the night at the other end.
In the 11th minute, he surged into the Betis box from a corner, forced Vieites into a sharp save from close range, then climbed highest to crash a header off the crossbar. A few centimetres lower and he walks away as the unlikely hero.
After the break he stepped up again, winning the ball high and instantly sparking a move that almost turned into a decisive pass for Kylian Mbappé. Those are the moments that swing big games. Convert just one of them and the entire narrative flips.
A Partnership in Progress
Next to him, Ibrahima Konaté delivered a solid but more subdued performance.
The Frenchman completed his defensive duties, but without the same conviction or clarity as his partner. At times he looked unsure, both with and without the ball, a player still adjusting to the demands and rhythm of Real Madrid.
The contrast was clear. Huijsen looked settled, growing, already playing like he belongs in this shirt. Konaté looked like a defender who simply needs minutes, repetitions, and time to sync fully with his surroundings.
The pairing is still under construction. The gap in sharpness is obvious. But the foundation Huijsen is laying gives that project real hope.
Chasing Legends, Chasing La Roja
For a club that has suffered too many defensive wobbles in recent seasons, Huijsen’s emergence feels like a genuine gain, not just a pleasant surprise. On nights like this, when the result stings and the forwards misfire, his presence restores a measure of faith in a back line that has often been the Achilles heel.
He keeps stacking performances that would not look out of place in the eras of his idols. He is not Ramos or Hierro, not yet, but he is playing with the kind of authority and defiance that made those names sacred in Madrid.
Behind it all sits a personal target. Huijsen wants his place back in Luis de la Fuente’s Spain after missing out on the World Cup-winning squad. Every tackle, every duel, every surge into the box is a message: you left me out once. Will you do it again?
