Top 4 centre-back combinations in Serie A

Football journalists, pundits and fans expected the 2013/14 Serie A to be an exciting and hard-fought League, and that’s exactly how it has been so far.

Only 8 points separate Roma (who currently lead the table) from Fiorentina (who are currently placed fifth), which says a lot about how closely matched all these teams are.

While Italian football has shed the ‘boring’ tag, the emphasis on a solid defence still remains. Teams are now employing a more fluid and attacking form of football, but they still don’t concede too many goals. Let’s now take a look at the top centre-back combinations in Serie A:

Leandro Castan (left) and Mehdi Benatia (centre)

1) Mehdi Benatia and Leandro Castan – AS Roma have begun the 2013/14 season in impressive fashion under new manager Rudi Garcia and are currently top of the table.

Both Benatia and Castan have done a solid job in defence, and the two have been a formidable pair, conceding a mere 3 goals in 12 matches. Benatia in particular has settled in extremely quickly after his summer move from Udinese.

Having conceded 134 shots in 12 matches, the fact that they only conceded 3 goals is even more impressive. They have also been extremely proactive in shutting down opposition attacks, making an average of 16.5 interceptions per game. Roma have performed as a unit this year, and their defence has played no small part in that.