BUNDESLIGA'S BEST PAIRINGS

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With more preference on attacking flair and swashbuckling displays placed on teams by its administrators without adequate attention also given the art of defending, this has led to the drop in the quality of defenders produced recently with more and more of them concentrating more on ball play and distribution than their primary job of just defending. But there's a popular saying that "attack wins you games, but defense wins you titles".

This articles seeks to highlight these Centre back defensive pairings that had laid a solid and sometimes impenetrable rear guard for their teams to thrive. With the array of options available, and to do justice to these options, this is going to be done based on the different leagues.

This edition will focus on the German Bundesliga while the English premier league version can be found here and other leagues are coming subsequently.

JEROME BOATENG AND DANTE

This might just be the most underrated and underappreciated defensive duo in football memory. Following the acquisition of Dante in 2012, he joined up with the dependable Boateng who was already Bayern's best defender as they regained their place among the elites in Europe in 2013 as they romped to the UCL trophy.

Boateng was calm, calculated and fast while Dante was the bad boy, roughing up attackers with his huge physique and strong tackling. What he did not have in game reading pace and distribution were complemented by Boateng. He was the team's marker, while Boateng did the sweeper job. Together they built a formidable rear upon which the team rode to European glory. It's just a shame that they were never really appreciated for the job they did.

MATS HUMMELS AND NEVEN SUBOTIĆ

A masterclass pairing that laid the template for Borussia Dortmund to dethrone Bayern as Bundesliga'best and take Europe by storm. With his problems at Bayern Munich, it is easy to forget that at some point Hummels was one of the best defender in the world. As Klopp sought to build a young and vibrant team to conquer Europe (which they nearly did in 2013), He turned to Hummels and Subotić as his bad boys in defense.

While Mats was a clean and intelligent defender who was excellent at reading the game and ball distribution, Subotić did not care much about playing the ball. Subotić was more concerned with disrupting play than playing. He was the bad boy to Hummels's beautiful game. But together they formed a formidable defense that almost won the UCL unless for Bayern's brilliance and luck in the final.

FRANZ BECKENBAUER AND HANS-GEORG SCHWARZENBECK

I will always say it that defending is an art of old. Fewer players in this current generation really understand the art of defending. Step in Beckenbauer and Schwarzenbeck the two rocks upon which the Bayern and West German empire were built in the 1960s and 70s.

Obviously Beckenbauer took most of the shine but some pundits believe that without Schwarzenbeck, then he may not have been as effective as he was.

Schwarzenbeck was the Vidić to Beckenbauer's Ferdinand, the Carvalho to his Terry and the Subotić to his Hummels. Together they formed a partnership that could not be easily broken in an era where football was more physical and dirty.

Regarded by many as the best centrback pairing to ever play for Germany, the duo won titles after titles for Bayern and a world cup for Germany. It culminated in Beckenbauer winning 2 balons d'or (the most for any defender).

Tenacity, intelligence, brilliance, elegance and an imposing presence, they were a terror for attacking, inspiring fear even before the match starts and intimidating throughout the match.

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