When Mariano Diaz inherited the most famous shirt at Real Madrid in the summer of 2018, he tried to play down its significance.
"It's just a number," he insisted, without much conviction.
The number in question and never far from the lips of anyone in the Spanish capital was seven. Since Real Madrid started doling out squad numbers on a semi-consistent basis after the Second World War, some of the club's greatest players have worn the lucky digit.
There have been goalscorers and creators, Ballon d'Or winners and cult figures. And one or two underwhelming anomalies. Here is the full role call of Real Madrid players that have had the honour of wearing a squad number like no other.
Every player to wear the number seven shirt at Real Madrid
Data via Transfermarkt
Ever the willing pioneers, Real Madrid were the first Spanish club to wear numbers on the back their shirts in November 1947. The digitised Real lost 5-0 to city rivals Atletico Madrid.
The Barcelona-born Macala lined up on the right wing for Madrid in that heavy defeat.
While some in Catalonia may wish that Barcelona was not part of Spain, the Hungarian Gyorgy Nemes became the first foreign player to wear the famous digit - which wasn't quite so feted yet - in 1950. However, Nemes only made one appearance for Real Madrid - a 6-2 thrashing at the hands of Real Sociedad - before surgery on a stomach ulcer and a broken leg curtailed his stay in the capital.
By 1956, Raymond Kopa escaped the misfortune lingering over the digit to become the first star seven in the club's history. Within weeks of impressing in defeat to Real Madrid for Reims in the European Cup final, the Frenchman was wearing white.
Kopa's Real Madrid teammate Juan Santisteban remembered how he "did magic, amazing things that you didn't think possible". In 1958, Kopa became the first number seven at the club to win the Ballon d'Or. He would not be the last.
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By the time Real Madrid completed an unprecedented set of five consecutive European Cups, Kopa had vacated the number seven. Brazilian winger Canario filled the void on arguably the greatest night in the history of the club.
Eintracht Frankfurt started the 1960 European Cup final at Hampden Park well, racing into a 1-0 lead and hitting the crossbar.
"We were looking at each other thinking: 'Can this really be happening?'" Canario remembered. "But once we got into our stride, I remember the Scottish fans applauding us." Fittingly, Madrid scored seven that night.
The shirt Amancio Amaro put on at his first Real Madrid training session didn't have the club badge on it, let alone the number seven after he arrived from second-tier Deportivo La Coruna. When Amancio pointed this out, the legendary Alfredo Di Stefano snapped back: "You've got to sweat [to earn] it first, sunshine."
After a decade among the Spanish elite, Di Stefano would be the first to concede that Amancio earned a badge and the number seven.
As early as November 1983, the Spanish publication El Pais commissioned a piece entitled 'Amancio and the Quinta del Buitre'. The former Madrid star had taken charge of the youth team and was in charge of the next golden generation, with another great number seven as its figurehead.
Emilio Butragueno, a nippy striker that Amancio described as "electric and very cool" and was forever known by the nickname El Buitre - the Vulture - was the central piece of the side that won five consecutive league titles between 1986 and 1990, although no European Cups.
In the seventh minute of every Real Madrid home game, the Santiago Bernabeu is enveloped by a round of applause in honour of Juanito. The iconic cult hero draped the number seven shirt in the 1980s but died at the tender age of 37 in a car crash.
Fernando Hierro once opined that Raul "was not a ten out of ten in anything in anything but he was an eight and a half in everything."
The former Atletico Madrid youth product was a number seven for 15 trophy-laden years with Los Blancos, finishing his career as the club's all-time top scorer before handing over his legendary digit to the man that would surpass his record.
Cristiano Ronaldo was reluctant to take the number seven shirt when he joined Manchester United as a teenager but was made to play his first season at Real as a nine before Raul departed in 2010. Ronaldo averaged a goal every 83 minutes across eight years as Real Madrid's number seven.
By comparison, Eden Hazard scored seven goals in four years after Mariano's brief flirtation with the digit. The Belgian disappointment was hardly diverting his energies to create goals for others; Hazard mustered a total of seven La Liga assists for Madrid - the division's goalkeepers boasted a combined eight in the same time period.
Once Hazard's purgatory was mercifully ended in the summer of 2023, Vinicius Junior took up the weighty mantle of Real Madrid's number seven, following in the footsteps of his idol Ronaldo. After the missteps of Mariano and Hazard, the Brazilian offers Madrid's clearest hope of its next magnificent seven.
This article was originally published on 90min as Every player to wear the number 7 shirt at Real Madrid.
