Real Madrid's 5 most influential players of All Time

#2 Santiago Bernabeu

When they name a stadium after you, you know you've done something right. Santiago Bernabeu (far right)

Without Santiago Bernabeu Yeste, there wouldn't be a Real Madrid. Not as we know it.

He was a fan turned youth academy graduate turned starting forward turned director of football turned assistant manager turned manager turned President; he was Real Madrid.

While before the Wars (World War II and the Spanish Civil War), the Madrid he played for was a respectable club and one of the best Spain, what he found during the late '40's after General Franco had prevailed was a club that was dead for all intents and purposes.

With the government supporting Atletico Madrid (then Atletico Aviacion), there was no financial and infrastructural support and what he achieved during his presidency is nothing short of legendary.

He built the stadium that now bears his name (at the time, the press called it "too much of a stadium for so little a club"), restructured the club entirely giving sectional independence and technical expertise, helped create the European Cup (now, the UEFA Champions League) and signed players that would transform the club from a mediocre middle-table club to arguably the biggest in the whole wide world.

And it's one of those players who is no.1 on our list.