The man who has marshalled the best defence in the World Cup so far will relish the task of trying to stop his old foe Cristiano Ronaldo when Uruguay and Portugal meet in Sochi tomorrow.
The Madrid derby comes to the shores of the Black Sea in the last 16 with Uruguayan captain Diego Godin, of Atletico, and his club team-mate Jose Maria Gimenez coming up against Real and Portugal's five-time Ballon d'Or winner.
It will be a fascinating battle at the Fisht Stadium with Ronaldo, at 33, enjoying his best World Cup but Uruguay the only side to come through the group stage in Russia without conceding a goal.
Godin is an expert at keeping clean sheets, as the leader of an Atletico defence that is the most formidable in the European club game -- they kept 34 in all competitions last season -- and of a Uruguay side that has not conceded a goal in 2018 in six games.
Ronaldo, though, has already scored four times at this World Cup, including a hat-trick on his last visit here when Portugal drew 3-3 with Spain. That means he has 85 international goals, more than any other male European player in history.
In the last two years, he has scored two hat-tricks for Real against Godin's Atletico, having also emerged victorious in two Madrid derby Champions League finals.
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- Overachievers -
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"It's not just in this World Cup that they have not been conceding goals. It has been like that for the whole of 2018. Oscar Tabarez is the longest-serving international manager. That means he has a very strong relationship with his players."