Sergio Ramos’ career C.V. is a match for any player from any era.
On four occasions he has lifted the Champions League as captain of Real Madrid. On five occasions he has led the Spanish giants to a La Liga title.
Along the way, the highly accomplished Andalusian has been named La Liga’s best defender a record five times and all told 751 professional appearances for Sevilla, Los Blancos and PSG has harvested 22 major honours, a remarkable haul.
Thank you all. 😍@Globe_Soccer “Best defender of all time” award pic.twitter.com/TSENR5ImdY
— Sergio Ramos (@SergioRamos) November 17, 2022
It’s little surprise therefore that the latter are currently short-priced in our Ligue 1 odds to finish as champions again. Silverware has accompanied every step of the defender’s long journey.
It’s a strike-rate too that extends to Ramos’ international outings, with Spain famously winning the World Cup in 2010 along with twice triumphing at the Euros, and the no-nonsense centre-back can be justifiably very proud of being his country’s record appearance-maker, gaining a frankly staggering 180 caps.
Sergio Ramos: All-Time Great?
By every definition then, and by every metric, Sergio Ramos is a stonewall legend for both Los Blancos and La Roja.
A player simply doesn’t reach such estimable heights – and stay there for nearly two decades – without being a master of his craft and Ramos was, and is, certainly that.
A magnificent anticipator of danger, the 36-year-old can organise a back-line with the best of them and classy in possession, and ruthless when not, he has consistently thwarted the world’s elite, by turns a rock and a colossus.
Indeed, so lofty is his stature the great Zinedine Zidane has referred to him as ‘noble’. Carlo Ancelotti meanwhile insists he is a ‘complete’ defender.
Yet, when the time comes soon that this behemoth of the modern game hangs up his boots there will be scant mention of his unparalleled achievements, nor his supreme attributes.
Such plaudits will be relegated – in some quarters at least - to way down in the text.
Because when Sergio Ramos retires, the headlines will focus on how forwards can now rest easy, free from a player who consistently thwarted them by fair means or otherwise.
A player who knew where the boundaries lay and was more than prepared to cross over.
Sergio Ramos Red Card History
Ramos saw red 28 times throughout his service and though technically that’s not a record, it’s only because in Colombia an obscure, unhinged midfielder named Gerardo Bedoya kicked lumps out of opponents for the sheer fun of it.
Certainly, in Europe his tally of sending offs has never been bested and the same can be true of top-level football where Edgar Davids comes in a distant second, three dismissals behind.
Away to Espanyol in September,2005, that’s where it all began for the take-no-prisoners centre-back, and just 11 days later another early bath beckoned following a lash-out in the Champions League.
When a third red was brandished in his direction soon after word got out that Ramos was a combustible type, to put it mildly. A player it was always worth checking the betting odds on that he would finish the game.
Breaking down his litany of loutishness we find that five of his 28 have come against Barcelona – no doubt exasperated by Lionel Messi, a nemesis now a team-mate – and four in the Champions League, but here we must stop celebrating Ramos’ fragrant disregard for the laws.
Because very soon his defensive hijinks will be a memory, and his tributes will inevitably portray him to be one of the dirtiest exponents of a dirty game.
We should remember that amidst all of the madness, Sergio Ramos was also an extraordinary talent.
Ramos is no longer at the Bernabeu but those who enjoy Real Madrid betting tips will forever remember his impact under those famous floodlights.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 3rd January 2023
