Real Madrid: Sergio Ramos, soul of 'nine'

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Manu de Juan

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On December 6, 2005, Sergio Ramos began a path that, 15 years later, already has 101 steps (and counting). The Sevillian scored his first goal with the white shirt at the home of the Greek Olympiakos, in Piraeus, using the luck that best dominates to punish the rivals: the header. At the center of Raúl Bravo, he marked with his head the 0-1 for Madrid, in a duel that the white team would end up losing, already classified for the second round of the Champions League and that came out with a team full of promises: Diego López, De la Red , Balboa, Soldier … That Madrid would hit it in the next round, against Henry's Arsenal, but from that duel in Greece he got at least the first sample of the scorer Ramos. A defender with a soul of nine.

The one from Beds, with his 101 white goals, has already surpassed all the defenders in the history of Real Madrid, except for Fernando Hierro, author of 127 goals with the Madrid shirt, although with a 'trap': the Malaga player played a good part of his career acting as a midfielder, which allowed him to reach the rival's goal much more easily. So much so that in the 1991-92 season the League ended with 21 goals, just two behind the top scorer, Atlético Manolo. Among the pure defenders with the most gunners in the Spanish championship, Ramos is already the first on the list, with 72; Koeman was behind, with 67. His other goals are distributed as follows: 15 in the Champions League, 7 in the Cup, 3 in the Club World Cup, 2 in the European Super Cup and 2 in the Spanish Super Cup. An extensive sample of targets with some key moments.

His first goal against the eternal rival, at the Camp Nou and to put the whites ahead on the scoreboard 2-3 (Messi would close the tie with his third goal of the night). The team then trained by Fabio Capello did not catch the three points that day in Barcelona, ​​but that tie was the starting point of a comeback that would end with a league title for Madrid; that was known as the League of the Burning Nail.

Barcelona is the third team that Ramos has punished the most times: 5 goals, the same as Valencia, Malaga and Leganés. He has done it in 45 Clásicos with the white jersey (in addition to two duels playing for Sevilla). The Sevillian also scored in the mythical 2-6 at the Bernabéu, in the white visit to Barcelona in 2016-17 (head butt to the edge of the end to catch a point) and in the last duel between the two, this League at the Camp Nou, from the penalty spot (1-3 final).

Ramos faces the Sevilla fans.

A love and hate story unites Ramos with Sevilla. Formed in the quarry of the Andalusian club, his transfer to Madrid in the summer of 2005 in exchange for 30 million euros (those that marked his termination clause) earned him the animosity of the Sevilla fans, especially from the most radical section. José María del Nido, the then president of Sevilla, had a special role in that, repeatedly hitting Ramos for asking him to leave Madrid. Since then, the one from Beds is whistled whenever he visits Nervión.

A trauma for Ramos, in whose heart only Sevilla compete with Real Madrid. “As much as I try to change, there are people who do not understand it, as time goes by I hope they forget because I have never done anything to offend and if they understand it, my apologies,” he said in September 2019, after another encounter enduring beeps every time he touched the ball. The fact that Sevilla is their favorite victim will also sting among the Sevilla fans: 7 goals in 33 games. That day in August he made the first, in the Spanish Super Cup. Others would come, like that header in the 93rd minute of the 2016 European Super Cup with which Madrid kept alive, which would end up winning in extra time (3-2); or that penalty scored in the Cup, in 2017, which he celebrated by facing the Biris Norte stands and apologizing to the rest of those who had been his audience.

After years of enduring, Ramos exploded: “This will always be my home, no matter how much some do not understand it.. I have seen Rakitic or Alves received in Seville, who have not 'sucked' here, as if they were gods. The day they bury me it will be with a Sevilla flag and a Madrid flag. I have been coming to play here for a long time, it has never been a welcome as I would have liked, as other players have had. I have apologized to those who have not disrespected me, but another sector of Seville does, they are those who remember my mother and those who stain this hobby “.

After Sevilla, Athletic and Atlético have received six goals each from Sergio Ramos. The first to the rival of the Madrid derby came in the Copa del Rey, at a time when Atleti dragged a curse against Madrid that lasted for almost a decade and a half without knowing victory. There are six goals in 42 derbies among which one shines with its own light: the 93rd minute of Lisbon. Ramos was that day the man of the Tenth.

After the initial 0-1 of Godín, Madrid looked for the tie during the following 60 minutes, without luck. That Atlético, recent league champion, barely showed cracks in his defensive system. Until 92 minutes and 48 seconds of shock were completed, with the rojiblanco bench already celebrating its first Champions League. Modric put the ball in the heart of the area, Bale blocked Juanfran and cleaned the area so that Ramos, with a header, shot the ball into the goal of his now teammate Courtois.

It was only the draw, then three more goals from Bale, Marcelo and Cristiano would come, but Ramos that day won a place in the pantheon of Madrid legends and, incidentally, the nickname of Atleti's black beast, to which He would score the same in a new Champions final two years later, at San Siro (Milan).

Ramos misses a penalty against Bayern.

Ramos had a trauma in his career. In the penalty shootout of the 2011-12 Champions semifinals, he certified the elimination of Madrid against Bayern with a direct penalty to the clouds that provoked the mockery of Neuer, goalkeeper of the Bavarian team: “I did not know that he liked to shoot penalties over the goal …”. Ramos, however, fit the stick with good humor and sent a message: “Football takes many turns and we will have to see each other many times.”

Two years the one from Beds had to wait to take revenge, and he was at ease. In the 2013-14 Champions League semi-finals, Madrid appeared in Munich after winning 1-0 in the first leg at the Bernabéu. The Bavarian team, then trained by Guardiola, generated enormous expectations and threatened to turn the scoreboard to enter the final to be played in Lisbon. Nobody had Ramos, who after 20 minutes had already closed the tie with two headed goals, with Neuer making the statue in both actions.

It is, along with Napoli, the only Champions League rival to whom Ramos has scored more than one goal. And in the following years Madrid specialized in taming Bayern, once the protagonist of Madrid's nightmares in the European Cup: He beat him in the quarterfinals of the Champions 2016-17 and in the semifinals in 2017-18.