He is the best penalty taker in the world. Neither Messi nor Cristiano, it's Sergio Ramos. Tastes aside, effectiveness is like cotton, it does not deceive: with the El Clásico, the camero's streak from eleven meters is 25 penalties converted without blemish. More than two years (September 2018, in front of ‘su’ Sevilla) without missing a single one …
This time it was Juan Palomo. Lenglet finally gave him the penalty that he had promised on each set piece and Ramos then beat Neto after a double paradinha to do the 1-2. Since his famous penalty in the Champions League semi-finals in 2012 against Bayern, straight to the sky of Madrid, the Andalusian has trained as a specialist. He was spurred on not so much by the joke on social networks, where he was the meat of gifs Y memes, like mocking him in his own profession. “I did not know that Ramos liked to shoot penalties over the goal. A planet or a UFO may have been loaded … “scoffed Neuer, the Bavarian goalkeeper that day. But Ramos, like Madrid, always comes back: remember his subsequent double (to Neuer, obviously) in the 0-4 in Munich before the Tenth.
Ramos thus celebrated his goal against Barça in El Clásico.
DPA via Europa Press
Ramos has grown a Leonidas beard and his physical toughness does not expire. From the blow to his left knee on the day of Cádiz he went into almost fanatical mode to recover. In the medical conclave it was decided to ‘sacrifice’ the Shakhtar match in order to ensure the stake against Barça and, against the clock, the camero overloaded an overload and tendinosis to be able to wear the armband at the Camp Nou. “There is a lot of gym work to be able to play this game and people don't know it …”, the white captain himself confessed yesterday. It is also not surprising. For Ramos to miss a game like this, he would have to be shot in the legs and It is not ruled out that he presents himself, like El Cid, to win on stretchers. For Madrid it is life insurance.
He overcame an overload and also a tendinosis to be at the Camp Nou.
There is a component in Ramos' racial aura that connects better with the old Real Madrid than Varane's synthetic and cerebral style. The day that Madrid lives in rationality it will not be Madrid. That is why he can lose in the same week against a recently promoted in the League, be overwhelmed by ‘Shakhtar B’ in the Champions League, and still close it by taking a Clásico with a lot of personality and at home. The personality that Sergio Ramos squanders.
And there are already a hundred goals with Madrid …
Sergio Ramos was satisfied with the Clásico twice: the 1-2 that was essential for Madrid's triumph supposes his 100th goal with the madridista jersey. Since the camero's first goal with Madrid, on December 6, 2005 against Olympiakos in the Champions League, to yesterday's, 5,801 days have passed, almost fifteen years. He is the highest scoring defender in history among Spanish clubs, beating precisely the coach who suffered yesterday, Koeman (88). The defender who scored the most goals at Atlético was Arteche (28), Goikoetxea at Athletic (44), Quique (26) at Valencia and Sanjosé (20) at Sevilla. To Ramos we must also add three points as a sevillista. Ramos' goals with Madrid are distributed as follows: 71 in the League, 15 in the Champions League, seven in the Cup, two in the European Super Cup, two in Spain and three in the Club World Cup.