Ramos, soul of '9'

Sergio Ramos walks the path of the highest scoring defenders in history. A condition that must be assigned with caution, given the difficulties to scrutinize the statistics of past eras, not only in terms of numbers, but also in terms of other more advanced demarcations in which the defenders were able to develop. But what the data and his 127 goals in the elite do make clear (plus another two in Second B with the Sevilla subsidiary) is that the Real Madrid captain has installed himself in the olympus of defenders with more dynamite and that still aspires to occupy a more privileged position in the ranking.

Today in a soccer game all kinds of statistics are collected. From the last 15 years you can collect infinite parameters of a player. More recently, analysts have advanced metrics on different aspects of the game to further break down a player's performance. But the task is complicated when it comes to delving into statistics, even simple ones, from the past. Goal up, goal down, the comparison of various sources points to Koeman as the highest-scoring defender in history. The current Barcelona coach amassed up to 253 goals in a career in which he specialized as a penalty taker (46 of the 67 he scored as a Barça player in the Spanish league were from 11 meters). He is seconded by the former Argentine coach Daniel Pasarella, who in his stage as a player reached 182 goals. The podium is completed by Fernando Hierro with 163 goals, although at least fifty are documented in his time as a midfielder. Ramos is three goals away from matching Scottish international Graham Alexander in the top-5.

There is no doubt that in recent years Ramos has emerged as the top scorer of the football elite. Since he signed for Real Madrid (2005-2006 season, the first for which Opta has consolidated data), he is the top scorer in the five main European championships.. The one from Beds has scored 72 league goals, for the 46 scored by the Brazilian, and also a central defender, Naldo for Werder Bremen, Wolfsburg and Schalke (where he now serves as assistant coach) in the Bundesliga. The third is, with 34 goals in the Premier and Serie A, the Serbian Kolarov, another footballer who has also moved through the center of the field in some stages of his career.

With 101 points, Ramos also occupies a preferential place in the ranking of scorers of Madrid in the XXI century: is seventh after Christian (450), Benzema (254), Raul (222 of their 323), Higuain (121), Bale (105) and Ronaldo (104).

His total figure of 127 goals as a professional is completed with the 3 goals he made for Sevilla (the last of them, against Real Madrid) and 23 with Spain.