You can’t deny that Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos is a world class talent. He’s a tremendous centre-back, he can score valuable goals and he has an endless amount of passion coursing through his veins.

The thirty-one year old has also managed to win pretty much every major trophy there is out there worth winning.

But unfortunately for Ramos, and his teammates, the defender also possesses that rash side of his game that often sees him getting into trouble. It’s almost as if the Spanish international has a self destruct button in the back of his head and it’s constantly telling him to press it!

The all too familiar sight of seeing Ramos receive a red card for a stupid, needless challenge happened again last night as Real lost to their bitter rivals FC Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabéu. The result saw Barca climb above Madrid into La Liga’s top spot.

In the seventy-seventh minute, just four minutes after Barca took the lead, Ramos lunged in on Lionel Messi with a dangerous two footed challenge. Thankfully Messi had enough presence of mind to dodge most of the impact but the referee had noted that Sergio was out of control and so sent the defender off.

Ramos would the bitch and moan about the decision and he’d have a pop at Gerard Pique on the way off too but in reality he’d given his side an up hill task.

To be fair to Los Blancos, they managed to get back into the game through a fine goal from James Rodriguez.

Ultimately though, Ramos’ sending off came back to haunt Real.

In the dying moments of the game as both teams craved a winner, Sergio Roberto charged forward into Madrid’s half. The right back then played it to Andre Gomes, who in turn waited before releasing Jordi Alba of the left. The wing back then ventured into Real’s penalty area before cutting the ball back to Messi and the Argentine struck a superb last gasp winner.

During that goal, you could see that Real’s defence were all at sea. They were a man down and were clearly missing their captain. I’m not saying their number four would have definitely stopped that goal from happening but he’d have certainly been more of a help on the field rather than in the changing room!

Again Sergio Ramos isn’t a naive youngster, nor was this his first El Clásico. He is now a veteran and he should be able to control his emotions. His sending off was because of poor judgement and his temper getting the better of him.

If I were Real Madrid’s boss Zinedine Zidane, I’d have given Ramos one hell of a bollocking after the game. I’m doubtful he did, especially when you consider Zizou retired after head butting Marco Materazzi during a World Cup final.

But in all honesty surely someone has to have a word with Ramos and explain to him that he needs to react better to bad situations. Last night saw him receive his twenty-second dismissal and that’s just during his stint at Real Madrid. That is an absolutely dreadful record for any player to have.

Five of those red cards have come against Barcelona, just when his team needs him the most.

As I’ve said before, Sergio Ramos is a wonderfully talented central defender, one of the best of his generation in fact. But he’s seriously no good to his teammates if he’s in having an early bath or missing important games through suspension.

I’d like to think he could learn from these mistakes but history seems to prove that he’ll always be a hot-head and ultimately a liability!

Posted on April 24th, 2017 by scott
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