Sergio Ramos - A Misunderstood Footballer

     Sometimes even the most mild-mannered fans want blood, revenge, a win-at-all-costs mentality. Sometimes all they want is a villain to drag them over the line. He has dragged his team if not teams over the line, he has defended as if his life was on the line, he has scored some of the most important goals in club's history, he has done it all but is he really a villain? Many of them will say yes but to a few of us, he is an ultimate hero and an inspiration. Sergio Ramos is a media portrayed anti-hero of football. But he is very good at what he does: defending, scoring goals, winning matches and trophies for club and country. It all started when he made a gigantic 27m euro - move from Sevilla to Real Madrid in 2005. Sevilla fans didn't like the move. When Real Madrid played Sevilla at Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán on the final matchday in the 2005-06 season, Sevilla fans chanted and sweared at him. That was very hard to take for a 19 year old but after nearly 8 years, he got his revenge. When Madrid travelled to Sevilla for a Copa del Rey match, they earned a penalty in the dying minutes of the game, Ramos scored a perfect penenka to seal the game. It was not Real Madrid 4-2 Sevilla but it was Ramos 1-0 Sevilla fans. He has always been a guy who would take every failure on his chin and move on. One very good example of Ramos' character was his penalty against Portugal in the Euro 2012. Just a couple of months back, Ramos had missed a penalty in the penalty shootout against Bayern in the semifinals of the Champions League. As per the media, he had costed Real Madrid the semifinal. In reality, Ronaldo and Kaka had also missed penalties but Ramos was the one to get all the blame. May be his miss came at a more crucial time, may be his shot was the weakest but it was unfair to make him feel like the sole scapegoat. Then came the penalty shootout in the semifinal against Portugal. Here he was standing against Rui Patricio, showing zero fear in his eyes and infinite boyish boldness, executing a perfect penenka to help La Roja get a step closer to the Euro 2012 final. Most of the talented footballers would have gone for top bin or smashing it low either left or right but a penenka? Really? When Gerard Pique was asked about this, he said that Ramos didn't practice it because the media would make it all over. This just blew my mind thinking that how can someone risk so much in that sort of a situation but I quickly realised that it was his confidence and belief in himself that very few sportsmen possess.

    There will be statues of Ramos made in Madrid but it will be interesting to see what they will write on the plinth of the statue! Sergio Ramos is a misunderstood footballer. 

They ask this question a lot. Would Italy have won the 2006 World Cup without Marco Materazzi? 

The answer is a tantalizing yes, the common sense says yes. Well, actually, the common sense waits a moment, scratches its head and says, “Wait, why didn’t Nesta start? Was he injured?”

But Materazzi offered the same one-two punch that Ramos does, and it came in handy when it mattered the most. Being a towering figure of 6'4", Zidane was never hurting Materazzi but the duel with him triggered the Frenchman and it all collapsed for France. 

As said earlier, when good guys fall short, bad guys get it done more often than not. People or haters I should say, remember him for his 26 red cards which is not a proud record to have but no one can convince me that you would not want to have him on your side. It's like not taking the warrior when going to a war.

He has been a rock in the Real Madrid defence for over a decade now and he has been captaining them and the national side ever since Casillas handed both the armbands to him in 2014. The responsibilities the man has had to keep up ever since his arrival in Madrid have been outrageous yet he continues to do so with ease. He is almost seen as the bad guy if not the worst of them in football.

But Ramos is a warrior - a tough one, a leader - an inspirational one and football runs through his veins. I haven't seen anyone defend his teammates the way Ramos does. Be it him taking a yellow card for his team against Atletico Madrid in 2012 or be it standing toe to toe against Puyol when Madrid were trailing 0-5 at the Nou Camp, Ramos has always been a team man and an example for everyone. He has won 4 Champions Leagues, 4 La Liga titles, 3 Copa del reys, 4 Club World cups for Real Madrid. He was an integral part of the historic international treble achieved by Spain between 2008 and 2012. Ramos has scored over 100 goals for Real Madrid and the fact that he stands in their top 15 all time goal scorers is already ridiculous. As a centre back, for him to score as many as 10 goals in the 2016-17 season drives me nuts. But it's not just the number of goals either, he is a man for big moments. Atletico Madrid know all too well about this, having seen him leap through Lisbon air and score in the extra time which led the way for 'La Decima'. He also scored the only Real Madrid goal in the regulation time against the same rivals 2 years later in Milan. Two huge goals against Bayern in Munich, match levelling header against Sevilla in the 2017 Super Cup, Ramos has had many iconic moments in his career. Ramos is still irreplaceable in both Real Madrid and the Spanish national team. A Mourinho-helmed Madrid side might have required a multitude of bad guys like Pepe and Ramos, but the Spanish national side, long-time purveyors of ‘beautiful’ football, might not have been so accommodating yet he has survived and has become the most capped Spanish player. In simple words, there is nothing that he can not do on a football field. Many of them say that he is a classic old school defender : Physical, hard and rough. The reality is that Sergio Ramos is football's hero but he is also football's villain. You can love him or you can hate him but if you are the opponent, you simply can not ignore him. Yet regardless of where you preference lies, Ramos and everything he embodies is something that needs to be appreciated in the world of football.