The Sergio Ramos myth
If you don’t think Sergio Ramos is one of the greatest defenders — scratch that, players— to have graced a football pitch, I don’t know what to say to you.
Worse still, I’ve noticed it’s pretty common to label him as a “fraud” or “overrated”. The standard Football Twitter scale goes from “this bum” (Granit Xhaka or Jesse Lingard), through “fraud” and “overrated” (apparently Ramos) right up to the players who are “slept on” (Joao Moutinho), the “elite” (Adama Traore) and the “GOAT” — Cristiano Ronaldo, obviously.
If you do hold the opinion that Spain and Real Madrid’s captain, a winner of the World Cup and two European Championships, four Champions Leagues and four La Liga crowns is a “fraud”, I genuinely don’t know what to say to you.
Half of me wants you to read on, because I’m going to try and educate you (and I need the views to get this blog up and running) — the other half of me wants you to stop watching and enjoying football altogether, and find something else to do.
I’ll happily come across as the Chief of Thought Police for this piece, because it is something I feel very strongly about. I’m telling you what you should think here.
And if you’re reading this thinking that you’ve never seen anyone doubt Ramos as dramatically as this, your proof is below. These tweets have hundreds of likes, and lots of agreement in the replies.
It’s perhaps lazy to say that they’re all Liverpool and/or Mo Salah supporters (though, it’s quite amusing to imagine they are), but it’s clear that it is a popular opinion in some circles.
Now, there are three ways to debunk this awful narrative. The first is by simple logic. The second, more confusingly, is via statistics. The third, and most importantly, is by opening your eyes and watching the greatness in front of you. Simple.
So, logically, Ramos must be one of the greatest players the world has ever seen. Why? Simply: he is a Real Madrid stalwart; the highest compliment a player could ever wish to receive.
Here is a club that disposed of Ronaldo at a moment’s notice. They’ve sold close to £300m’s worth of ‘talent’, including Angel di Maria and, erm, Esteban Granero, to the Premier League’s biggest clubs in a decade, showing their transfer market muscle and ability to cash in when they think the moment is right.
Then look at Iker Casillas’ drawn-out, painful exit: he was ostracised, before crying in his final press conference in what seemed a final plea for a u-turn.
In 2010, they confirmed Raul, at the time the club’s leading goal scorer, would not be offered a new contract whilst he was recovering from an injury. Days before, Guti suffered the same fate.
And yet, Ramos remains. From the moment he was handed Fernando Hierro’s number four shirt after signing from Sevilla in 2005, he has stayed an ever-present — first as a right-back, and since as a centre-back.
Well over 600 appearances in all competitions, in which he’s won 20 trophies, must be a measure of his superiority.
Next, let’s tackle this with numbers. Join me for a scroll through the prism of statistics, with evidence to prove Ramos is up there with the very best.
For obvious reasons, the comparisons will remain within LaLiga. So take your Virgil van Dijk noise elsewhere, it isn’t wanted on this post.
Here is a comparison of Ramos and, in my opinion, the best defenders from Real’s title rivals, Diego Godin and Clement Lenglet. Aside from total appearances, which can be put down to a hamstring injury, he has them beaten in four measures.
I know what the pessimists amongst you will say: “Well, Real were rubbish last season, he’s bound to have done more defending!”
Well, let’s take a look at his statistics from 2016/17, Real’s last title win, shall we?
Here we see Ramos compared to Samuel Umtiti, who, again in my opinion, was absolutely fantastic that season. On a side note, it is sad to see his demise, but we’ll park that for another time.
So statistically, he also has the measure of his LaLiga rivals in defence, when Real are good, and when they aren’t.
And then there’s the goals. For Spain, he has scored 21 times — the same as legendary winger Michel, more than Alfredo di Stefano and Santillana, and only six less than Emilio Butragueno. He’s his nation’s 10th-highest goal scorer. A centre-back, for goodness sake.
For Real, he’s 17th. He has notched 84 times, more than Ruud van Nistelrooy (64), Luis Molowny (64), Luis Figo (56), Davor Suker (49) and Zinedine Zidane (49). he’ll probably get to 100, which only 15 players have done for Los Blancos.
Of course, goals don’t prove he’s a great defender (the occasions on which he has scored, including two Champions League finals, show he is a superb leader and a man for the big stage, mind), but there’s also a weird notion that he is actually only a good attacker, and not a defender. Wrong.
Really, he could play in any position in the spine of a team. And right-back.
The last way you can clearly see that Ramos is a fantastic defender is with your own eyes. Watch him. Enjoy him. Learn from him.
I’ve been lucky enough to watch him at Wembley for Spain and at the Santiago Bernabeu, and he was imperious. He has an aura about him, he is a charismatic leader, and he’s a warrior. He is a man you want on your side.
This point comes back to the tangible success he has achieved, really. To win said silverware, he’s had to get the better of the best players in the world. And you think if Real were beaten time and time again, they’d persist with him? Please.
So there we have it: definitive proof that, if you describe Ramos as a “fraud”, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
