Five reasons to admire Sergio Ramos
The iconic defender shows his loyalty to a deceased friend by using the 15 on his shirt with the Spanish team. Here is this and other interesting facts about him.
The footballer has achieved different achievements throughout his professional career. / Photo: instagram.com/sergioramos
LatinAmerican Post | Guillermo Vite
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Leer en español: Cinco razones para admirar a Sergio Ramos
They called him Schuster
When he was a child, Sergio Ramos played as a striker and his neighbors, with whom he played soccer, nicknamed him the Schuster, alluding to former German player Bernd Schuster, with whom the Spaniard shared some similarities. “They didn't just call him that because of his hair. Ramos played with both legs and was unbalanced, like Bernd Schuster, ” the Spanish daily Marca once published on its website.
Coincidentally, the former German midfielder, who played for clubs such as Barcelona and Real Madrid, was the technical director of Sergio Ramos in the white team between 2007 and 2008, a period in which, according to data from the transfermarkt.es portal, the Andalusian soccer player played 5,412 minutes, distributed in 63 games, in which he scored eight goals and put five assists. With Schuster as coach of the white club, Ramos won the 2007-08 league and the 2008 Spanish Super Cup.
At Real Madrid he has only used number four
Since Sergio arrived in Chamartín for the 2005-06 season, he was given 4 for his shirt, a number inherited by Fernando Hierro. "Wearing that bib, which Fernando used, will be a pride ," Ramos said in statements published on AS.com .
For his part, the former captain of the Merengue club approved the new bearer of the number that he once used in the resident club at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium: “Sergio is a good footballer. He has won playing at Real Madrid with his attitude and if he carries the number that I had, it will be a satisfaction for me that a young and Spanish boy can wear that number ” .
Ramos has had the opportunity to use the same digit with the Spanish team, but he decided to be registered with the 15 in tribute to his friend Antonio Puerta, who died in 2007, days after having fainted in the middle of a soccer game as a result of heart failure. "Whatever happens I will always carry that number for Antonio Puerta, my great friend ," Sergio Ramos once said.
The one that has defended Spain the most
Sergio Ramos is the footballer who has played in the Spanish team the most times, with 170 matches played between March 26, 2005 and November 18, 2019. With La Roja he was crowned world champion in 2010 and Europe champion in 2008 and 2012.
Although he has scored 21 goals with the national team, none have been in major tournaments such as the World Cup, the Confederations Cup or the European Championship. His scores have been made in qualifying rounds for the World Cup and Euro, in the UEFA Nations League and in friendly matches.
- 8 in Euro qualifying games
- 5 in World Cup qualifying games
- 3 in UEFA Nations League games
- 5 in friendly games
An emblem of the Champions League
Sergio Ramos has won the Champions League four times in the 2013-14, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2018-19 seasons. He has been a scorer in two finals of the tournament, both times against Atlético de Madrid in the 2013-14 and 2015-16 editions. "It is a privilege to have finished the season like this: when you score in the finals," said the native of Camas, Seville province, in the mixed zone at the end of the game on May 28, 2016 in which he scored the partial 1-0 in favor of the white club, which after being tied in regulation time, ended up prevailing 6-4 in the penalty shootout.
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His horse is also world champion
Since he was a child he has been a horse lover, which is why in Seville he founded the stud farm SR4, which according to the portal elespanol.com , "has become the envy of the sector" , because in that place purebred horses are trained .
His best specimen is called Yucatan de Ramos, winner of a world championship at the 2018 PRE International Horse Fair, a distinction with which he is recognized as the best purebred Spanish horse in the world.
"The two (Sergio and Yucatan) are two born champions , " says Carlos Muela. The brother-in-law of the Spanish defender who is in charge of the SR4 stud. “They are very similar. Yucatan was born special and Sergio was born special. They are both privileged sportsmen, with innate conditions, but they have also worked hard to get to where they are displaying a winning mentality like I have never known before , "he adds.
