No player has been sent off more often in La Liga than Sergio Ramos. He went past 20 red cards in Spanish football, which is a lot of early baths even across a long career. His speciality was the professional foul: the last-man tackle, the stray elbow, the challenge that always turned out to be "accidental".
Then came the 2018 Champions League final. Ramos wrapped Mohamed Salah in an arm-lock that looked borrowed from judo, and Salah went off injured. Few moments in his career caused more argument.
How Ramos built his record
- Over 20 red cards in Spanish football, the most in La Liga history.
- The Salah arm-lock in the 2018 final, still argued over.
- A deliberate yellow card so he could serve a suspension in a dead rubber. The trick was spotted and he was banned for extra games.
- Twenty years of elbows, shoulder charges and fouls at the highest level.
The Spaniard played for Sevilla, Real Madrid and PSG before going back to Sevilla. The medal collection is serious: four Champions League titles, a World Cup and a European Championship. So is the disciplinary file. He is the most carded player top-level football has produced, and he is also one of its great winners. Supporters tend to pick one half of that sentence and argue about it for hours. Ignoring him has never been an option.
Ramos at his most cynical
Tomorrow: number six.
