Sergio Ramos, the careless defender
It's always Sergio...
Sergio Ramos again. Sergio Ramos always. From sending a penalty to the moon against Bayern to not long after chipping one down the middle, Panenka style, against Portugal. Or from scoring a decisive goal against Atletico in the Champions League final, to repeating the feat two years later. Or for squandering a penalty-kick against Croatia (after Del Bosque had entrusted him to take it) that ended up contributing Spain’s to Euro 2016 downfall. Lately, it’s been through his frequent tendency to take unnecessary risks which has seen him at the centre of attention.
Fourth penalty conceded this season
The penalty that he gave away the night before last was a blow, because Spain had been so dominant that it felt fraudulent that they didn’t win. Ramos said later that those decisions are only give once in every forty, but I haven’t seen many people agreeing with that. And that was the fourth penalty that he’s conceded so far this season already. He also lost two balls for passing them nonchalantly away against Italy, something which has begun to happen more and more often. It happens with Ramos that sometimes he turns up without the necessary energy and other times with excessive energy, which means that there can be mistakes and other times cards.
Ramos doesn't change...for better or worse
He’s a great player, and has always had a certain propensity to play with supreme confidence in whatever area of the field he finds himself in. There’s an expression for that: “Respect the zones of the pitch”. But Ramos is so sure of himself both physically and technically that he frequently plays without caution. Despite having accumulated accolades and trophies, it feels that there’s much left to spare. As opposed to most players, who learn to apply themselves better as the year go by, Ramos doesn’t seem to change. Because of that, he never finds himself off the front pages, for better or for worse.