Sergio Ramos has record in hand
Assuming nothing goes wrong, tomorrow will see Sergio Ramos play his 177th match for the Spanish national team, and with that he’ll break the record he currently shares with Buffon for the European player with the most international caps. On the horizon is the record of the Egyptian Ahmed Hassan, who retired with 184. In between are, among others, Mubarak (Oman, 179) and Al Mutawa (Kuwait, 178). Sergio notched up his 176th game the other day with just a few minutes, but the immense majority have him at the heart, captaining and leading the team. I think it’s natural for Luis Enrique to help him out in his pursuit of Hassan.
Euros could deliver Ramos record
We’ve got two matches coming up now, then there are six more before the European Championships, where there is a guarantee of at least three games during the group stage. That’s a total of 11 by the summer, which would take him past Hassan's record of 184, passing the aforementioned Mubarak and Al Mutawa on the way. Some may say that it’s a silly record, but it’s not. It is good for Spanish football, whose national team has known so many failures in the past, normally followed by the consequence of scapegoat changes, and it’s only recently where we have had a consistent group with more than a hundred matches. It would be another feather in our cap to have the absolute record holder among us.
Making others eat their words
He’s a player for any time, for the whole pitch, and for all pitches. This is Sergio Ramos, who at 34 withstands the double challenge of playing for one of the most highly demanding clubs as well as the national side, something that many give up before reaching that age. Genes, hard work and his passion. A symbol of Madrid, the haters persistently put his face on their memes characterising him as a country bumpkin, but among his virtues is that of being an uncomplicated guy who is unaffected by his own mistakes. That much-mocked penalty into the sky against Bayern was put to bed with a stunning Panenko in the Euros. Now he has scored 25 spot kicks in a row, not one miss. While others laugh, he puts in the effort.