Sergio Ramos is not a popular man on Merseyside, or in Egypt
Saturday night’s Champions League final contained every ingredient of an enthralling final: cynical fouls, heart in mouth moments, a disallowed goal, a spectacular goal, a goalkeeping error, and thousands of Scousers singing along to Dua Lipa.
There were lulls in the singing from the Liverpool end though, none more solemn then when Mohamed Salah went down clutching his left shoulder. Real Madrid’s shithouse in chief, Sergio Ramos, had brought the Liverpool forward down by locking arms and ensuring he went to ground. No foul was awarded but Salah stayed on the ground, visibly in agony,
The coming together resulted in Salah dislocating his shoulder. He tried to continue playing, such was his determination to cap off his incredible season by helping Liverpool win their sixth European Cup, but his body wouldn’t allow it. Salah was substituted for Adam Lallana before half time, and suddenly Liverpool’s task of beating the reigning champions became much more difficult.
Real Madrid came out on top, winning the game 3-1 in 90 minutes, but Liverpool put in a respectable performance. Had it not been for two errors from Loris Karius, the result could have been very different.
Petitions have been created online, with the intention of pressuring UEFA into giving Sergio Ramos a retrospective ban. But with Salah’s chances of making it to this summer’s World Cup in danger, the reaction from Egypt has been more severe.
Lawyer Bassem Wahba is so enraged that he has pledged to a €1 billion lawsuit against Sergio Ramos. Speaking on Egyptian television channel Sada El-Balad , Wahba said that he had filed a complaint to FIFA and accused Ramos of a deliberately inflicting “physical and psychological harm” on Salah and Egypt as a nation.
“Ramos intentionally injured Mo Salah and should be punished about his actions,” he claimed. “I’ve filed a lawsuit and a complaint to FIFA. I’ll ask for compensation, which could exceed €1 billion, for the physical and psychological harm that Ramos gave Salah and the Egyptian people.”
In the unlikely scenario that he wins the compensation he is seeking, Wahba has promised to donate it to the country’s Long Live Egypt Fund.
