Ah, this had to happen didn’t it?
Sergio Ramos has made a few headlines in the last few weeks, mostly as a result of what happened in the Champions League final in Kiev at the back end of last season.
With half an hour of the game played between Real Madrid and Liverpool, Mo Salah left the field in tears. The Egyptian, fresh from being voted the best player in England by his fellow professionals and football writers, had injured his shoulder after tangling with Ramos and landing awkwardly.
You almost certainly knew all of this already. If not for the incident itself, for the absolutely incredible reaction which followed. Some accused Ramos of deliberately setting out to injure Salah. There was a petition calling for the 32-year-old to receive some kind of ban from Fifa. Ramos even got challenged to a scrap by some bloke that used to be in Brookside. It was all a bit… surreal.
Over a month on and Ramos didn’t get his ban. Or his fight with a former Brookside actor. Instead, he was selected by Spain for their World Cup campaign, and helped them to open the scoring in their last-16 game with Russia on Sunday afternoon.
The goal itself was a strange one. A free-kick on the Russian left was played to the back post, where Ramos appeared to be held by Sergei Ignashevich, who wasn’t even looking at the ball.
The ball initially appeared to come off Ignashevich’s leg and find its way into Igor Akinfeev’s goal, although some replays showed a final touch may have come off Ramos. It almost certainly didn’t, though Ramos celebrated as the goal was his.
As he did, many saw an opportunity to liken the contact between the Real defender and Ignashevich to the incident which saw Salah’s Champions League final night ruined…
At least that Russian defender managed to wrestle Ramos to the ground without breaking his shoulder, fair play to him for that
— Billie (@Billie_T) July 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/Secret_Saanta/status/1013432551405424641
Disgraceful by Sergio Ramos that. Nearly took his shoulder off! Got a goal from it though but still, the Russians should start a petition over that!
— Joe Griffiths (@J_Griffiths14) July 1, 2018
Ramos trying to dislocate someone’s shoulder and accidentally scored. What a guy!
— BN (@BanditNanna) July 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/AntoniF14/status/1013425144650522624
https://twitter.com/Delcottio/status/1013425220944908291
Yeah, you get the idea.
