Sergio Ramos has an uncanny habit of injuring his opponents “accidentally”
Sure, Ramos receives plenty of cards for his roughhousing ways but he gets away with more than he perhaps should.
The Real Madrid centre-half likes to leave his mark on opposition players and there’s only so much benefit of the doubt we can give him.
Real ran out 5-0 winners over Czech side Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League on Wednesday night with goals from Casemiro, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and a brace from Karim Benzema.
The game could have gone in a different direction entirely, however, because the visitors may have been lucky to keep all 11 men on the pitch when the score was 0-0.
Early on in the game at the Doosan Arena Plzen, Ramos needlessly threw his elbow up while running across Plzen winger Milan Havel and left his opponent a bloody mess.
Remarkably, the Spanish international escaped any kind of punishment on the night but one would expect a retrospective ban when this incident is reviewed by Uefa, presuming the referee didn’t see the contact.
“There’s no word to describe it other than thuggery,” Chris Sutton said when discussing Ramos on BT Sport.
“It’s a scandalous challenge. It really is. It’s just totally unnecessary. He throws his arm and he knows exactly what he’s doing in this situation.
“There’s no need. The game’s 0-0. He has to be banned and banned for a long time. That is a disgusting challenge.”
Ramos likely anticipated some post-match punishment so hastened to express remorse in the moments after the game as he took to Twitter to admit that he shouldn’t have done what he did before wishing Havel a speedy recovery.
A victory to build on and also to learn from. Football always teaches you things and tonight I shouldn't have gone into the challenge like that. Milan, it wasn't my intention to injure you. Get well soon 💪🏼 #HalaMadrid https://t.co/NZcWRAwI0x
— Sergio Ramos (@SergioRamos) November 8, 2018
After “unintentionally” injuring both Mohamed Salah and Loris Karius in the Champions League final in May, Ramos’ European “accidents” are beginning to pile up.