DECISIVE RAMOS IS REAL’S INSATIABLE SPIRITUAL LEADER
Juventus striker Higuain gets his chance to end final hoodoo against old club
REAL Madrid captain Sergio Ramos has broken Atletico Madrid hearts and silenced fans of Napoli and Barcelona so few people would be surprised if he cements his reputation on the biggest stage in today’s Champions League final against Juventus.
Striking a balance between the glamour of David Beckham and the never-say-die warrior spirit of the late Juanito, central defender Ramos is Madrid’s spiritual leader, a colossal force in both boxes yet also prone to moments of madness.
Ramos has threatened to cost his team almost as often as he has saved them, holding the record of 22 red cards at Real, almost double the tally of nearest challenger Fernando Hierro.
His tally of dismissals is rarely pored over for long, though, such is his habit of getting Real out of jail.
His most famous last-gasp strike was a 93rd minute equaliser in the 2014 Champions League final against Atletico which led to Real’s extra-time triumph, while Sevilla, Barça, Deportivo La Coruna and Real Betis have been his unlucky victims this season.
“Ramos represents the values of Real Madrid, the spirit of doing anything to win,” coach Zinedine Zidane has said.
“For me those values are commitment, battling and fighting until the last minute. This club has taught me that and as our captain Sergio represents this. He’s a noble player.”
Ramos’s self confidence can be traced as far back as 2005 when he signed for a Real Madrid side containing Beckham, Luis Figo and Zidane for €27 million, a record for a Spanish teenager, and said he wanted to captain the club.
Even though he is one of Real’s highest paid players, and has a celebrity girlfriend in television presenter Pilar Rubio, Ramos likes to talk about his humble roots in the working class town of Camas outside Seville.
Last month when the Champions League semi-final tie between Real and Atletico was being billed as the haves versus the havenots, Ramos took offence.
“It seems like here we have grown up in Beverly Hills,” he said. “Here there are people from humble backgrounds too. The sacrifice you make is what fills you with the desire to win.”
Ramos’s thirst for winning is insatiable, and at the Champions League final in Cardiff he will target an 18th major honour for club and country. He also has the chance to become the first player to score in three Champions League finals.
The man who has built a reputation for late goals said he would rather have a night free of nerves, however.
“We hope we can resolve the game before and that our fans don’t have heart attacks,” he said. “I want to enjoy it and not have to wait so long to win.”
Meanwhile, a first reunion with Real Madrid in the Champions League final is Gonzalo Higuain’s chance to get his own back at his former club for never truly appreciating him and an opportunity to shake his reputation as a big game bottler.
The combative Argentine striker became the most expensive player ever in Italian football when he swopped Napoli for Juventus last year in an acrimonious transfer which left fans who felt betrayed burning replicas of his number nine shirt.
Renowned
His €90 m price tag, meanwhile, had many observers scratching their heads at the thought of Juve paying so much for a player renowned for failing to put away the simplest of chances when it mattered most.
When a wayward header from Germany’s Toni Kroos bounced into Higuain’s path in the 2014 World Cup final, the Argentina striker raked the ball wide of the far post.
In the 2015 Copa America final against Chile, Higuain slid a rolling pass from Ezequiel Lavezzi into the side netting and later ballooned his penalty over the bar in the shootout.
History repeated itself in the 2016 Copa America Centenario final with Chile when Higuain missed a third chance in a third consecutive final, collecting a third straight runners-up medal with his country.
Those misses would have chimed with Madrid supporters who remembered his crucial wasted chances in Champions League eliminations by Olympique Lyonnais and Borussia Dortmund.
Set against those mishaps were his 89th minute strike to snatch a 4-3 win from 3-1 down over Espanyol in his first season, which sparked Madrid’s unlikely title win in 2007, and three prolific campaigns in which he scored more than 20 league goals.
Criticism was never far away when things did not go his way, however, and that weighed heavily on a sensitive, unpredictable character like Higuain, who quit the club in 2013 for Napoli, later admitting he cried when he left Madrid.
“Pipita” had a slow start to life at Juventus after his bitter departure from Napoli but enjoyed plenty of support from the “Old Lady’s” fans and hit form around the turn of the year, scoring seven times in five league games on his way to 24 goals which fired Juve to a sixth straight Serie A title.
“Juve is similar to Real Madrid, they prepare you to win,” Higuain said in February. “But the supporters are not as demanding as Madrid. It’s not in their culture to boo their own players.”
He showed his gratitude by celebrating his thumping strike at Monaco in the Champions League semi-final first leg by leaping over the advertising boards and crossing the running track behind the goal to sa-lute the travelling fans.
His second-half goal doubled his previous count of two in 24 Champions League knockout games, putting Juventus on their way to Cardiff and ending his hoodoo in Europe’s top competition.
Now Higuain has the chance to put right his dismal record in finals, against the club that put him on the map but never called him one of their own. – Reuters