Ramos earns his 25th red card as Real suffer shock
Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos entrenched his reputation as the bad boy of Spanish football by earning a staggering 25th red card for the club in yesterday’s 2-1 defeat at home by Girona, which has all but wrecked Real’s hopes of a late push for the La Liga title.
Ramos gave away the penalty, from which relegation-threatened Girona equalised, by appearing to block a goal-bound shot in the area, escaping a potential straight red card, yet earning a booking.
But the defender, who has been sent off more times than any player in Spanish football, still managed to complete a quarter-century of dismissals by getting a second yellow for kicking Girona’s Pedro Alcala in the face as he attempted an overhead kick.
The red card made Ramos, 32, the first player to be sent off 20 times in La Liga, but he will serve only a one-game ban, missing this week’s trip to Levante, but returning against Barcelona on Mar 2. The dismissal also completed a troublesome week for Ramos, who is the subject of a Uefa investigation after appearing to admit that he had picked up a yellow card in last Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 first leg at Ajax on purpose.
Ramos denies the accusation, but if he is found guilty of intentionally being booked, he would be suspended from the first leg of a quarter-final tie if Real progress.
The Spain defender has played 601 games for Real since joining from Sevilla in 2005, earning four red cards in his first season with the club, including two in his first month. However, he has never been sent off in 161 appearances for Spain.
Defeat was another low point for Real manager Santiago Solari, whose survival prospects at the Bernabeu look even slimmer after falling nine points behind leaders Barcelona.