Sergio Ramos Misses Two Penalties in One Game, Enrique Still Backs Him
Fast forward to the middle of November, low and behold Spain's captain somehow managed to fluff not just one but TWO penalties in the same game. You’d have been better off heading to any of the casino sites found here - as you’d have likely seen a better return.
It has been two good years since the captain of Real Madrid and the Spanish National Team last missed a penalty. In fact, within the last two years, he has become real Madrid’s number one penalty taker and also takes most of it when he is on an outing with the La Furia Roja. Within the period under review, he has succeeded in taking 26 penalties in a row, scoring all of them, until Saturday night when he missed two penalties in a row in their game against Switzerland in the Euro Nations League competition.
The most significant thing about this is that the night was supposed to be a landmark one for him. It was the night when he became the most capped European international men’s players of all time - a record he equaled during his last outing, and now set a new one with Saturday’s outing.
The legendary Gianluigi Buffon was the man holding the record with his 176 appearances for Italy before retiring from international duty. But Ramos’ 177th appearance for Spain for the night set a new record in that direction. meanwhile, the good thing about this is that Ramos is still only 34 years old, and with what we see about his fitness, drive, and health, he still has the chance to play at the highest level for a few more years, and that would mean still showing up in the Spanish national team colors. This will simply give him the chance to add more to his number of appearances for the national team, making it even more difficult for anyone to think of breaking that record in the near future.
But the night was not one that the world cup winner will boast about, after he failed to convert from twelve yards on two occasions, and this led to the Spanish national team sharing the spoils with Switzerland. The match ended 1-1.
It was in the 26th minute that Remo Freuler opened the score sheet, placing the hosts ahead, but Ramos was not able to level the tie when the opportunity presented itself just before the hour mark. So, the game continued at 1 -0 for most of the time. However, in the 79th minute, Nico Elvedi was given the matching orders after bagging a second yellow card, and the referee yet again pointed to the spot. Ramos stepped up for the second time and scuttled the chance again. On two occasions, the opportunity came for them to equalize, and he stepped up, and failed to convert from the spot, putting up the type of effort that will completely exonerate Fulham’s Ademola Lookman from the sin of being the only stupid player to do a failed ‘panenka’. After these events, he had to give way for Gerard Morena to come in. The substitution however proved effective, as the Villarreal man was able to get an equalizer in the 89th minute against their opponents that were down to 10 men then.
After the draw, Luis Enrique’s men stood at a point behind Germany that leads their group, and there is only one game left, and that game will see them face Germany on Tuesday night. the last time the two sides met, it was Jose Gaya that got an equalizer for the Spanish side at the 95th minute. So, in order to make the final four, the 2012 European Champions must have to eke out a result against Germany, and that is actually something that may not be easy for them to achieve.
The fact remains that Sergio Ramos is an indisputable legend for the Galacticos, but he currently has a lot of big offers to consider. The biggest of them are coming from the inter Miami of the major league soccer, which is partly owned by David Beckham, and PSG. The 34 year old former Sevilla center back last week got voted as the greatest ever center back in the entire world, winning the poll with a very huge margin against his opponents, though the poll was conducted by the Marca Newspaper that is based in Madrid.
Enrique Says Ramos Would Have Taken another Penalty If It Happened In the Game
In the spirit of coaches trying to instill an excellent mood in their camp and stand by their players when they are in their lowest, the Spanish National Team coach, Luis Enrique has jumped to the defense of Sergio Ramos, after the penalty misses on a night that he passed Buffon to become the player with the most caps in the history of European football.
the fact that he has scored 25 penalties at a stretch, only to miss 2 within 23 minutes at the UEFA Nations League match that took place on Saturday at St. Jakob-Park in basel, made his coach to state that his record with penalties is exactly one of the best you can ever get anywhere in the world. He insisted that the records are up there with the very best.
Speaking further, Enrique made it known that to substitute him from the game because he missed one, two, or three penalties could be very unfair, giving his record with them. To clarify more on this, he told reporters that if the team got another penalty while he was still in the game, he would still have taken it. He said that it would be a joke to relieve him of his penalty duties because he missed just two. He said that Sergio Ramos’ name would be at the very top if a list of penalty takers is made.
After the game, the man that replaced Ramos on the night that he set a very positive record also came to the player’s backing. Gerard went ahead to posit that Sergio was born a winner. For him, though Sergio was not able to score the penalties today, he has played many games and witnessed many defeats and many victories, giving him a whole lot of experience. Gerard went ahead to say that the penalties failed to enter today, but he can’t remember how many he has scored before that. So, it’s not an issue that they should worry about. He later said that he is convinced that if another penalty comes up, Ramos will still play it and he would score.
Gerard concluded by revealing that everybody is calm, including Ramos. Though he has not had an interaction with him yet, he can see that he is very calm, and he believes that he will score the next penalty he will take.
having dropped to 2nd in league As group 4 due to the draw, they will now face Germany at the Estadio La Cartuja in Seville on Tuesday - a game they must win for them to be in the final 4.