Real Madrid: Is Sergio Ramos playing too much?
By Ben Sundock
Center back Sergio Ramos has been the workhorse for Real Madrid for at least a decade now and the star player is showing no signs of slowing down. However, the amount of time he has played this season could cause some concern. Here’s why.
Before diving into my argument, let me first lay out Ramos’ stats so far this season. The club has played 39 matches in five different competitive competitions. Sergio has featured, and started, in 35 of those matches.
He has played 3,032 minutes and is only second behind Karim Benzema in appearances (Benz has made 37) but leads him in total minutes played. So, although Benzema has featured in more matches, he has been substituted off more than Ramos.
In fact, Ramos has not come off the bench in a match or been subbed off yet this season. Manager Santiago Solari clearly feels comfortable with Sergio anchoring the defense and leading the players on the pitch, but is it really a good idea to be playing the almost 33-year-old this much?
I understand that Jesús Vallejo has been out for nearly the entire year with multiple injury problems, but couldn’t Solari rotate Nacho through both Ramos’ and Raphael Varane’s positions?
Varane has played in seven fewer matches than Ramos and Nacho has featured in just 20 matches.
Ramos has the endurance of a cheetah and never looks tired or uninterested on the pitch, however, he could burn out if he keeps playing full matches every three or four days. Especially with the way the fixtures are for the next few weeks.
If I were in charge of Real Madrid, I would consider sitting Sergio for either the Champions League clash on Wednesday against Ajax or over the weekend in La Liga against struggling Girona.
Ramos is in the midst of a career year not only on defense but on offense. The defender has now scored 11 goals on the year – the most he has had in a single season – with eight of them coming from the penalty spot.
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If Los Blancos were to lose Ramos to an injury down the stretch, this incredible turnaround Solari is leading at the moment could come to a screeching halt. I think Ramos is set to sit a couple matches out in order to preserve him for the final months of the season.