Although the La Liga title is out of Real Madrid‘s reach at this point, a 3-2 loss to Sevilla on Wednesday is still disappointing to see. It is even more disturbing considering captain Sergio Ramos had his worst performance of the 2017/2018 campaign against his former club. Here’s why.
He was one of the few regular first-team players included in the lineup for the match against Sevilla. In his return to the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, Ramos fell flat on his face making mistake after mistake in an incredibly disappointing match.
The Real Madrid center-back was beaten badly on the first goal of the match as Sevilla striker, Wissam Ben Yedder, blew past the Spanish international to opening the accord in the 26th minute.
While part of the blame should fall on the youngster Jesús Vallejo, Ramos struggled to keep up with the pace of Ben Yedder and was caught well out of position yet again. The entire Real back line has struggled to maintain their defensive duties when the team is pushing forward.
Time and time again we have seen Los Blancos get burned on the counter-attack. That was again the problem Wednesday night.
Just over 10 minutes into the second half, Sergio had a chance to redeem himself after the defensive gaffe in the first-half by stepping up to take a penalty. Down 2-0, the captain could’ve cut the deficit to just one. However, he rocketed the ball off the crossbar and back into play.
Not 10 minutes after missing a golden opportunity from the spot, Ramos pushed up into the Sevilla box and found some space to take a shot on the half-volley, but yet again, skied the ball. While it was a difficult shot to get around, we have seen number four come up clutch so many times, it was surprising to see him miss so many great chances.
In the 83rd minute, the defender picked up a yellow card while trying to stop a Sevilla counter. Sergio dove for the ball, missed, and kicked out at Roque Mesa who could’ve been in one-on-one with goalkeeper Kiko Casilla.
Not a minute later, Sergio tried to block a Sevilla cross and saw the ball deflect off his outstretched leg and past Casilla into the side netting. It was by far the worst moment of the night for Sergio and ultimately ended up costing Real Madrid at least a draw.
Next: Sevilla 3 – 2 Real Madrid: Match recap from a wild loss
Despite scoring on his second penalty kick in the dying minutes of the match, this is a performance to forget for Sergio Ramos. He received his lowest player rating of the season according to WhoScored! with a 6.1.
After playing great against FC Barcelona on Sunday, this showing from Sergio comes as a huge shock. Whether it was fatigue from the weekend, the desire to show out against his former team in his hometown, or wanting to overcompensate for the numerous regulars missing, it is very odd to see a performance like this from Sergio Ramos.
I don’t expect to see this kind of play from the captain of this team again anytime soon.
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