Real Madrid center back Sergio Ramos is having a summer to remember.
Since La Liga’s return, Real Madrid have been perfect. Beyond merely being undefeated, which is meaningless in this league and in a title race with a club like FC Barcelona, Real have not dropped any points in their last six matches. And captain Sergio Ramos has been at the heart of Real’s brilliance, with Los Blancos widening their gap over Barcelona to four points at the top.
Ramos has scored four goals in the last six games, extending his lead as La Liga’s all-time leading defender in scoring. The goals have been one part of the picture, of course, as Ramos’ enduring leadership and strong defending have also helped buoy Real’s defense, which is the best in Europe and sealed as such after Liverpool’s embarrassing 4-0 shellacking at Manchester City’s hands, ill befitting of champions.
WhoScored.com released its Team of the Month for June across Europe’s top five leagues, which is selected based on their match ratings.
Only one Real Madrid player made it, which isn’t surprising since Real are so strong as a team that rarely does one individual stand out. But their captain Ramos made it, and he has stood out since football’s return.
Ramos had three goals in five games in June, scoring from a counterattack, penalty kick, and incredible free kick. His pass completion percentage has been at least 89.2 percent in each game, per WhoScored.com, and he even had three dribbles completed and three fouls drawn in the 3-0 win over Valencia. Defensively, Ramos recorded at least two interceptions in three games in June, including four in that huge win over Valencia, a couple of which actually led to goals for Real.
The importance Sergio Ramos has to Real Madrid is hard to measure and occurs in every phase of the game. He scores goals, creates counterattacking opportunities, reads the play so well defensively, covers ground, adds numbers to the attack, is a leader, and brings a cool head to penalty kicks in addition to a goal-scoring threat on other set pieces.
He’s absolutely been one of Europe’s best players over the past month, and it’s great to see him receiving that sort of recognition. Real Madrid are so close to a championship, and he is a huge reason for their 2019-2020 success.