Sergio Ramos celebrated his 100th cap for a Spain with a goal and the captain’s armband on Friday night. However, unfortunately his celebrations were cut short by Finland who managed to sneak a point from the European and World Champions. It is a remarkable achievement to have played 100 games for arguably the greatest ever national side at the age of just 26 and perhaps Sergio Ramos’ is perhaps overlooked as one of the World’s best and most consistent performers.
With Ramos likely to start for Spain in a crucial game against Paris on Tuesday night, he will move to within 1 cap of former Real Madrid team-mate Raul who is currently the second highest Spanish outfield cap-holder behind only Barcelona’s Xavi. Iker Casillas recently broke fellow goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta cap record with 127 caps.
Making his first appearance for Spanish national team in a friendly against China at the age of 18, Sergio Ramos has gone on to win 2 European Championships and the World Cup for his country. He has also won 3 La Liga titles and 1 Copa Del Rey with his club and his perhaps underrated by the global football audience.
FourFourTwo Magazine recently voted Ramos as the 29th best player in the World behind the likes of Thiago Silva and team-mates Angel Di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema yet given the defensive sturdiness and potency in attack that he has added to both Real Madrid and the Spanish national team in recent seasons, surely he is more deserving of a higher place in the list.
On the pitch he appears to be the embodiment of the perfect modern defender, combining great pace with fantastic aerial ability in both boxes as well as an acute reading of the game. Should he continue to rack up the trophies and the national caps, in 10 years time we may be mentioning him in the same breath as defensive legends he surely tries to emulate such as Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi.