3) Sergio Ramos
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Back in the 2004/05 season, Real Madrid drew with Sevilla with Sergio Ramos getting on the scoresheet. The Sevilla defender was only 18 and playing his first season of senior football. The match ended 2-2 in heated circumstances with two red cards shown to Dani Alves and Ivan Helguera. Zinedine Zidane had also scored in that game.
A few months later, 19-year-old Ramos found himself sitting next to Zidane in the Real Madrid dressing room as the club paid his buyout clause (€27m) and made him the most expensive Spanish teenager ever. Back then he was a centre-back occasionally playing as a defensive midfielder before moving into the right-back slot for a few years.
“When I was young, I let people advise me. I listened and I learned.” – Ramos
He has now been at the club for 12 seasons and provided numerous memorable moments. While 22 red cards do cast a dark cloud over his career, it is his goals that also define his legacy. The defender’s most famous goal is arguably the stoppage-time equaliser against Atletico Madrid in the 2014 Champions League final (92:48 has since become a thing).
When Casillas departed the club for Porto, it was Ramos who took the captain’s armband. There was nobody else at the club who was as committed and determined as he was. Ramos has won 15 trophies at Real – including three European titles (two of which he scored in the final).
