Sergio Ramos was hailed as the 'Hero de la Decima' by Real Madrid fans all over the world, after his 93rd-minute leveller against Atletico Madrid helped Los Blancos clinch an elusive 10th European Cup.
Athletic, well-built and an aggressive tackler, Ramos is a strong player who excels in the air, making him a potent goal threat from set-pieces (40 goals in 318 appearances for Real Madrid). Gifted with pace, sound technical ability, good distribution of the ball and an accurate crossing ability, the Spaniard has won three La Liga titles, two Copa del Reys and a Champions League with Real Madrid.
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El Comanche also boasts one FIFA World Cup (2010) as well as the 2008 and 2012 European Championship titles with La Roja in his trophy cabinet.
But Ramos has a serious weakness to his game – his short fuse. The Spanish defender is guilty of conceding unnecessary fouls, a trait which sees him collect the most number of red cards by any Real Madrid player.
The Andalusian native, who was named Real Madrid captain due to his leadership skills on and off the field, has amassed a total of 189 yellow cards and 19 red cards in 628 competitive matches for Sevilla, Real Madrid and Spain since his professional debut in 2004.
Dubious disciplinary record
Ramos has 21 red cards to his name in the Spanish top flight, a record he achieved after being sent off against Barcelona for a challenge on Luis Suarez in the Clasico held on 2 April for a second yellow
Ramos passed Xavier Aguado (Real Zaragoza) and Pablo Alfaro (Real Zaragoza, Racing Santander and Sevilla), who he was tied with at 18 reds, after being sent off against Osasuna on December 14th, 2013 to become the La Liga player with the most number of red cards in his kitty.
His sending off against Osasuna on December 14th, 2013 made him the all-time leader for any La Liga player, surpassing Xavier Aguado (Real Zaragoza) and Pablo Alfaro (Real Zaragoza, Racing Santander and Sevilla) on his way to the dismal record.
The majority of Ramos’s red cards have come after being cautioned once for a yellow card offence, and statistics show that he is as likely to receive a caution for dissent as he is for a mistimed challenge. Seven of Ramos' 19 red cards have been straight dismissals and the remaining 12 have been for seeing a second yellow.
Between 2012 & 2014/15, Ramos has been yellow carded a whopping 31 times and red carded twice as he averaged 150 fouls in 7277 minutes on the pitch. In comparison, the Spaniard’s Real Madrid team-mate Pepe gave away 62 fouls and was shown a yellow 20 times in his 7269 minutes of play while Varane conceded 25 fouls against 1 yellow card offence in his 4237 minutes on the pitch.
No other defender in Europe’s top teams, with the exception of Ramos, averaged over 100 fouls in the 3 year period mentioned above.
In his 450 Real Madrid games*, the centre-back has been booked a total of 158 times along with his 19 dismissals. This means that he is shown a yellow card approximately once every 2.8 matches, which is quite shocking when compared with the Premier League’s most booked player Gareth Barry, who averages a card every 5.3 games having picked up 107 yellow cards in 570 league matches while playing for several teams in England.
It should also be noted that the Spanish league has had issues with bookings over the past five years, with 10547 yellow cards and 231 reds being dished out in the past five seasons (2010/11-2014/15)
The table below illustrates Sergio Ramos’ troubles with red cards since joining Real Madrid in 2005:
| Season | Yellow Cards | Red Cards | Appearances (All Competitions) |
| 2015/16* | 9 | 2 | 24 |
| 2014/15 | 22 | 0 | 44 |
| 2013/14 | 16 | 3 | 53 |
| 2012/13 | 15 | 2 | 41 |
| 2011/12 | 16 | 2 | 51 |
| 2010/11 | 16 | 2 | 46 |
| 2009/10 | 13 | 1 | 40 |
| 2008/09 | 14 | 1 | 40 |
| 2007/08 | 14 | 3 | 40 |
| 2006/07 | 20 | 1 | 41 |
| 2005/06 | 11 | 4 | 40 |
Notable incidents
At times, Ramos has been guilty of making rash decisions in pressure cooker situations, which means that there are a few very notable incidents that readily come to mind.
- A scything tackle by Sergio Ramos on David Villa was met with a yellow card 20 minutes from time before Ramos hacked down Lionel Messi in injury time. Additional scuffles with Carles Puyol and Xavi resulted in the Spaniard’s first red card in an El Clásico, as a brilliant Barcelona side shipped 5 goals past a clueless Madrid defence on 29th November, 2010.
- The Spaniard earned a straight red in the 26th minute for a foul on Umut Bulut in Real Madrid’s Champions League clash with Galatasaray on 27th November 2013 , which Real comfortably won 4-1.
- Ramos deliberately got himself sent off in Real's 2010 Champions League group stage annihilation of Ajax, so he would be suspended for their final and inconsequential group game, rather than miss the first leg of the Round of 16. After receiving a booking for throwing the ball away in the first half, he was shown a second yellow for his time-wasting tactics in the injury-time. Ramos even shook the hand of Scottish referee Craig Thomson, as he headed for the tunnel with a sly smirk on his face with the final scoreline at 4-0.
Recent years
Quite remarkably, El Tarzan was not dismissed once in 2014/15 after picking up three in his previous season, although his statistics of 22 yellow cards in 42 games for Real Madrid suggests that he escaped suspension on many occasions by a whisker.
Note: Article updated with stats as of 2 April 2016
