Sergio Ramos will forever be a Real Madrid legend but his reputation will NEVER quite be the same

So much of Real Madrid and Spain‘s recent glory came with Sergio Ramos centre stage so it’s no surprise the club’s supporters are taking the 35-year-old’s departure badly. But much of the upset is directed at the player himself for not agreeing a one-year deal with a 10 percent pay cut.

‘Club before player, even if when it’s Ramos’ was the over-riding sentiment as the Madrid captain prepared to give his goodbye press conference today.

It has not been forgotten that it was only two years ago that he said: ‘I would play for the club for free’ in a press conference he requested to explain his decision to stay at the club despite mooted interest from China. There have been various flirtations with departures in the past. Manchester United were used in one abandoned move away. 

Two years ago his brother and agent had gone to the club with an offer from a Chinese club in the hope that it would work for them as a bargaining tool. Their bluff was called when president Florentino Perez said that if the buying Chinese club were willing to pay the release clause he could leave.

Finances were already starting to bite. The coronavirus has ripped a hole in Madrid’s income streams. And with no fans in the stadium or the club museum it was always going to be hard to give a player at Ramos’ stage of career what he wanted. Club legends are rarely treated well at Madrid towards the end of their careers, even at the best of times.

Ramos taking much of the blame aside he remains a club legend whose ability, leadership and spirit will be missed. He featured in all three major tournaments that Spain won from 2008 until 2012, and in all four Champions Leagues won by Real Madrid since 2014. He was also the catalyst for that run of European Cups. Had he not headed in the injury time equaliser in Lisbon, Madrid would not have won their tenth.

Diario AS columnist Tomas Roncero, apoplectic later Thursday evening on television at the departure of the legend, was in more nostalgic mode when he wrote about being in the Estadio da Luz with his young son as the goal went in and Madrid won comfortably in injury time. ‘He’s impossible to replace,’ he said of Ramos.

As well as not being happy about the Ramos era ending many will find today’s likely cold and lonely goodbye hard to watch. The player’s Madrid team-mates are all playing the Euros or Copa America so cannot attend the send-off. And the ceremony will be at the training ground instead of out the Santiago Bernabeu where so many of his greatest performances took place.

‘It’s going to be at the same level of the presentation of the Super League’ said one columnist. ‘Let’s hope the signing of Kylian Mbappe is worth it,’ concluded the same reporter in reference to the view that Real Madrid did not want to pay Ramos what he felt he was worth, because they want to entice the Frenchman out of PSG and need the money for that further down the line.

The subject of money was broached on ‘El Chiringuito’ the show that sets out to represent the clubs most ardent support while frequently keeping the party line set by club president Perez. The tone set by them was one of disappointment at Ramos for not accepting that one-year deal.

The programme’s presenter lamented the fact that the captain’s last season was played behind closed doors taking away the supporters’ chance to sing for him to stay. The feeling is that he will regret leaving as soon as he sits down today and gives his goodbye speech.

The most difficult thing for many Real Madrid supporters will be to see someone else wear the captain’s armband now that Ramos has gone. And it will be harder still for some because it will not be a Spanish player who takes it from Ramos. At Madrid the player who has been at the club the longest is given the captaincy and for the first time in 117 years that will player now be a non-Spaniard, or at least someone not born in Spain. 

Marcelo who joined the club 15 years ago will become ‘first captain’ and behind the Brazilian, who does now have Spanish nationality, will be the French pair Karim Benzema and Raphael Varane. Marca reported on Thursday that Federico Revuelto was the last non-Spanish captain. The Guatemalan was club captain in 1904. Two years earlier in 1902 the Englishman Arthur Johnson had been the first.

Having Spain’s captain as Real Madrid captain has always mattered to Madrid fans. For years Raul wore both armbands and he was followed by Iker Casillas. Now there are no Real Madrid players in the Spain team and no national captains at the club.

Ramos does not want his international career to be over. He is now just four games from the all-time record for international appearances held by Egypt’s Ahmed Hassan and he wants to lead Spain into the Qatar World Cup to beat it.

He will not be doing it as a Madrid player. He’ll get his banner behind the south end of the stadium and his goals won’t stop being played over and again on the club’s TV channel. But things will never be quite the same.