Sergio Ramos decided to return to Sevilla – his “root” team instead of listening to the call of flashy money in Saudi Arabia. With “Tu Ca”, the word “love” and “meaning” are always bigger than the word “money”.

Ramos has a strong love for Sevilla, because his “roots” are not the money-smelling oil wells in the Middle East

One cold evening in early 2017, Ramos, with the Real Madrid captain’s armband on his arm, returned to his “old home” at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan to face his old team. On the day he met the first professional club in his career, the 30-year-old superstar scored a goal on the penalty spot in the 83rd minute, contributing to Sevilla being eliminated from the round of 16 of the King’s Cup.

Immediately after performing the panenka to defeat David Soria, Ramos approached the area crowded with home team fans and celebrated provocatively.

The midfielder wearing shirt number 4 raised his hands to his ears and looked straight at the hundreds of Sevilla fans with an arrogant gesture. Ramos’ defiant celebration quickly angered fans of the Andalusian club.

At that time, the total score was 5-3 in favor of Real Madrid. The match also had just over 7 minutes of official time left before Karim Benzema scored the final goal in the third minute of injury time. Hundreds of Sevilla fans immediately got angry, booed, threw water bottles onto the field, and hurled curses and heavily insulting words toward Ramos.

The Spanish star later expressed regret. Ramos realized that he should not behave in such an unsightly way towards the team that raised him when he was just a boy.

After the match ended, Ramos tried to apologize, but the player wearing shirt number 4 could not calm the situation. At the press conference, Zinedine Zidane – Real Madrid’s head coach at that time could only say: “Sergio was hurt.”

Meanwhile, Sevilla asked its fans to “restrain themselves and not insult their opponents”. However, the home team of Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium also asked the Spanish Football Federation to consider giving Ramos a penalty.

And 6 years later, the veteran born in 1986… refused Al Ittihad’s lucrative offer to return to Sevilla. Mundo Deportivo newspaper said that Ramos shook his head at the “super huge” salary, up to 20 million euros/year from the team where his former teammate Benzema is playing.

Ramos is also said to have said no to a salary of 11 million euros/year at Galatasaray. According to The Sun, Manchester United offered a figure of more than 7 million euros/year but still did not get the nod from the Spanish midfielder.

Ramos’ final decision was to return to Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan to receive a salary of… 2 million euros/year, only 10% of the extremely attractive offer from the Middle East. Even, according to another source, journalist Fabrizio Romano, Sevilla won the race to win the signature of the former PSG star with a salary of… 1 million euros/year (after tax).

The deep heart of a player who lives full of gratitude
Ramos confided as follows in his interview to introduce his old team: “Today is a very special day, one of the most memorable days in my life because returning home is wonderful. I am very happy because my dream has come true.”

“I couldn’t ask for more. I want to thank the Sevilla board and everyone who has made it possible for me to enjoy this moment here. There are things in life you cannot buy with money and you are always right to listen to your heart. Many scenarios can happen because no one can predict anything in football, but my heart said I should return home.”

“I owe it to the Sevilla fans, to whom I want to atone for the past incident. I’m looking towards the future because what happened is forever in the past. The first thing I want to do is apologize to all the fans who felt offended by my actions. I’m the type of person who lives by my emotions, but I’m sorry for expressing my feelings that way.”

6 years have passed since Ramos disappointed Sevilla fans. This regret is something that has tormented the star born in 1986 for more than half a decade.

Because of this “debt”, Ramos has achieved many achievements (22 titles with Real Madrid, including 4 Champions Leagues; 3 titles with PSG; 3 trophies with the national team, including 1 World Cup and 2 Euro), but he always felt that something was missing in his heart.

Of course, this is an emotional debt, not a financial debt. And emotional debts cannot be paid with money, but Ramos still agreed to join the Andalusian team with a very mediocre salary compared to the “mountain of money” at Al Ittihad.

In fact, the 37-year-old midfielder can absolutely go to Saudi Arabia, take advantage of the last days of his shorts career to accumulate a huge fortune, then hang up his shoes and enjoy that fortune. .

No one will be able to use personal opinion to criticize Ramos if the Real Madrid captain puts the word “money” above the word “love”. Because there are many superstars who have come to the bottomless pockets of Middle Eastern owners, and the faces who were his comrades like Cristiano Ronaldo or Benzema are no exceptions. However, pursuing flashy money is not what Ramos’ heart told him to do.

 

Ramos’ return to Sevilla in this year’s summer transfer window can be summed up in the words “sorry” and “thank you”. At the age of U40, the Spanish midfielder’s time to play professionally will certainly not be long. Ramos’ peak period has long passed and the burden of age has caused him to suffer 9 injuries, forcing him to miss 371 days from the second half of the 2020/21 season.

Ramos wants to spend the twilight days of his career to thank Sevilla – the team that trained him since he was a boy and gave him the opportunity to play professionally. Referring to Ramos’ great successes is mentioning Real Madrid, but Sevilla is the place that has “nurtured” the star born in 1986 from the first days.

Ramos decided to return to Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan to express his gratitude to the club that brought him from “darkness” to “light”. As for Sevilla fans, this is Ramos’s warmest apology after more than 6 years since the day he hurt the people who loved him.

It has been 18 years since Ramos left Sevilla to seek recognition from the world. Those nearly two decades were the years when the superstar born in 1986 conquered the most prestigious titles in world football.

But after nearly 20 years of running around, Ramos just wants to return home without caring about money. The word “love” and “meaning” of the 37-year-old veteran become even more special and emotional when he is in the golden age of football.

Goodbye to the Royal Madrid “galaxy”, goodbye to the prosperous place of Paris, the son of Andalusia ended the glorious days of his youth to return to play for his hometown team.

 

Santiago Bernabeu is where Ramos’ glorious moments and most memorable memories were witnessed. But returning to the beginning is the most beautiful ending. In the end, the deep pockets of the Saudi Arabian owners could not buy the heart and affection he had for Sevilla.