 |
| Messi and Ramos head-on-head |
One of the key moments of Saturday's El Clasico was the clash between
Lionel Messi and Real Madrid captain, Sergio Ramos, towards the end of the
first half. Ramos caught Lionel Messi flush in the face with his arm as they
tussled for the ball. Messi was still on the ground when the referee called
time on the first half of play. Barcelona players rushed to the referee who
took no action despite Messi approaching him to show him his bloodied lip. The
referee chose not to punish Ramos through a VAR review.
Ramos explained himself after the game, saying: "Messi
took a bad knock but it was totally involuntary."
“There was nothing bad between us and it just happened.”
Real Madrid are losing the race to the league title
as they sit 12 points behind chart leaders Barcelona.
“It’s a pity that the league’s getting away from us but
even so we will fight to the end because in football everything is possible,”
said Ramos, while refuting the idea that Madrid are afraid of Barcelona.
“They took an important step forward with their
efficiency and we are a long way behind.
“Barca are not a nightmare for us. The other day they had
goals and efficiency, and we didn’t have it. We didn’t take advantage of our
chance to catch-up in La Liga. We had less time to recover between the games
but that’s not an excuse and we have to congratulate the opponent, above all
for the result.”
Former Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho, speaking in
his capacity as a pundit on beIN Sports, accused Ramos of
intentionally hurting Messi to provoke a reaction in Real Madrid's favor.
"I think in the
first half, both teams when they had the ball, they did not hurt the opponent
too much," he said.
"There was no
intensity on the defensive actions, with everybody playing in a low-medium
block.
"It was not the temperature
of a derby, of a Clasico that can settle the title.
"I think Sergio
Ramos' action probably is coming from a player that knows the game has to
change.
"And probably he
does it with the intention of creating a different temperature for the second
half, because the game until then was really soft, in my opinion."
Ramos fouled Messi again in the second half, but
was rightfully booked.
Barcelona won the match 1-0 thanks to Ivan Rakitic's goal
in the first half. Barcelona was largely in control at the Santiago
Bernabeu.
— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 2, 2019
Gerard Pique who had an excellent game, disagreed with
the referee letting Ramos go free for fouling Messi the first time,
and made a talking-hand gesture to the crowd as they walked off the pitch at
the first-half break.
When asked about his hand gesture after the game, Pique
explained: "Leo had blood on his lip. It was aggressive [from Ramos]
and it seemed a red card to me.
"I was referring to the fact they talk but sometimes
referees go in their favor. Pulses are racing at 1000 miles an hour and it
was just a general gesture.
"I like it when the atmosphere heats up and [the
gesture] was to get it going a little bit more."
"Don't misunderstand the intensity," he added.
"I get on really well with [Real Madrid's players]. It's mutual. We have a
lot of contact with each other but when we step over the white line we defend
out own team's colors."
 |
| Ivan Rakitic scores for Barcelona in the first half |
Comments
Post a Comment