Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos is among the globally elite at his position, but his tactics can certainly lie in the grey areas of the rules. He’s a polarizing player, and right now he’s arguably football’s biggest villain. Ramos, after colliding with Liverpool star Mohamed Salah, and in the process causing enough damage to get the Premier League Player of the Year out of the game due to injury, flashed a sinister smile while Salah left the pitch in tears.
Mo Salah suffered a separated solider and now currently faces a massive race against time to be fit for the World Cup in a little over two weeks. Salah is confident he’ll be on the pitch in Russia, playing for his home country of Egypt. Many others are not so sure.
The injury changed the entire complexion of Liverpool’s 3-1 loss to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League final, as they were forced to play most of the contest without their best player. The same fate could befall Egypt, and thus Ramos is facing a massive backlash for his role in the altercation Saturday night.
This backlash only seemed to getting stronger on Monday. An Egyptian lawyer named Bassem Wahba launched a €1 billion (£873m/$1.2bn) lawsuit against Sergio Ramos while making an appearance on Egyptian television channel Sada El-Balad.
Via Goal:
Wahba announced he had filed a complaint to FIFA and accused Ramos of a deliberate act and inflicting “physical and psychological harm” upon a nation and its most celebrated footballer.
“Ramos intentionally injured Mo Salah and should be punished about his actions,” he claimed. “I’ve filed a lawsuit and a complaint to FIFA.
“I’ll ask for compensation, which could exceed €1 billion, for the physical and psychological harm that Ramos gave Salah and the Egyptian people.”
In the unlikely event that Wahba wins any compensatory damages, he’s pledge to donate it all to charity.
Additionally, a change.org petition, started by user Mohamed Salah Abdel-Hakeem, and urging UEFA and FIFA to punish Ramos for Salah’s injury has reached 400,000 signatures.
“Sergio Ramos intentionally kept Mohamed Salah’s arm under his armpit, causing dislocation of his shoulder,” the petition, which was only started two days ago, reads.
“Not only missing the rest of the game, but also missing the FIFA World Cup 2018. In addition he kept acting that Liverpool players fouled him falsely, causing the referee to give [Sadio] Mane a yellow card he did not deserve.
“Sergio Ramos represents an awful example to future generations of football players. Instead of winning matches fairly, he uses tricks that defy the spirit of the game and fair play.”
“UEFA and FIFA should take measures against Ramos and similar players, using the video recordings of matches to keep the spirit of the game.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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