Sergio Ramos may be public enemy #1 among the Liverpool and Egyptian national team fan bases, and for good reason. The Real Madrid team captain was involved in an incident with Mohamed Salah during the UEFA Champions League that resulted in Mohamed Salah being seriously hurt.
Salah was injured so badly that he missed Egypt’s first World Cup game, and the body language of Ramos that evening in Kiev conveyed ill intent. Since that infamous night, Ramos has shown zero remorse for his actions, and Salah rejected the explanation offered up by the Madrid defender.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes Sergio Ramos was targeting Salah, and goalkeeper Loris Karius (who we later learned suffered a concussion in the UCL final) that evening, and he slammed Ramos as “ruthless and brutal.”
Currently on preseason tour in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Klopp was asked to rehash the altercation between Sergio Ramos and Mo Salah, and this was the response that he gave to several British newspapers:
“We are opening that bottle again? I watched that back of course. Someone showed it to me immediately after the game. If you watch it back and you are not with Real Madrid then you think it is ruthless and brutal.
“You don’t think: ‘Wow, good challenge.’ It is in a situation in the game where Mo tries to keep the ball, make a few yards and speed up the game. The thing is I saw the ref taking charge of big games at the World Cup afterwards and nobody really thinks about that later.”
“I think in a situation like that somebody needs to judge it better. If VAR is coming then it is a situation where you have to look again and say: ‘What is that?’ It was ruthless.”
Klopp also said that a situation like this wouldn’t always result in an injury to the Egyptian winger, but Salah was also a victim of real misfortune.
“I don’t think Mo would have always got injured in that situation, this time it was unlucky, but it is an experience that we cannot have,” the German added.
Real Madrid would go on to win their third straight UCL title, and fourth in five years. Egypt, hampered by a less than fully fit Salah, crashed out in the group stages of the World Cup.
Karius played the worst game of his life that evening and became a pariah among LFC supporters. The Reds have since brought in Alisson from AS Roma as his replacement.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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