Sergio Ramos has ridiculed the reaction to his clashes with Loris Karius and Mo Salah during Real Madrid’s Champions League victory over Liverpool.
The Real defender made light of the incident with Karius despite reports on Tuesday that the Liverpool goalkeeper suffered concussion after a clash with Ramos before making two huge errors to gift Real a 3-1 triumph in Kiev last month.
Ramos also suggested that Salah, who went off with a shoulder injury in the 30th minute after being pulled to the ground by the Spaniard, could have taken painkilling injections and played the second half.
Speaking in Madrid as Spain made their final World Cup preparations before flying to Russia, Ramos began with his clash with Salah that ended the attacker’s participation in the final.
The Real captain said: ‘Bloody hell, they’ve given the Salah thing a lot of coverage. I didn’t want to talk about it because everything then gets magnified.
‘Looking at the incident, he grabs my arm first and I fell to the other side. The injury is to his other arm. And they said that I put him in a judo hold.’
Moving on to the Karius clash, he added: ‘The goalkeeper says that he was dazed because of a clash with me.
‘All that’s missing is that they say Firmino caught a cold from one of my drops of sweat.’
Karius appeared to be elbowed in the head by Ramos, who had collided with Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk as they challenged for a Madrid corner.
The German goalkeeper could be heard on television screaming at the impact as he went down.
He did not receive any treatment from Liverpool’s medical staff on the pitch and seconds later threw the ball into Karim Benzema’s path for Real’s opener. He later allowed Gareth Bale’s shot from 30 yards to slip through his hands for Real’s third goal.
Returning to the Salah incident, which threatens the Egyptian’s involvement in the World Cup, Ramos claimed to have made peace with the player after the game but suggested his immediate substitution was an exaggerated response to their collision.
He said: ‘I exchanged messages with Salah after the match and it was fine. He could have played on if he had taken a painkilling injection for the second half. I have done that sometimes.
‘It really wasn’t all that much but when it’s Ramos that does something like this, more gets made of it.’
The four-time Champions League winner added: ‘I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been at Madrid for so many years and winning for so long that people look at it differently.’
Ramos comments will anger those Liverpool supporters who have called for the final to be replayed after the revelations surrounding the injury to Karius.
Liverpool’s medical staff sent the 24-year-old to Boston to see a specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, where a brain scan revealed he had suffered a blackout and experienced concussion moments before Real’s first goal.
COMMENTS