La Liga: Ramos scores for 'ultras', Real's run ends

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  • Real's 40-match unbeaten run is over.

    Sergio scores for Seville

    The Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium, Seville. It’s the 85th minute, Real Madrid are leading 1-0 through a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty and it’s all looking tickety-boo for the league leaders. Pablo Sarabia swings over a free-kick from the right and Sergio Ramos, the specialist in last-gasp goals, Seville born and bred, rises as magnificently as ever and heads the ball into the net  – except it’s his own net. Six minutes later, under intense pressure and the rising hollers of a chest-beating stadium, the substitute Stevan Jovetic, for the second time in four days, finds the net past Keylor Navas’ desperately outstretched arm, and the place goes wild. Ramos looks for a spade with which to dig a hole, and the 40-game run is over.

    It was always going to be an interesting week, and the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium in Seville has been like one of those whistling kettles that never stops – a focus of footballing mayhem over four days that has culminated in the end of Real Madrid’s undefeated stretch and a sudden opening up of the title race. Sevilla’s dramatic injury-time 2-1 win late on Sunday night puts the Andaluz club one point behind the leaders, and despite the game in hand that Madrid still possess, the probability of a more interesting second half to the season is definitely in view.

    Last Thursday, the two teams met in the same stadium to contest the second leg of the King’s Cup last 16. Real Madrid were 3-0 up from the first leg but needed a result to break Barcelona’s historic 39-game run. Leaving Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric out of the line-up, coach Zinedine Zidane was presumably preserving the Praetorian Guard for the following league game, and Sevilla themselves left out Samir Nasri, Vitolo, Steven N’Zonzi and Mariano. However, the game was far more eventful than perhaps expected, and at one point Real Madrid were on the ropes, 3-1 down with 13 minutes left and the sudden possibility of losing both the record and being dumped out of the cup. Then came the counterpoint to Sunday evening’s events when Sergio Ramos brought Madrid back into the frame with a Panenka-style penalty, scored in front of the north stand where the ‘Biris Norte’ ultras tend to gather.  Ramos, who has been subjected to insults from the group ever since he left the club over a decade ago, held up his hands to his ears in a response that has had the football media buzzing ever since, the ‘ultras’ busy perfecting their grammar on Twitter and Ramos very much in the spotlight. Of course, Karim Benzema equalised in the final minute to ensure the record – an extraordinary ending to a spark-filled encounter, but even the most outrageous script-writer could hardly have imagined the events to come on Sunday night.

    Ramos, like his colleague in the Spanish national side Gerard Piqué, has pursued a behavioural path that has led him frequently into the shadier spots of the limelight. Both have been involved in rather too many extramural incidents, and both have had cause to regret some of their more rash statements on social media. Whereas Piqué has earned the ire of practically the entire country minus Catalunya, with his political stance seemingly at odds with his (former) enthusiasm to play in the Spanish shirt, Ramos’ unpopularity has been more localised, with a certain section of the Sevilla fans (the Biris Norte) still unable to accept his move to Madrid. Quite why they insist on hounding Ramos – who seems a decent enough chap in the end – is a question only they could answer, and it probably lies in the complex social politics of Seville, a beautiful city forever split down Betis-Sevilla lines. Neither club takes too well to its local heroes leaving, and because Ramos’ growth and development as a player has largely taken place at the Bernabéu, the Biris ultras have never forgiven him –dismissing his frequent claims that he is still one of them, still a home boy at heart.

    Ramos explained himself to the press after Thursday’s game, claiming that whilst Dani Alves and Ivan Rakitic are treated like ‘gods’ when they return, for some reason he is not accorded the same sympathies. Defending his seemingly provocative action after the 3-2 goal as his fair turn (after 10 years of non-stop abuse from that sector), the incidents sparked anew the debate in Spain over whether supporters should be allowed to verbally abuse so freely, a right some claim because of the fees they have paid. However, this ‘right’ was legally annulled in 2014 by an edict from the wonderfully named ‘Comisión Permanente de la Comisión Estatal contra la Violencia, el Racismo, la Xenofobia y la Intolerancia en el Deporte’, which is far too long to translate, but you get the point. The first fans to fall foul of the legislation were those of Celta, for proffering their traditional insults to the followers of Deportivo in 2014, their Galician rivals. And whilst the authorities at Sevilla claimed righteous indignation at Ramos the day after the game, it is surely their responsibility to rein in the verbal habits of the ‘Biris’. Supporters are easily identifiable these days, and the photo of the ultras sticking a finger in Ramos’ direction after the goal leaves no doubt as to their identities.

    The ‘Biris’ section has been closed before, after insults fired Betis’ way in 2015, but the obvious problem is one of defining exactly what constitutes terrace humour and tradition, and what constitutes a punishable insult. When people who have little sympathy for football see this kind of behaviour, it leaves them aghast and scratching their heads. For those who love and follow the game however, it’s often just a part of the mix. Where do you draw the line? Well obviously at racism, sexism and xenophobia, but beyond that it gets a bit trickier. The difference between verbal violence and verbal humour is often a fuzzy one in sports arenas, and the traditional cat-calling of referees is a fortnightly ritual which probably helps to preserve the state of the nation.

    In short, we’d like football events to keep their humour and their traditional, if often illogical, dislike of certain teams – because we don’t want the game to descend into some sort of neutered anodyne peace rally. Banning supporters and fining clubs does not help to develop a sense of respect for players and opponents – it just makes people more resentful. There does need to be a check on the culture of violence, where the verbal leads to the physical, but leagues in general and clubs in particular can deal with this in campaigns and education.  Many have done so in Europe, although only a handful of clubs in Spain have been active on this front. Sevilla, as the opposite example, have had ten years to stop the insults flying Ramos’ way. Is it suddenly Ramos’ fault for bringing the country’s attention to it through ‘provocation’? I think not.

    Meanwhile, La Liga reaches its half-way point next weekend, with Real Madrid, Sevilla and Barcelona now all candidates to be the ‘Campeon de Invierno’ (Winter Champion), a press-invented prize, but one which Real Madrid were minutes away from ensuring on Sunday night. Now Sevilla can rightly claim that they are serious candidates for the title, although there’s a long way to go. Their refusal to give up, and their impressive first-half performance were reasonable witnesses to their credentials. Atlético are creeping up too. Sevilla are now the only one of the top four who can rest this week, as the quarter-final first legs of the King’s Cup are played.  It’s all getting a bit hectic. Barcelona will wish they hadn’t been drawn to play in their nightmare stadium Anoeta, but at least I can be there on Thursday!

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