Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos has waded into Lionel Messi’s plan to leave Barcelona for another club outside the Spanish La Liga. The 34-year-old Spain international said he wants Messi to remain at Barcelona for the benefit of the league.
Though Sergio Ramos should be the last person to wish that the Barcelona talisman should remain at the club, the Spain international is not considering how Messi’s impact always makes it difficult for Madrid to win League titles, he is considering the fact that the 33-year-old makes the El-Clasico more interesting.
Messi’s desire to leave Barcelona after 16 years at the club has been in the news since late August to the point of publishing this report. He has officially told the club that he intends to leave this summer. However, the major obstacle to the actualization of such a desire is the issue of his release clause.
Messi wants to leave for free because he and his representatives believe that there is still an active clause on his contract which permits him to do so at the end of any season. However, Barcelona insisted that such a clause has expired and that the Argentine football icon can only leave the club when his €700 million release clause has been paid.
His father, Jorge Messi, who doubles as his agent, is currently in Spain to trash out the differences between his son and the club. Just like many Barcelona fans and the Spanish La Liga as a whole, Sergio Ramos would not want Messi to leave even when his contract officially expires in June 2021 which could be contrary to the possible outcome of Jorge’s meeting with Barcelona.
“He has earned the right to decide his future, but I don’t know if it’s the best way”, Sergio Ramos said during a press conference organized for Spain national team ahead of their European Nations League match against Germany today, September 3, 2020.
“For Spanish football, for Barcelona and for us, we’d like him to stay”, he added. “Leo makes the Spanish league, his team, and the Clasicos better. “You always like beating the best and he’s one of the best in the world.”
15 years of Messi against Sergio Ramos
Sergio Ramos’ Real Madrid has faced Lionel Messi’s Barcelona 43 times since the Argentina international made his El-Clasico debut in 2005. In those matches Ramos went head to head with Messi, the later has had more reasons to smile than the former.
Statistically, Messi has made himself the king of the El-Clasico which has made him the major attraction. Almost half of the followers of the classic match-up always tune to it because of Messi who holds two El-Clasico records that would take almost forever to break.
One is the fact that the Argentine forward has scored a total of 26 goals in 43 El-Clasico matches. No individual has scored so many goals against Madrid. Besides that, the 6 times Ballon d’Or winner has provided 14 assists against Madrid which is his second record in the matchup. The Argentine football icon is just one match behind Sergio Ramos to break his most appearances record in the match-up.
Also, Messi is the only recorded player that has scored two hat-tricks against Madrid. He did the first in 2007 when he was just 19-year-old and did the other in 2014. Altogether, Messi has won against Sergio Ramos 19 times, drew 11 times, and lost 13 times.
