As Real Madrid and Barcelona lock horns this weekend Sergio Ramos has praised Lionel Messi for denying Real Madrid Trophies ever since he joined the club.
The Spanish International Centre-back will not feature in weekends EL Clasico as the two Spanish giants try and hunt down Atletico Madrid in the La Liga title race.
Sergio Ramos who joined Los Blancos in 2005,says having spent more than fifteen years in the club he has been watching Barcelona scoop numerous title honors.
Photo Courtesy: Soccer Laduma
The Catalans enjoyed the trophy-laden period of dominance whilst Pep Guardiola was in charge.
Success continued to follow after his departure however with Tito Vilanova, Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde all winning honors.
The Real Madrid super defender has won five La Liga titles with the club but in the same period at Madrid Barcelona have won eight as well as several domestic cups.
The centre-half puts much of their success down to Messi, whose quality has resulted in tension within the Madrid camp.
He told his documentary series ‘The Legend of Sergio Ramos’ : “We’ve suffered against Messi during these years.
“Perhaps if Barcelona didn’t have him, we would have won more titles.
“There was a time when we faced the best Barcelona in history. We had a great coach like Jose Mourinho, but it was hard for us to beat them.
“We didn’t win much and there was a lot of tension, caused by either them or by us.”
Barcelona now are in the midst of a rebuild and are sweating on a decision from Messi about his future.
BARCELONA, SPAIN – DECEMBER 18: Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona competes for the ball with Sergio Ramos of Real Madrid during the Liga match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF at Camp Nou on December 18, 2019 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
Los Blancos too are in a transitional phase with Zinedine Zidane’s contract up in the summer.
Barcelona are just one point behind Atletico in the title race with Madrid a further two points back.
A win for either side will see them take over as leaders, at least temporarily, with Diego Simeone’s side not playing until the following day.
Sergio Ramos was ruled out of the EL Clasico after sustaining a calf injury in international duties. Raphael Varane is also expected to miss as he is in isolation after tested positive for Covid-19.
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