Virgil Van Dijk has received plenty of credit over the last two years for his stellar defensive abilities. The Dutch defender gave the Messi-Ronaldo hegemon a run for its money in the 2019 Ballon d’Or race while leading Liverpool to a Champions League title. Many say he is the best center back in the world right now.
But as great as VVD has been, we shouldn’t forget one of the greatest defenders of this generation is still playing, denying attackers with sheer will (and plenty of fouls) and even scoring plenty of goals himself.
Sergio Ramos is an iconic Spanish center back who racks up red cards and trophies like no one before him. He also loves to score a goal here and there, becoming one of the primary penalty kick takers for Real Madrid and Spain. On Wednesday, he expanded his repertoire by showing off some superb free-kick abilities, probably just to show he’s still one of the best players in the world.
In the 56th minute of a LaLiga match with Mallorca at the Alfredo di Stefano Stadium, Ramos unleashed a vicious free kick to double Real Madrid’s lead.
Sergio Ramos Free Kick Goal vs Mallorca
GOLAZO FOR REAL MADRID
Sergio Ramos curls an inch-perfect free kick into the upper left 90 and extends Madrid's lead to 2-0 #RealMadridRCDMallorca pic.twitter.com/OtlxMGMl6D— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) June 24, 2020
Not exactly what you expect from a center back. Let’s see Van Dijk score a goal like that.
Ramos is no stranger to the odd goal. He’s scored 94 times now for Los Blancos and ranks in Spain’s top 10 with 21 international goals, but most of those have been headers off set pieces or penalty kicks.
The Sergio Ramos free kick goal vs Mallorca was remarkably similar to that of another Liverpool defender, Trent Alexander-Arnold. The English wingback scored a luscious free kick against Crystal Palace earlier on Wednesday, albeit in the other corner.
Real Madrid’s opening goal wasn’t bad either. Brazilian winger Vinícius Júnior dinked the ball past Manuel in goal in the 19th minute.
Goal for Real Madrid
Modric slips a through ball for Vinicius, who chips the goalkeeper and has Los Blancos in front 1-0 #RealMadridRCDMallorca pic.twitter.com/oEkEuzWMdE— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) June 24, 2020
Real Madrid won the match 2-0 to pull even with Barcelona on 68 points through 31 matches. Barcelona currently leads Real Madrid in goal difference, but Los Blancos would be given top spot at the end of the season in case of tie as LaLiga uses head-to-head as the first tiebreaker. The two rivals tied 0-0 in December before Real Madrid won 2-0 in March.
