PASADENA: Sergio Ramos leaped in the air and soared back in time.
The 39-year-old center back slipped through the penalty area, outfoxed two Inter Milan players and artfully headed home the first goal for Monterrey in the Club World Cup on Tuesday night. Just as he did for so many years in the shirts of Real Madrid and Spain’s national team, Ramos combined smarts, timing and physicality to make an enormous play on an international stage.
Ramos’ clever goal and his overall defensive play at the Rose Bowl were major factors in Monterrey’s impressive 1-1 draw against the Champions League finalists in the clubs’ first match of the tournament.
“There is always a joy to contribute to the team by scoring,” Ramos said through an interpreter. “But if we can get points, that’s even better. We played very well as a team. Of course, football showcases the goal, but we’re here to share this experience.”
Still, the moment was exactly what Ramos had in mind four months ago when he eschewed the comfortable life at a Saudi club or the lure of Major League Soccer to continue his professional career in Liga MX with Monterrey — a proud and relatively wealthy club, but hardly the Mexican equivalent of Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain.
When he returned to the sport from a nine-month break, Ramos chose Rayados in part because they had already qualified for the Club World Cup, and he wanted to play with the world watching.
FIFA has been similarly eager to showcase the world’s most famous players in this tournament, whether it’s by quickly including Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami on curious grounds, or by creating a special transfer window in an unsuccessful attempt to encourage a CWC club to sign Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ramos made it happen for himself — and then one of the greatest center backs in soccer history delivered in Monterrey’s first match, complete with an appropriately flashy celebration with his thrilled teammates and their ecstatic fans.
While he showed his usual defensive prowess for much of the match against Inter, Ramos also has been a regular contributor on offense since signing with Monterrey, which has already made him its captain and a fan favorite.
Monterrey qualified for the Club World Cup way back in 2021 by winning the CONCACAF Champions League. At that time, Ramos was at PSG, only a few months removed from the end of his 16-year career at Madrid.
“He comes from football that we all know, and he has a lot of information that he can share with his teammates,” new Monterrey coach Domènec Torrent said after his debut. “This is always something that’s very helpful. His character, his personality, he’s a leader every day. The players, he expects much of them, but that’s (good) because I have a leader on the pitch every day who knows what we expect.”
Torrent said his job is much easier because he can rely on Ramos at the back and his former Real Madrid teammate, Sergio Canales, in the offensive attack to keep their teammates organized and working hard. Canales hit the post with an impressive 30-yard strike in the second half.
Not everything was perfect in Pasadena: Ramos shared some responsibility for Lautaro Martínez’s tying goal late in the first half, although it came after an exceptional bit of ball movement that would have been difficult for any team in the world to stop.
Ramos then pushed through fatigue in the second half to keep the match tied, delivering a key result to Monterrey’s hopes of reaching the knockout stage. He was named the man of the match.
“We had a very good second half especially,” Ramos said. “We faced a very tough opponent, so that’s very gratifying. The result speaks volumes.”