Sergio Ramos Named the Toughest Opponent of His Career

Sergio Ramos is one of the greatest defenders of all time. Internationally with Spain, and at club level with Real Madrid, he essentially won it all – from the World Cup to Champions League titles.

To get to the top, he wasn’t afraid of playing rough. In fact, he is arguably one of the dirtiest players ever with 297 cards combined (268 yellow, 29 red) since the year 2000 – which is more than any other player in the 21st century.

With that in mind, it’s fair to say he’s had a fair few battles over the course of his long and distinguished career. But which player caused Ramos the most problems? Well, the Spaniard answered the question in 2021.

Ramos Named His Toughest Opponent

“The most unstoppable is Ronaldinho”

As quoted by Telegraphi, when asked to name the ‘toughest opponent’ of his career, the centre-back named a few options but one Barcelona legend stood out. No, it wasn’t Lionel Messi. Instead, Ramos named Ronaldinho as the player he found the hardest to defend, saying:

“For me, the most unstoppable is Ronaldinho. In his best time, hardly any defender could face him.”

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Interestingly enough, he also left out Messi again when he named a couple of other ex-Barca forwards as footballers he struggled to contain. He added:

“But there are others like Samuel Eto’o, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who could cause problems with their speed or physicality.”

Ramos – who is currently without a club after leaving Sevilla in the summer of 2024 – came up against Messi more times than any other player during his career. They met on 44 different occasions, with the Spaniard winning 16 times, drawing nine and losing 19.

In fairness, that’s not a bad record against arguably the greatest player of all time. But his stats against Ronaldinho aren’t too bad either, with Ramos winning two matches, drawing four and losing three.

However, more than simple results, Ramos appears to be talking about the sheer experience of trying to stop an in-form forward in full flight. With that in mind, perhaps one memory has stuck with the ex-Madrid captain.

Back in 2005, Ronaldinho won the Ballon d’Or and his display in El Clasico that year truly showed a footballer at the peak of his powers. The Brazilian was so good, in fact, he received a standing ovation from the Bernabeu as he inspired Barcelona to a 3-0 derby win, scoring two goals in an outrageous performance.

​​​​​At the time, Ronaldinho didn’t even realise the incredible reception he earned from the Madrid supporters, explaining: “No, I didn’t realise in the moment. I remembered when we arrived to the locker room and everybody was talking about it and I went to check it on the TV.

“Because of the joy of scoring and the celebration, I didn’t notice the standing ovation. It’s special. Only a few players have had this joy of being acclaimed by the fans of your arch-rivals in a derby.”

Since then, however, it has long since stuck in the memory and quite likely still haunts Ramos to this day.

Stats via Transfermarkt – as of 25/01/25.